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Shatterglass

(The Circle Opens #4)

Tamora Pierce (Goodreads Author)

4.19 · Rating details · 22,102 ratings · 328 reviews

Part of the 8-book Tamora Pierce reissue for Fall 2006, this title in the Circle Opens quartet features spellbinding new cover art. Coincides with the release of WILL OF THE EMPRESS in trade pb.

Kethlun Warder was a gifted glassmaker until his world was shattered in a freak accident. Now his remaining glass magic is mixed with lightning, and Tris must teach him to control i ...more

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Paperback, 357 pages

Published November 15th 2006 by Scholastic Paperbacks (first published March 1st 2003)

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Jul 28, 2015 Ashley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries, ridiculously-prolific-authors, urban-fantasy, young-adult, books-i-missed-during-childhood, here-be-dragons, fantasy, class-gender-race

Despite all my caterwauling over the formulaic nature of this series, I've really enjoyed the last three books. This one is probably tied for my favorite with the second one. That one had that sweet ass battle where Briar goes to town all over the bad guy's house with his super magical plant powers, and this one had Tris being grouchy and getting a tiny glass dragon for a pet. Plus I really liked the way that T. Pierce dealt with issues of culture and religion and class in this one. Such a socia Despite all my caterwauling over the formulaic nature of this series, I've really enjoyed the last three books. This one is probably tied for my favorite with the second one. That one had that sweet ass battle where Briar goes to town all over the bad guy's house with his super magical plant powers, and this one had Tris being grouchy and getting a tiny glass dragon for a pet. Plus I really liked the way that T. Pierce dealt with issues of culture and religion and class in this one. Such a socially conscious writer is our Tamora Pierce.

Tris, like the other three Circle members, takes on a student. She discovers him by accident as she's exploring the city where she and her mentor, Niko, are staying while he's at a conference. He is an adult ambient mage whose powers went unnoticed until he was struck by lightning months back. The lightning strike disabled him and he had to work really hard to recover. It also wrecked his ability to work in his trade as a glass blower. The lightning merged with his already powerful glass magic to form something new and scary.

I liked seeing fourteen year old Tris deal with her older student, Keth, who is wary of her and treats her more like a child than she deserves. It's his wild, uncontrolled magic that accidentally creates a living glass dragon, who Tris names Chime. Chime is adorable. She eats glass-making materials, and poops and vomits and breathes fire into beautiful glass coils and balls and natural sculpted flames. She is tinkly and likes to comb her little glass paws in people's hair to soothe them. I seriously love her.

All of this happens while a series of murders terrorize the lowest caste of people in the city, and Tris and her new student become wrapped up in it when the lead investigator (also a mage) discovers Keth can create glass balls that seem to predict where and when the next murder will occur. If only Keth can get a handle on his new powers in time to stop things from escalating to horrible levels. (Spoiler: He can't.)

At times, I did feel I was being emotionally manipulated by a couple of things that happened, which seemed designed solely to make me feel bad and sad about what was happening, but overall, this was a great way to close out the second Emelan series.

Give me a glass dragon. GIVE IT TO MEEEEEE. ...more

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Sep 22, 2015 Kathy Davie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, middle-grade

Fourth in The Circle Opens fantasy series for middle-grade readers (and eighth in the overall Emelan Universe) revolving around a circle of four friends. The focus in Shatterglass is on Tris and Keth Warder.

My Take
This is the conclusion for this second quartet of stories in the Emelan Universe. I'm hoping that the next, The Will of the Empress , finds the friends back together.

I'm with Tris. I don't like these people with their obsession with cleansing and the untouchable. With torturing the ...more

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Jul 24, 2015 Nancy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mark-reads, emelan, year-2015

I don't think I can be particularly objective about any of these books -- I love them all so much! I'm so glad the Mark Reads community was so into Tamora Pierce's work that he decided to do all of it; it's all been so wonderful, and I'm so happy to have them in my life.

