Magic Under Glass

The opening chapters did not interest me immediately, and I feared that I would not care much for this book or the sequel. Then Nimira went to Parry's house and suddenly, without noticing the change, I realized that I was reading voraciously, completely wrapped up in the story Dolamore created. From that point, she didn't let me go.

Nimira is not the typical strong heroine, nor is she a shrinking violet. She lacks in physical strength and she cries several times. Still, she is a powerful girl to be reckoned with. When the chips are down, she does not let fear stop her. She fights for those she loves and for herself.

Okay, who would have thought that an author could make this work so well? I mean, Erris can't say anything but "Mmm," and can communicate solely by piano. His movements are similarly limited. Yet, Dolamore manages to make him come across as a real, dynamic character with a personality, rather than a static one. Wow. Just wow.

The inside flap compares Magic Under Glass to Libba Bray and Charlotte Bronte. My initial reaction to this was skepticism. I definitely didn't see the Bronte at all. When I found it, my like for the book became even stronger. This was pretty much the deciding factor for loving this book over merely liking it.

This book has everything. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Cinder or A Long, Long Sleep, other recent favorites. I am so incredibly excited to read Magic Under Stone.

Nimara and Jane Eyre have a lot of similarities. They are both odd ducks who take risky positions in isolated country houses where they discover dark secrets and drama-driven romance. Of course, since this is the modern age, Nimara has a lot more scope for action.

She falls in love with a musical automaton who must be wound with a key, and can only communicate with her one letter at a time, like a ouija board. It speaks a lot for her perseverance and/or wishful thinking that they manage a relationship like this.

Meanwhile, her employer is falling in love with her, with all the creepiness inherent in an inequitable relationship where he has all the power and she has talent.

Nimara and her clockwork beloved are arrayed against dark powers, and work to help restore the status quo.

I liked Nimara as a character. I think it would be easy to write her off an a victim of circumstance, but then she says things like

I felt a little sick, but pretending was a woman’s lot, more than ever on foreign soil.



and

Erris had enough to worry about without needing to console me. He tried to put his arms around me, and I turned away. “No. I’m not crying like one of those girls— who only wants to be held.” “You do want to be held.” His arms went around me from behind. I felt his strength. “And how I’ve wanted to hold you, Nim. I do like Nim. And I don’t just mean the name.”
I stopped pushing. I let out my breath. Some resistance inside me broke, letting in a rush of something I’d never allowed before. I had never been so weak; yet I had never been so strong.



I really like that she is aware of her societal place and roles as a woman, and accepts that sometimes it is dangerous, and knows that sometimes she does not want to act like her conventional notion of femininity. She wants to be sure that Erris knows she is not manipulating him by crying.

Of course, it's hard to sustain that level of self-awareness through the book, but I feel like Dolamore did a pretty good job of it. I had a lot of sympathy for Nim here:

Sometimes, before you make any plans or resolutions, before you declare your heroic intent to persevere, you just have to cry.
And cry I did.


But then after her sobbing fit, she gets up and gets on with being useful and competent.

I am certainly looking forward to the sequel. This one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.

Read if: you like self-aware heroines who critically analyze their feelings and situation. You can't get enough automata.

Skip if: you don't like exploited-girl-in-peril stories, you want the villains to be more sypmathetic or understandable than pure evil.

Reader reviewed by Ruthie

It took me awhile to get interested in this book. Once I did however, I found myself thoroughly enjoyed. This was a great fantasy with a modern twist. The ending seemed to lead on to what I hope will be a good sequel. I have high hopes for it. What slowed me down in the beginning, I don't know but hopefully the same won't happen in the future.

Reader reviewed by vicky

     Magic Under Glass is author Jaclyn Dolamore's first novel. It begins with a young woman named Nimira who works as a music-hall girl. This is a great fall from her family's position in her home country. She sings for pennies just to survive. So she thinks that she has been given a wonderful oppurtunity when a wealthy sorcerer hires her to perform with a piano playing automaton. However things are not what they appear. The automaton is not just a mechanical piece of art and Hollin Parry, the magician harbors a horrible secret.
     This book has a great plot but the climax falls a little short. Though, the book is decent for a first novel I have read better. It just doesn't give the reader the sense of magic that I believe most are looking for when they read a book that is suppose to be a fairy tale or fantasy. I believe a younger reader, say an advanced reader of 9 or 10, might enjoy it more than I did but some of the situations are a little too mature for that age group. The ending left it open for a sequel but I doubt that I will follow up on rather or not one is published. This book wasn't that bad, it just wasn't that goos either.

