The pace in this one started off rather slowly to me with the writing being a bit denser than I usually like which didn't help me really get invested in this story at all. I will say there were some creative ideas that had potential but I just felt it kind of drag along and never really wow me as I read. I would also warn too that I was not expecting sexual activity at all from the synopsis so finding it took me rather by surprise. There was also a lot of language and some violence in this definitely adult fantasy. In the end though the style just wasn't for me but others may enjoy it.

There’s a limit to how much misogyny I can take, especially when it’s less than subtle. This was a book I was especially pumped for: it promised Hitchcock-era actresses, gangs, and a mystery that fascinated generations of the same family. Instead what I got was two brothers obsessed with a woman, one marries her twin and (apparently) commits her to a weird loveless marriage. Every generation after that has the sons obsessing (and, of course, masturbating) over the same pin-up of the missing aunt. A grandson who is the only-possible-chosen-one in the family, despite the fact he has a living mother and sister. I peaced out when a fat cop (who had paragraphs devoted to his fatness) made a deal with a gangster to force the missing actress to sleep with him and pretend that she loved it. No thanks.

2.5 Stars rounded up for an intriguing premise. Unfortunately, the book did not deliver for me. There were some genuinely creepy parts, and the concept behind it all held great promise. None of the characters were likeable. The structure of the whole dual setting was confusing, disjointed, and riddled with holes. The female characters were either brainless victims or beautiful soul-suckers, used as weapons. Despite the sex and violence, I found this surprisingly dull. Not terrible, just...meh.

3.25 stars. This is a hard book to rate. It's a book that requires thought, attention and dedicated reading time. If you're thinking "well that's how I always read" then I commend you.

Intensive Reading
For me I find myself (especially with ebooks) reading in line-ups, before meetings, at lunch, etc. So my reading time is not always sitting in my chair at home with no distractions. I wish it was; but if I want to read 100+ books in a year I cannot limit it to just those dedicated moments. After the first 50 pages or so I came to realize that Glass Town was one of those books (like Lord of the Rings) that requires your full attention if you want to catch all the nuances, foreshadowing and smart little quips. I call this 'intensive reading' as it requires all of your attention and is a different kind of reading than a romance, teen or even light thriller (ie: Dan Brown) is.

The Author
Steven Savile is a well known writer in the TV world having worked on Torchwood, Doctor Who and other sci-fi/fantasy shows. As I was already familiar with Savile's television work I was very excited to read his debut novel.
I think what Savile did with Glass Town is a bit extreme; in that he maybe got too excited about being able to provide every detail, thought and aspect of every moment of his story. Whereas in television he has dialogue and set notes at most (unless he's directing) so the tendency is to over explain, provide too much detail and potentially bore your reader.

Lagging at times
Glass Town really needed a sharp, hack and slash editor. It is an amazing story and would make a gorgeous movie or mini series (I'd love to see it over say 6 episodes). That's where this is a hard book to review or give a rating to. What do you do with a book that is so well thought-out including: good characterization, involved plot, clever twists and mind-bending timelines; but just not that engaging?
The answer for me was that I had to be wide awake and ready to read. I read before bed every night and this book was great for putting me to sleep, which was unfortunate as I'd have to re-read the next day. I read at lunch and found it was a bit intense to focus on in the middle of my work day (when I'm needing a break from thinking so hard). I also read after work and during commuting times. These times were the best to read Glass Town during as they are more focused reading. Unfortunately this limitation made it so that it took me a really long time to finish this book (by my standards). This resulted in me being tired of it before the end and almost skimming the last 50 pages (which is unfortunate as a lot of things happen).

Overall
If you are okay with an intense read and like thrillers with a mystical twist then I believe you will really enjoy this book. If you are more of a casual reader or someone who prefers 'easy' reads then this is probably not for you.
My hope is that in the future Savile can tighten up his writing. If he is able to do that then I believe I will adore his books as all the right things are there for Glass Town it was just a bit too overdone at times. I will definitely try another Savile book as the man is a genius when it comes to time bending, science fiction, mystical stories (which are some of my personal favourites)!

Really interesting read, and I loved the premise. I started off reading this book really enjoying it and then kind of tapering out. I skimmed the rest of it, because I genuinely wanted to find out what was going on but I didn't feel like immersing myself in it. We follow Josh as he is given this unexpected inheritance that spans back generations, a mystery about a woman named Eleanor who disappeared with a gangster and a place called Glass Town. It's up to Josh to figure out what is going on and how to save his family from this secret burden. I really wanted to like it, I think it was just a combination of not clicking with the main character and the drawn out descriptions of the scenery and background (which is totally part of the appeal of the book). Solid book, just didn't click with me!

