Member Reviews
Through a Dark Glass is a tale about a 17 year old girl that must choose to wed 1 out of 3 brothers she has never met or spoken with.
The Volodane brothers are from the nobility but are ridiculed and scorned because of their low place in the social hierarchy. Their father hopes to change their station by buying a bride whose family has a powerful bloodline and political connections. That bride is Megan. Her father has agreed to marry her off to one of the brutish brothers in exchange for money which he so desperately needs to pay off loans and to keep up appearances.
At the welcoming supper, Megan flees to a storage room to be alone. Here, she questions how she will ever make such an impossible choice. She is desperate and anxiety-ridden. As she begins to cry, an enchanted mirror appears. Inside this mirror, there is a woman who lets her know she is there to help. She will let Megan live out each of the choices available to her, one for each brother, to help her decide. One by one, the life she would have with each brother plays out.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who will Megan choose of them all?
The premise of this book, in my opinion, is ingenious. For 1 heroine to live out 3 different lives and at the end, having to choose but not remember why she made the choice... I love it. This book is riveting. It kept me up late to find out what happened next.
The one thing about this book that readers may not like is the repetition . However, I believe it is necessary. For Megan to choose wisely, she would need to live through the same experiences with all the brothers. Then based on how they react or don't react, she now has her own decisions to make.
When I was first introduced to the Volodane men in the book, I did not like them. Their father, Jarrod, is brutish and demanding. The eldest Rolf seems grasping and hard. The middle brother, Sebastian, seems to be vain but friendly. The youngest, Kai, seems angry, petulant and brooding. Throughout the 3 scenarios Megan lives through, my opinion on each of them changes vastly. My assumptions are put aside to realize the fact that one decision can affect others in a positive or negative way.
There is love, alliances, death, murder, intrigue, happiness, sadness, conflict and everything in between. Every life she leads in engrossing and you end up loving and sometimes disliking the same characters. I didn't want the story to end. This one should definetly grace your TBR list.
I can't wait to read the next instalment.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington-Rebel Based books for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Megan of Chaumont is a seventeen year old girl living in the times of lords and ladies, swords and castles. Her parents are going to sell her to the Volodane family. She isn't given a choice on marriage, but she can choose which brother to marry. Which of the three Volodane brothers will she choose? Rolf, the eldest brother. Sebastian, the middle brother and Kai, the youngest. Each of the brothers have their strengths and weaknesses. Rolf is strong and determined to be among the leaders of the land. Sebastian is kind and has no interest in politics and wants their people to be looked after. Kai, is strong and a good swordsman and very proud and angry. During dinner when Megan meets the brothers, feeling terrified, she runs off to hide and finds a mirror that allows her to see what the future will be like with each brother.
I do not usually read sci fi/fantasy books but thought I would give this one a try and I am glad I did. It sounded intriguing and that it was. When Megan's older beautiful sister dies, Megan's parents force her into the arranged marriage with her choice of one of the Volodane brothers. She is terrified about marrying a man that she knows nothing about. Which one should she choose? Lucky for her she comes across a mirror that shows her what her life will be like being married to each brother. First is her life with Rolf, followed by Sebastian and Kai. Each life is different with each brother, some events repeat itself but choices she makes in each instance changes the outcome of events.
Parts of the story are exactly the same in each life path, so after reading it the first time (such as when she marries a brother and is on the long journey to the new home) I would skim past it the next time she chose a brother as it was exactly the same). For the story to flow properly, it was necessary for the author to repeat the story each time, but it did get a little monotonous. Perhaps I was just being impatient and eager to find out what would happen this time round. Megan's decisions or actions would affect the outcome. For example, each time Megan would have trouble with one of the kitchen staff, and how she dealt with the situation would make for a different outcome.
I really enjoyed the book and there was more than enough adventure, action, romance, and mystery in the story to keep me turning the pages. I recommend giving it a read.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me a review copy of this book in exchange for my review.
I really enjoyed this novel. The summary was engrossing and well constructed to draw potential readers in. Then the novel itself was fast paced with a fresh/different plot than the norm. Plus, the world building (social constructs) was well executed.
Finally, the protagonist, Megan and the three Volodane brothers were extremely well-written! The relationship between each brother and Megan was significantly different - but each had chemistry with Megan - so it was enjoyable from start to finish.
I can't wait to read the next book by author Barb Hendee!