Reader reviewed by Misty (Book Rat)

Nimira is a "trouser girl" singing and dancing for her living in Lorimar
when she is approached by powerful sorceror Hollin Parry.  Hollin wants
to hire her to sing with the accompaniment of a life-sized, piano
playing automaton he owns.  His offer promises to change Nimira's life
drastically for the better -- but there is a catch.  Every other woman
he has hired has run away, terrified of the automaton, which they insist
is alive.  Nimira takes the job, refusing to be afraid of an automaton,
but when it comes alive for her, she finds herself in the center of a
story of a fairy prince trapped in a wooden body, and a dangerous man
who wants the prince dead -- and she must find a way to put things to
rights.







When I won this book from WillowRaven of  Red House Books, I was
excited because I had seen it around and thought it sounded cute, but I
figured it'd be a throw-away read.  A cute little story about a fairy
prince and the human girl who can save him, aww isn't that nice, the
end.  I didn't think I would find myself very invested in the story or
the characters, and I didn't think I would be late coming back from my
lunch break at work because I wanted to finish the chapter...



So Magic Under Glass surprised me.  I actually genuinely liked it.  Not
unreservedly, but more than I expected to for sure.  Nimira is an
engaging heroine, and I absolutely loved how she communicated with the
fairy prince/automaton.  I also liked that things weren't completely
easy for her in her feelings or her decision making, and that her
foreign background wasn't dismissed, but there was some social/racial
tension and some wistfulness for home.  It added a layer of authenticity
and depth to the story, so that even though it wasn't a main issue by
any means, it helped paint the scene.



It's a very fast-paced book with a nice blend of feistiness, romance,
magic and culture.  The drawbacks for me were few, but they are big
enough that they deserve a mention:

1. There is a blurb on the cover saying "For fans of Libba Bray and
Charlotte Bronte" which amused me to no end at first.  I assumed it was
just because of the time-period of the book, and I was like, "Charlotte
Bronte?  Really?  They're just going to throw that out there?"  But when
I got further into the book, I realized why that comparison was made. 
There is a strong resemblance to Jane Eyre in certain aspects of the
book, which I can't go into without being completely spoilery. 
It didn't bother me much, and if you haven't read Jane Eyre, it won't
bother you at all, but I am sure there are those of you who are going to
read this and be a little pissed that it has a rip-off feel at times.

2. I felt the first 1/2 was better than the 2nd.  Now, to be fair, I
read a proof copy, so I don't know how mine differed from the finished
version.  But for me, with the ARC, the first 1/2 was gripping and fast
in an enjoyable way, and really captivating.  I liked the set-up of the
world and getting to know Nimira, and everything flowed really well.  In
the second 1/2, I felt like the snowball was rolling a little too
fast.  I wanted better pacing, more of a chance to absorb what was going
on and let everything develop.  The second 1/2 wasn't bad by any means,
but compared to the first, it felt like a little bit of a rush job.



Those 2 caveats aside, I really enjoyed this book. It was the light, fun
read I expected, but with a little more oomph than I'd hoped for, and
that's a good thing.  If there is more coming (if this turns out to be a
series, which it will, if the rumor mill is right) I will certainly
pick up book 2, and I look forward to reading more from Dolamore in the
future.

Originally posted: http://bookrat-misty.blogspot.com/2010/04/magic-under-glass-by-jaclyn-dolamore.html

Reader reviewed by Crystal F

A
beautiful story of a girl who goes from dancing in a show to being a
woman set to sing with an automaton while living in a wealthy man's
home. I loved the fantasy world mixed with real world aspect of it. It
sounds like it's historical, yet there is wizardry and fairies mixed
in. A very well-developed world that I look forward to exploring more
in future books.



The love story is also beautiful. I like how it shows how one can fall
in love with someone for who they are not what they are - Nimira was
able to look past the fact that Erris is an automaton. And Erris' love
for Nimira was lovely too.



I liked Nimira's character, she is strong and even when she is a
dancer, she remember who she is and knows that she will have a better
life. She never compromises herself and I appreciated the
self-confidence she showed. But she wasn't without weakness either, she
was a great balance of being a young woman.



The plot kept this book moving along with the characters and it is a wonderful book to spend an afternoon with.

Reader reviewed by The Brain Lair

Who knew I would enjoy the story of a trouser girl, a sorcerer with no backbone, and an automaton?



Magic Under Glass combines a little Jane Eyre, in the form of a wife who is supposed to be crazy, with some magic realism. Nimira dances in a show that barely keeps her fed. Dolamore gives the impression that "trouser girls" are the lowest forms of dancers but somehow Hollin Parry is able to see something more in Nimira and offers her a job. She thinks about what her mom would think if she were still alive and decides she would be better off facing the unknown than staying with the troupe.