Very interesting read, and take on New York.
We have ghosts from the past, mixed with today´s horror. A captivating tale.

This story was fun. I was able to get through it very quickly, I would use this book as a reference to newer readers who haven't experienced a plot like this before.

*I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

DNF @ 13%

I don't know what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but it wasn't what I got.

So, I have to say I think the writing is well done and there is a very interesting story here which I was only just able to break the surface of, but it isn't for me.
Something about the writing just doesn't fit with me and the pacing--- while not slow, does feel weird to me. I also was confused on the setting while reading. One minute the characters are at a funeral, the next a bar --so I assume the funeral is over, but next chapter is the wake which had me oh so confused.

So, while the mystery of Glass Town and the dynamics of a family feud revolving around one women may really appeal to people and keep them interested, the feud actually annoyed me and the mystery couldn't hold me through the strange set-up.

Before I say anything else about this book, including anything positive, let me start by saying that this is one of the most sexist books I have ever read. I mean, I’m sure there are worse offenders out there, but they tend to be in genres that I don’t read, or occasionally books that I start but don’t finish. But this book, I kept hoping it would get better. Instead, it wasted every opportunity it had to not be sexist. I can barely believe that this book made it, unquestioned, past a production process that apparently included women in the publishing house. This is a book that has people in it, and then it has females it. Well, barely, apart from victims and/or objects. Even the “good” characters seem to view women this way. (And actually, some of the male characters could have been written as women — officer Genarro, magician Damiola, or even main protagonist Josh— with practically zero substantive change to the book, other than a vast improvement in female representation.)

Apart from all that, this is an okay book. It is interesting enough to keep one reading, to see if Josh will discover the secret of Glass Town and “save the girl” (who is apparently too stupid to save herself). I enjoyed the concept of the film studio taken out-of-time, and the use of film imagery and language married with demonic entities. It reminded me of something one might see on Doctor Who -- which is a a compliment, and also unsurprising considering the author has written for Doctor Who! The fusion of these concepts with religious ideas such as Hell did not always work, however, and was not fleshed out. The internal logic of how Glass Town was kept in limbo was also not always clear or consistent. The writing, generally, was fine. I am even giving an extra star for some of the good points.

But from the get-go, it was very hard to push past such blatant and unexamined sexism. I was planning to list examples, but by the middle of the book there were already too many. It just infuses every aspect, every page. By the end, I was glad it was over.

Glass Town is one complex town, but so intriguing. This is a story that involved a love triangle that happened back in the 1920’s between a woman and the two brothers who loved her deeply. For one it was truly love and the other it became an obsession. This obsession led him to betray his brother and the woman he loved and he imprisoned her in a town that no one know about. Time moves differently there, for a year inside Glass Town, is one hundred years out in the world around it. This feud between brothers has carried on from generation to generation. Now begs the question, will the feud ever end? And who will it be that finally takes a stand and ends it?

Our main character Josh has found a letter that his grandfather wrote detailing his love for Eleanor, and her disappearance. With this comes a chain of events that is suspenseful and thrilling and even dark and scary at times. Family ties are supposed to strong, but when there is betrayals between family members, it is hard to know who to trust and what to trust. And with Josh’s family, he hasn’t ever really know a whole lot about them. He didn’t know about some of them to begin with. But, Josh stayed strong, both for his mother and his sister. He went through a lot, and most would have just given up, it wasn’t his fight to begin with. But that wasn’t Josh and I admired that about him. Now as for his cousin Seth, he was the epitome of evil. There was something off from the beginning. And as the story went along, it all came out to. A lot of the side characters were really good in this too. I just loved Josh’s mother, she was just the sweetest thing.

The setting was vividly described and it felt like you were right there with John through it all. Especially the parts about the Glass City, was a fascinating world that Saville created. Magic and spells, and the set of an Alfred Hitchcock movie being the back drop for the town. With the magic starting to fade, and the truth about the town coming out and magical creatures appearing in the real world looking like old movies stars, the suspense built and all led up to a pretty intense ending. I’m not much a science fictions reader, but this had more of a urban/dark fantasy vibe to it, that I really enjoyed and I think that other that enjoy the the genre will as well.

Overall, this was a gritty and dark world, with family betrayals from the past and the present. It was thrilling and kept me guessing on what the Glass Town really was. I am curious to see what Saville has in store for us in Coldfall Wood that comes out next year.