Also, where can I sign up for Tris's personal breezes that help keep her cool? I have a mighty need. ...more

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Dec 30, 2020 Ai Miller rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My usual gripes about criminality in this series aside (and in the acknowledgements she does go into talking a little bit about her sources in terms of criminal justice techniques, especially about The Mind of the Pathological Criminal, so I was right, thank you everyone) this maybe was my favorite one? Though I am uh Wary of Fantasy India's Caste Systems (and the Chekov's lowest caste) but I am not super qualified to comment there.

All that said, I did love the character relationships; it feels ...more

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Dec 28, 2015 Beth rated it liked it

Shelves: project-nostalgia, reviewed

Wow, this is a much more fascinating read than I remember. And much, much more inconsistent. I love the idea that someone getting hit by lightning would be saved by his glass magic - but would then have the lightning mingle with his magic and ruin his glass. And the idea of Tris teaching someone older than she is is great.

But then Niko pops in every once in a while just to remind you how much better the book would be if he was around all the time - and weird inconsistencies keep niggling at you, Wow, this is a much more fascinating read than I remember. And much, much more inconsistent. I love the idea that someone getting hit by lightning would be saved by his glass magic - but would then have the lightning mingle with his magic and ruin his glass. And the idea of Tris teaching someone older than she is is great.

But then Niko pops in every once in a while just to remind you how much better the book would be if he was around all the time - and weird inconsistencies keep niggling at you, like, why is Keth blowing glass balls with crime scenes in them? What on earth is his "itch"? Why do they sometimes show scenes post-murder and sometimes prior? And why is it that, after all the money spent and all the hours searching, the entire book is resolved on a fluke incident?!

There are some parts that are just plain fascinating, too, like Tris getting annoyed at the 300-member Assembly for being unproductive and then thinking that one monarch is a much better system, because he knows that everything's on him and he can't pass blame onto any co-ruler. It's not inconsistent, but it still feels out of place.

And then there's that final dropped-in detail, after Tris warns the prathmuni: (view spoiler) It's an odd ending, that's for sure.

But Tris is great, and so is Keth, and so is Niko - if only there was more of Niko. ...more

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Aug 31, 2014 Rachel rated it really liked it

I really loved this book- Tris is my favorite of the four, or at least the one I most relate to, so I was eagerly anticipating her focal point in this series.

And it really didn't disappoint at all! The mystery was solid (resolution perhaps a tinge weak), I adored Tris's work with Keth, some of the supporting characters were really great, and we got yet more amazing worldbuilding.

So why only 4 stars instead of 5? Well, mostly because this is the last book of the series, and the series as a whole ...more

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Apr 22, 2019 Melanie rated it really liked it

I loved this book bc of its references to the rest of the circle.

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Jun 01, 2012 Wealhtheow rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, pocmaincharacters, urban-fantasy, fantasy

Tris is the most talented weather mage in generations, but that's just her problem. She's so powerful that people either doubt that she's telling the truth, or want her for war magic. Tris travels the world with her friend and mentor Niko Goldeneyes, trying to find a way to use her magic to help people. In Tharios, an ancient city obsessed with death and cleanliness, she stumbles across a mage with both glass and lightning magic (a terrible combination). She tries to teach him to control his mag ...more

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Oct 17, 2013 Kayla Edwards rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, young-adult-novels

Tris has to stretch her patience further than ever when she discovers Keth - an adult who is dealing with the power of lightning in a way never seen before. She's also figuring out how to care for the living glass dragon Keth accidentally creates when they first meet. And then there's the murders... someone is systematically killing local street performers and grotesquely displaying their bodies in sacred places in a city obsessed with cleanliness. Can Tris find the murderer before he or she esc ...more

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Jan 31, 2017 Anna Klein rated it liked it