Through a Dark Glass
is a interesting fairy tale about an enchanted mirror with its own will and consciousness.
To whom he appears, he offers a gift: free will, over his own destiny.
The desperate Magan is forced to choose between three sons. She has to marry someone.
Who will it be? - The stern Rolf, the vain Sebastian or the angry Kai? ... Mirror Mirror on the wall...
Seventeen year old Megan of Chaumont has just lost her sister when she finds out that she will now have to take her place and marry one of the brutish Volodane brothers. Megan’s parents are deeply in debt but still have their good family name and the Volodane’s have offered to help to hopefully improve their standing by marrying into Megan’s family. But Megan never intended to marry and has no idea what would be the right choice between the three brothers in the Volodane family.
Overwhelmed with the future she’s being forced to choose Megan flees the welcoming dinner to find a quiet spot and gather her thoughts. As Megan hides in one of the places she used as a child she finds a magic mirror and is offered the chance to look into what her future would hold with each of the brothers to help her make the choice between them.
Through a Dark Glass by Barb Hendee is a young adult fantasy read. While this one is fantasy in the fact that the magical mirror shows Megan what would happen between her three different choices the story reads a bit more along the lines of a historical romance. Set in a world with lords and ladies, nobles and peasants and when woman were treated more along the lines as properties than people each vision of Megan’s choices certainly had that historical fiction feel to them.
While I was quite intrigued with the idea behind this story and also found the writing to be quite nice overall I thought that this was began to be a bit too repetitive. The idea of getting to know where your choice will lead you before making it was a great idea for the story but with each of the visions the underlying events were all the same with slight differences to the outcome. I would have expected the visions to really veer off from one another to keep a higher interest level in the book so in the end I found this one to just be an OK read overall.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
This is a fascinating book. The main character is shown three different versions of her life based on her who she marries. Before I read the book, I knew which brother she would pick because of narrative rules. Not that this lessened my enjoyment of the book. It was fun to read which event would change based on who was her husband. And this wasn't a brutal book as I feared it would be. Looking forward to the next book in the series. Same structure, different characters.
I really enjoyed this book. Instead of the usual love triangles and thoughts of what if, we get to see the heroine live out her life with each of her suitors. I liked that each had their faults and their merits, even if there was a clear winner. I also liked that each experience was it’s own, unaffected by the other. The heroine was smart and strong, and the brothers were all good men. While there was magic, the obstacles were rooted in reality, and you could easily place yourself into the story with thoughts of “what would I do?”. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in this series.
So one of my absolute favorite tropes is the "What If...?" trope. I love dwelling on paths not chosen. I live for that sort of thing. So right off the bat this book's summary appealed to me.
It's by no means perfect; the events all, to one extent or another, are the same up until after the first formal dinner so it feels repetitive in the way Choose Your Own Adventure books could feel. Slightly different exchanges, such as how Megan handles meeting the kitchen staff, speak more to what will ultimately be the important theme for the life she could lead.
There is no WRONG choice here for her. As she sees each brother offers something she needs and something she wants. Rolf offers her respect, Sebastian offers her safety and Kai offers her acceptance. All three lives would be GOOD lives worth living, but whether they suit her is another story.
Technically you could call this an older YA/NA since Megan is 17 at the start and largely the book never verges beyond PG13 in terms of the romance. It's basically medieval fantasy, no real magic beyond the mirror itself evident.
And while it wasn't a detraction, Hendee's writing is better for the small details. Little things like how Megan responds to her new home (or whether leaning on Kai is a smart move) do more to explain how each choice shifts her thought process then the almost a bit too exposition heavy writing.
This all said it was an extremely quick read for me and one I was happy to stay awake past my bedtime for. I look forward to the next book quite a bit!
Well-written dive into three similar, yet alternate, possible futures for our main character Megan. Her father has struck a deal with a wealthy Lord; his eldest daughter must choose one of his three sons to marry in exchange for financial assistance so that her family can avoid ruin. Unexpectedly thrust into this situation on her seventeenth birthday because her older sister suddenly falls ill and dies, Megan is upset with her lot and seeks to find a way out of the situation.
Fortune has smiled down on her and provided an enchanted mirror which reveals exactly what a life which each of the brothers as her husband will entail. The book seems slightly repetitive at times, but her marriage to each brother is vastly different. I found myself more and more intrigued as the book went on.