On the day of his grandfather Boone’s funeral, Josh Rainer finds a letter left to Boone by Josh’s great-grandfather. It talks of the obsession of two brothers for an actress in the 1920s and about her disappearance. It also explains that Rainer is not their real last name and that they are, in fact, part of one of London’s biggest criminal families. Josh is mildly intrigued but, when an elderly member of this family shows up at the funeral and gives what is clearly a veiled threat to leave the past alone and then he finds his house being ransacked by an impossibly beautiful woman but one who doesn’t seem quite human, Josh first tries to run but, as it becomes clear that he can’t escape whomever or whatever is after him, he develops his own obsession with solving the seventy-year-old mystery.

I will say right off the top that I found both reading and reviewing Glass Town by author Steven Savile somewhat challenging. Not to say it wasn’t an interesting read but it took me a while to get into it. And I finished it a couple of weeks ago but have been struggling with how I felt about it since. I found it at times a bit confusing and very hard to categorize. It’s listed as an urban fantasy but there’s also a kind of homage to 1920s silent films and the hidden dark side of London as well as perhaps a nod to noir movies – or maybe I’m looking deeper into it than need be. At any rate, it is, at the very least, a dark, gritty and atmospheric fantasy and one that certainly made me think. To be honest though, it seems that, for me, I will need to read it again to fully appreciate it. In the meantime, I give it 4 stars because it is very well-written and smart and 3 because it is at times confusing and a bit slow. So 3.5 stars it is.

3.5

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Glass Town by Steven Saville is one of those genre bending books that causes you to say "I don't normally read this type of book but...." It is a blend of psychological thriller, urban fantasy and magical realism but written in a way that is so utterly fascinating that you are drawn in and cannot stop reading until the very end.

In the story, the main character, Josh, has found a letter that tells of his grandfather's true love - not his grandmother - and of her disappearance. He, and we, learn of a Glass Town where time is nothing like our own and whose inhabitants certainly are not. There also is a marvelous rivalry and co-mingling of the two families, the Lockwoods and Raines, that is nothing short of brilliant. Yes, there is a LOT of information in the book and at times it appears that it isn't relevant - until it very much is and then you sit back and say, "ohhhhhh," in that aha moment kind of way. I LOVE books where the author stays ahead of me!!

I admit that I was a Saville fan going into the book. I could spot the episodes he wrote for on certain series and I've liked his other books. But this is a giant step forward. Regardless of your genre choice, this is a book I can wholeheartedly recommend to you. Enjoy!

The story that Steven Savile has created is remarkable in that Past and Present are placed in such an amazing juxtaposition that they meld together seamlessly. I love that the city, the time period, and the magic of it all are characters in and of themselves. This is a book that hooks you, keeps you turning pages and keeps your mind churning well after the final word. I'm already anxious to see how the movie of this will be made!

This is going to be a rather difficult book to get my thoughts together about, because it is very in depth and such a huge idea that I found it often a little confusing, especially in the beginning. It’s a lot to take in. This is a fascinating story though, and the way that the mystery of Glass Town is revealed is through Joshua, the main character’s discovery of different pieces of the puzzle, was well done, in my opinion. It’s revealed slowly as the story moves on, as one would hope.

We start the story with the funeral of Boone Raines, who is Josh’s grandfather. He has left him a long letter from his great-grandfather Isaiah Raines, detailing his obsession with Eleanor Raines, an actress from the East End back in the 1920s. He and his brother Seth feuded over her, and something happened and she disappeared. Isaiah spent the rest of his life trying to find her, obsessed with her, even going so far as to marry her twin sister and taking the name Raines to be closer to her. After he died, he passed the mystery to Boone, who has now passed it to Josh.

So, curious about all this, Josh starts investigating, and finds that his world sort of goes crazy with all kinds of cinema related shenanigans from the 20s and beyond. He starts seeing film stars following him, and breaking into his house and whatnot, and it only gets crazier from there.

The blurb compares this book to American Gods, but if I were to compare it to one of Gaiman’s works, it’d absolutely be Neverwhere. It’s more reminiscent of a strange, deeply magical, sort-of hidden, dark, and rather creepy bit of London, rather than gods road-tripping across America. Given the setting, this book is very British just in general, obviously. Places, slang, et cetera. But, I digress.

As I said, I found it a little confusing right at the start, and it’s because some characters know and reference things that aren’t apparent to the reader right away, so, it’s a little overwhelming. Like, oh snap, the dweomers are failing! Uh, well, point one is this is an awesome use of the word dweomer, but what is a dweomer in this context? ;D

Anyway, once I got into it, it was a pretty fantastic and quite thrilling adventure with an antagonist who is pretty easy to hate, and protagonists who are easy to root for. I thought it was well written, fast-paced, and mysteriously fun. I liked Josh as a character, and wanted him to succeed. So, all told, it was a pretty great read.