Oof this is getting repetitive. I enjoyed the relationship between Tris and Keth, and the world building of Tharios was good (why hello fantasy version of ancient Athens), but this book had the beginning of all those things that I didn't like in her Beka Cooper series: a heavy focus on fantasy law and order (I'm here for the wizards), so many invented words to learn, too heavy on boring menial detail and the adoption of every wayward whatever that walks past (at least this time it was a child, a ...more

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Dec 18, 2016 Kelsey Hanson rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, fiction

This book was a bit of a dud for me. I liked the fact that Tris had an older student and that she had to learn patience as much as he did. The concept of Keth's magic was also pretty interesting. But the mystery of this story was a bit of a letdown for me. They just kind of threw out a motive and didn't really give the reader a chance to guess who or why. Also, it seems like there were too many side characters to keep track of. Despite this, Niko, who had such a prominent role in Tris's life, ba ...more

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Jul 31, 2008 Julie rated it really liked it

My favorite line from the whole book still has me laughing. In response to being called a slave driver, Tris says, "A bad name is just a fart with consonants." (Gross, I know. Potty humor, yes. But as a mother of 3 boys, I think it has now become my favorite quote ever.) ...more

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Jan 20, 2014 Katie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: on-overdrive-dc, genre-fantasy, books-that-are-rated-highly, has-young-adult-fiction-elements, on-overdrive-fairfax, has-strong-women, has-girls-with-books, has-magic, rating-5-stars, books-that-ive-read-more-than-once

Ah Tris, so very grouchy. I really enjoyed this one - seeing Tris become someone else's teacher was definitely an interesting development. As much as I enjoyed this quartet, I can't wait for the next book where I get to see them all together again. ...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Rebecca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Tris isn't usually my favorite of the Circle kids but she's fantastic in this one, especially seeing her through other people's perspectives. ...more

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Jul 22, 2013 Alexa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fave-young-adult, read-in-2013, read-before-2011

I adore this series! You can see my series review on the blog. ...more

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Oct 22, 2018 Natalie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, adventure, magic, young-adult, mystery

Can I just say first of all that Chime is amazing, and that these books are just automatically better when there's an animal sidekick (or two ;D) in them? I love books with animal sidekicks so much ;u; It's just so unbelievably neat to have a living glass miniature dragon (that breaths "fire" and shoots "needles") and I hope there's more books with Chime in it. Plus the relationship between Chime and Little Bear (and Tris and Glaki) is just awesome and I love it :|

I really loved how while in thi Can I just say first of all that Chime is amazing, and that these books are just automatically better when there's an animal sidekick (or two ;D) in them? I love books with animal sidekicks so much ;u; It's just so unbelievably neat to have a living glass miniature dragon (that breaths "fire" and shoots "needles") and I hope there's more books with Chime in it. Plus the relationship between Chime and Little Bear (and Tris and Glaki) is just awesome and I love it :|

I really loved how while in this one Tris also gets her first student, she has much more difficulty in regards to being able to teach her student as, with him being much older than her (...and by that I mean in his twenties :P) he's already pretty set in his ways, and what he can and can't do, and finds it pretty difficult to be taught by someone that's just 14. Though I loved how he said that she basically appeared to be a short grumpy old lady until scolded by Niko for something XD;;

The killings that took place in this book were really well done, and I loved the idea of the "Ghost" being able to essentially hide in plain sight. I did suspect that (view spoiler). I am incredibly glad that when they caught the killer, Tris (view spoiler)

I think one of my favourite things is that at the end, when (view spoiler)

4.5 / 5 ...more

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Feb 21, 2021 Britt rated it really liked it

If you had told me before I started this series that I'd enjoy Tris' instalment the most I would have never believed you. She was the most frustrating character in the Circle of Magic, always snapping at everyone and making things more difficult than they needed to be. Four years later, she's still got a quick temper, but she's much better at recognising and controlling it.

From the very beginning, this story was much more interesting than the rest of the series. An older student with newly disco ...more

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Mar 19, 2020 Alex Black rated it liked it

Shelves: reread, young-adult, fantasy, mystery

I was a little torn between three and four stars on this book, but decided to go with the lower rating.

