SHADOWS OF GLASS is the second fantastic installment in the Ashes of Twilight Trilogy that is a must read for fans of dystopian fiction. This dystopian series ventures not into the present or future, but into the past in which a comet has caused cataclysmic changes to earth. Due to the comet's crash, the polar ice caps have melted and changed the landscape of many continents, causing lots of humans to perish. When we are introduced to main character Wren MacAvoy in the first book, we learn that she lives in a dome, more accurately, underneath it, where her social caste of coal miners is confined. Everyone inside the dome has been told their entire lives that nothing but fire exists on the outside, but Wren still dreams of freedom. Through chaos and revolution, Wren's dream is one step closer, but is it all that she has dreamed?

The author Kassy Tayler changes history in this mash up of dystopian drama and steampunk adventure, with a dash of love and confliction in the mix. At the end of the first installment, Wren MacAvoy is taking her first steps out of the dome and into an unknown world. From the very beginning, life is not as idyllic as she hoped. The weight of the consequences to the revolution she started is weighing heavily upon her and there is a lot of introspection. Although the amazement of the outside world is a revelation to Wren and her group of friends, no one is prepared for how to survive in this environment with few resources and limited knowledge of what is around them. With every bump in the road that is encountered, Wren carries the burden on her own shoulders. Is freedom worth the sacrifice: the pain, suffering, and loss that the community of the dome has endured?

Like the flight of birds that is symbolic for freedom, the action plunges and soars as Wren encounters the fearsome band of rovers that have learned to survive by any means necessary. The number one lesson on the outside is to survive at any cost, but Wren's conscious fights her at every turn. She is continually filled with doubt about her choices. She remains the strong and courageous girl from the first book, but tragedy and loss has made every decision she makes a conflicted one. Wren's choices are hard for anyone, let alone a sixteen year old in the throes of upheaval. It is her commitment to caring for her fellow refugees that I admire about the character. Readers will be enthralled with the whole richly layered package in SHADOWS OF GLASS. This is one dystopian steampunk, action-adventure, coming of age love story that readers don't want to miss!

Book Summary

Wren's world has changed. The thing that she fought for, escaping the dome has come to fruition, but it's not the paradise she thought it would be. Most of the shiners have died, and according to James, she is to blame for many of the deaths, a burden which sits heavy on her shoulders. Still some have survived and Wren is determined to keep them safe as they fight to establish a home outside while hiding from the rovers who have weapons that can kill from far away. But as long as she has Pace she knows everything will be fine. Still Wren wonders, as she sees the smoke that continually pours forth from the dome, how did her friends inside fare? Will they ever find out if Lucy, David, Jill and Harry, along with Pace's mother survive the explosions?

Meanwhile, someone else has also seen the smoke. A band of explorers from across the sea arrive in an airship, curious about the dome, and offering help to those who survive. When Wren meets the handsome Levi Addison, she suddenly questions her love for Pace as Levi offers to show her the world from his airship. Does she really love Pace? Or was it just the circumstances that made her think she did? Meanwhile, word arrives from inside via Pip, and Wren is forced to go back inside the dome, a thing that terrifies her more than anything else, to save her friends. Once she's back inside will she be able to escape again?

A whirlwind of adventure, romance, conspiracy and the struggle to stay alive in a dystopian world where nothing is as it seems