I’d like to thank the author as well as St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley for the review copy of this book.

In the 1920s, Seth and Isaiah Lockwood both loved Eleanor Raines, a young actress from the East End of London. However, Eleanor mysteriously disappeared never to be seen again. Isaiah, Seth’s younger brother, couldn't accept that she was just gone. It's been over seventy years and both men are dead, but now their secret threatens to destroy London. Seth made a deal with an illusionist to make a life size version of Glass Town, his most famous trick, in the city. Glass Town is a prison out of sync with time where every one hundred years on the outside equals only one year inside. And now, Seth's trick is collapsing.

Glass Town by Steven Savile is a totally enthralling, gritty historical urban fantasy with a great core mystery and compelling characters. The premise caught my attention right away and for the most part it live up to my expectations. I love that the author blends the world of 1920s and modern London so well. His descriptions of the setting and obsession of the characters are all wonderfully atmospheric, almost noirish even. My favorite unexpected element is the connection between this fantasy and Alfred Hitchcock's real life unfinished silent movie titled Number 13. My only real issue with the story is getting characters mixed up and having to backtrack a bit to review who was speaking and when.

Overall, if you're looking for an intriguing new historical fantasy to sink your teeth into, Steven Savile's new release comes with high marks from me. There are so many elements to enjoy with everything from classic film, gangsters, and to magic. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a great combination to me. If you like Neil Gaiman, Tim Powers, and possibly even Peaky Blinders, you may also enjoy Glass Town.

Josh’s grandfather dies, leaving a letter written by his grandfather’s father about his brother and a woman they both loved back in the 1920s, even though his great grandfather swears he saw her in 1994, looking just like she did back then. Josh embarks on a mystery that leads him on a journey into madness, mayhem, and magic. I am seriously conflicted about this book. It is well-written and the characters are very interesting. Not to mention, the plot was very unique and intriguing. I never really got into the book, however. Why did I give it four stars, or really 3 ½ rounded up? Well, I think the style of writing isn’t really something I enjoy, and I don’t believe it is fair to give a book so well-written and unique a bad rating just because I didn’t get into it. To be honest, the book reminded me some of the book Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko which I also had a hard time reading. And, I do know that there were a great number of people who liked that series. I do recommend but with reservations. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the e-book which I voluntarily reviewed.

I just couldn't get into this book so I can't really review it. I will try again in the future when I am in the mood for this genre of books

I have mixed feelings about this book. First – I love the story premise. The novel is well written. The characters Josh and Julie are likeable. My rating must hover somewhere between “It’s ok” and “I like it”. I am sure there is an audience for Glass Town. Unfortunately, I had to force myself to finish the novel, not because it was bad but because I just never could get into it. I wish I could say more positive or negative but I simply have a neutral view of it. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for supplying me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The premise sounded fantastic and different from my typical mystery reads, however, I couldn't connect with the characters or the story. I found the execution of the story to be slow and sometimes confusing and I did''t finish this one. Maybe it will work better for others who are more into the magic aspect of the story

Joshua Raines finds a letter that his grandfather had written confessing to being in love with another woman back in 1924 right before he passed away in 1994. That woman, Elenor Raines had gone missing seventy years before that confession was written leaving a mystery that had yet to be solved. Joshua didn’t have much of a memory of the letter since he was only eight when his grandfather passed but finding it has brought the past back to mind.

Back in 1926 Isaiah had fallen in love with Elenor but wasn’t the only one, his brother Seth Lockwood had also loved her and she and Seth both disappeared at the same time. Now Joshua will go on a journey to learn that the Glass Town had been created where time passes differently than in the real world, a hundred years would equal one in this realm and now the walls of the secret city are falling.

Glass Town by Steven Savile is an urban fantasy with a bit of a mystery edge to it as the character in our time is taken in with events that took place all those years ago and finds a fantasy world has existed. Unfortunately as interesting as this one sounded to me when picking it up once I got into reading the book it just never really grabbed me or completely gained my interest.

The pace in this one started off rather slowly to me with the writing being a bit denser than I usually like which didn’t help me really get invested in this story at all. I will say there were some creative ideas that had potential but I just felt it kind of drag along and never really wow me as I read. I would also warn too that I was not expecting sexual activity at all from the synopsis so finding it took me rather by surprise. There was also a lot of language and some violence in this definitely adult fantasy. In the end though the style just wasn’t for me but others may enjoy it.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.