I had a lot of fun with the story overall. It grabbed me easily and I never had to push myself to finish. I was just excited to pick it up and read, which seems like a small thing but I haven't felt that way about many of the other books in the first two quartets. I liked Tris's student as well. I think it's an interesting relationship to explore, a student who's so much older than their teache ...more

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Jul 30, 2019 Anna Catalano rated it liked it

This book was an absolute delight to read, and though I haven't read any other book in this series, this one definitely stood on its own. The magic system is so beautifully explained and illustrated, and the world itself felt very organic. Just as a personal opinion, but some of the worldbuilding felt a little infodump-y at the beginning in particular, which wasn't my taste, but it A) didn't hinder my enjoyment of the story, and B) gave me some hope for my own writing, as I am guilty of either h ...more

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Aug 28, 2020 CJ rated it it was amazing

My take on this, reading it in 2020, is different than ever before. The problem in this case is a serial killer rather than a pandemic, but the fact that the government refuses to close the tourist district where the killings are taking place because "it would alarm the populace and cause financial hardship to those who with there" hits close to home. More people continue to die because of the government's failure to act, their half-measure solutions coming far too late to make a difference.

By t ...more

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Oct 24, 2020 Sarah rated it really liked it

4.5 stars

This was my favourite of this quartet. Tris is such a wonderfully snippy and brave character. I love that she's also very kind and caring though she'll endlessly deny it.

I also thoroughly enjoyed that this was a bit more of a mystery as we never saw the murderer's perspective so it was all a guessing game until the big reveal.

I liked that Keth was older and the dynamic that that produced with Tris, though you knew from the start that she'd still have no problem handling him. ...more

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Jul 22, 2019 Dieda Vorkosigan rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2019

This was awesome, the best one in the series. Apparently Tris is my favorite.

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Mar 21, 2020 Rebecca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ghost really lived up to the name, wow. This was great. I love Chime. And Keth was not at all what I expected!

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Mar 30, 2017 Stephanie rated it really liked it

Ah the dilemma of not having half stars. I liked this more than Daja's book and almost as much as Briar's. Maybe it should get five stars? But I don't feel like there was anything that got me super psyched or that will remain imprinted on me to warrant five stars. Perhaps because Tris, while awesome, is just not my favorite. She's always seemed over powered compared with the rest and I guess I want more from it, more inside her head and process. I did love the component of glass blowing though a ...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Commodore rated it liked it · review of another edition

Two and a half stars. Giving it two stars seems too harsh, but I don't feel like it deserves three, either. I really liked the Circle Opens quartet, because the world we knew in the last quartet expands dramatically and it's amazing, and typically where Tamora Pierce really shines. I know most of her books are well-researched, from whichever culture she's taking her cues from, to weapons, to food, to dress. She has an extra level in the Circle Opens, that she has to research the craft being disp Two and a half stars. Giving it two stars seems too harsh, but I don't feel like it deserves three, either. I really liked the Circle Opens quartet, because the world we knew in the last quartet expands dramatically and it's amazing, and typically where Tamora Pierce really shines. I know most of her books are well-researched, from whichever culture she's taking her cues from, to weapons, to food, to dress. She has an extra level in the Circle Opens, that she has to research the craft being displayed. At the end of this book, there are several people and a book listed as references for the glass portion of the book. But a lot of the glass making in the book simply isn't correct. I might be able to let it go as artistic license, Thanos glassblowing isn't (Venetian, Czech, Indian, pick a culture) glassblowing, but with that much research I'd expect it to be right. Which of course makes me second-guess, maybe the other books aren't as well researched, I just don't know as much about weaving/rocks/gardening/metal/whatever to pick up on it.

Disclaimer: I've read this book three times, but it is possible that I'm just picturing it wrong or I misread and Pierce got it absolutely right. If I'm wrong and just being an asshole, please fire back.

Hot glass comes out of the furnace at two thousand degrees. Even if it could slide back down the pipe to burn someone's mouth (which, given the length of the pipe and narrowness of the tube inside, it would be cooled long before it reached the end... almost like it was designed that way), it would be a serious injury. The dismissiveness that Pierce describes it makes it seem like it's akin to taking a mouthful of tea that's really hot.
Why is everyone standing to blow glass instead of sitting at a bench? Have you ever tried completely support and turn a four foot long pole with one hand while you try to do something to the end?
Why did Keth put his octopus in the annealor for a few hours instead of a full day?
When the mages tear the glass off the pipe, why isn't there a big ol' hole in the glass bubble because they forgot to close down its connection where the air comes through?
Why is Keth blowing glass solo? (this one I can let go; plenty of glassblowers work alone. But typically you have someone at the bench with someone else assisting. The only reason I nitpick that is it's my favorite part of glass.)

The plot is okay; but it suffers in comparison to the other three--it's kind of a Jack-the-Ripper style tale, and the only real complication preventing him from being apprehended is the ritual purifications required by the city, which is culturally terrified of death and decay. Chime is wonderful, though not really that different from Kitten/Skysong in the Immortals books. So I might buy it simply to complete the quartet, but it's definitely not one of Pierce's best. ...more

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May 18, 2011 Mary rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi-i-loved, magical-girls

One of the things that I love about Tamora Pierce's work is how she goes beyond the tired old "medieval Europe" setting a lot of high fantasy novels fall into. In her books she explores a variety of settings and cultures drawn from our real world, and in Shatterglass, we find Tris in a city that seems to be a mix between India and the ancient Greek city states. Politics, religion, magic, and social issues are all skillfully woven together in this story, which is something that I've come to expec One of the things that I love about Tamora Pierce's work is how she goes beyond the tired old "medieval Europe" setting a lot of high fantasy novels fall into. In her books she explores a variety of settings and cultures drawn from our real world, and in Shatterglass, we find Tris in a city that seems to be a mix between India and the ancient Greek city states. Politics, religion, magic, and social issues are all skillfully woven together in this story, which is something that I've come to expect from this author's work.

Before settling on reading this, I was trying to work my way through some current YA novels, and returning to Ms. Pierce's work has identified exactly why I was having trouble with some trendier reads.

- I love her "invisible" narration. Never do I find myself stopping and frowning at the book because I didn't like how something was written. Sometimes I may not like a story or character choice that Ms. Pierce makes, but any dissatisfaction I have with her work never has anything to do with the actual writing itself.

- Tamora Pierce is skilled at writing characters that are talented and lovely (though not necessarily both) and she never falls into the trap of explicitly writing "look how hot this character is and look at how talented they are and I'm going to remind you of this every other page". Tris is a powerful mage, but we watch her become that over the course of the books- when she was introduced at the start of this series, she had plenty of raw power, but didn't know what to do with it- she wasn't introduced to us all-powerful and fully formed. She has her flaws. Every new character doesn't fall in love with her. Perhaps I'm ranting more on this than I should after trying to read a popular YA novel that irritated me with the stuff I just ranted about, but my point still stands- Ms. Pierce is very skilled at creating characters and writing about them in a way that conveys their strengths and weaknesses without explicitly saying it. Her writing has subtlety.

And on the note of Tris's flaws, the covers for this book- the two that I've seen- kind of piss me off. Tris is repeatedly described as plump, with a long nose, and possessing wild hair tamed by braids. One cover kind of gets the hair right (the other just has straight unbraided hair? whyyyyyy), but both of them show her as being pretty thin, and the one that shows her face makes her rather conventionally pretty with a tiny nose. When a character is described as appearing "unconventional", would it kill the publishers to honor that? Please. Pleeeeeease. ...more

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Feb 01, 2013 JoLee rated it really liked it

Shelves: e-book, young-adult, 2013

I liked Tris's tale in The Circle Opens series every bit as much as Daja's. My favorite thing about this series are the fabulous settings. I don't think anything could beat the ice and snow and skating of Cold Fire, but Tharios was pretty cool too. It has an ancient Mediterranean flavor to it mixed in with some Hindu elements. The food sounded very tasty. Also, I really liked the craft magic involved in this one, glass making. It was interesting to read about a mage who came into his power late ...more

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Jan 02, 2014 ˗ˋˏ nikki ˎˊ˗ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, magic, 2016

Another 5-star from this quartet, as I enjoyed the world-building, magic, and characters as much as Street Magic! I saw glassblowing in Florence a little over 10 years ago, and then Chihuly's amazing glass sculptures in Seattle last year, and have always been enamored with this art form. Chihuly literally went blind in one eye from his work, which makes him as badass, and anyone with blows glass with the disruptions of lightening powers (Keth) crazy badass! Also, Tharios was a deeply thought out ...more

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Apr 03, 2009 Lindsay rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 20, 2014 Eileen rated it really liked it

This book gets four stars mainly because Tris is such fun to read. I can't speak to the accuracy of the glassmaking, but again Pierce's keen interest in craft makes it impossible not to be fascinated by what Keth is doing. The setting was also very interesting and well-drawn.

But once again, a Circle kid travels abroad and the biggest lesson they learn is how backwards them crazy foreigners are. Because... they have a really strict sanitation system! Okay, they have a caste-based sanitation syste ...more

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About Tamora Pierce

Tamora Pierce

81,603 followers

Hey, folks! I just discovered that apparently I have given some very popular books single-star ratings--except I haven't. How do I know I haven't? Because I haven't read those books at all. So before you go getting all hacked off at me for trashing your favorites, know that I've written GoodReads to find out what's going on.

I return to my regularly scheduled profile:
Though I would love to join gro Hey, folks! I just discovered that apparently I have given some very popular books single-star ratings--except I haven't. How do I know I haven't? Because I haven't read those books at all. So before you go getting all hacked off at me for trashing your favorites, know that I've written GoodReads to find out what's going on.

I return to my regularly scheduled profile:
Though I would love to join groups, I'm going to turn them all down. I just don't have the time to take part, so please don't be offended if I don't join your group or accept an invitation. I'm not snooty--I'm just up to my eyeballs in work and appearances!

Also, don't be alarmed by the number of books I've read. When I get bored, I go through the different lists and rediscover books I've read in the past. It's a very evil way to use up time when I should be doing other things. Obviously, I've read a lot of books in 54 years!

I was born in South Connellsville, PA. My mother wanted to name me "Tamara" but the nurse who filled out my birth certificate misspelled it as "Tamora". When I was 8 my family moved to California, where we lived for 6 years on both sides of the San Francisco peninsula.

I started writing stories in 6th grade. My interest in fantasy and science fiction began when I was introduced to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J. R. R. Tolkien and so I started to write the kind of books that I was reading. After my parents divorced, my mother took my sisters and me back to Pennsylvania in 1969. There I went to Albert Gallatin Senior High for 2 years and Uniontown Area Senior High School for my senior year.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I wrote the book that became The Song of the Lioness fantasy quartet. I sold some articles and 2 short stories and wrote reviews for a martial arts movie magazine. At last the first book of the quartet, Alanna: The First Adventure was published by Atheneum Books in 1983.

Tim Liebe, who became my Spouse-Creature, and I lived in New York City with assorted cats and two parakeets from 1982 - 2006. In 2006 we moved to Syracuse, New York, where we live now with assorted cats, a number of squirrels, birds, raccoons, skunks, opossums, and woodchucks visiting our very small yard. As of 2011, I have 27 novels in print, one short story collection, one comic book arc ("White Tiger: A Hero's Compulsion") co-written with Tim, and a short story anthology co-editing credit. There's more to come, including a companion book to the Tortall `verse. So stay tuned! ...more