One of the first books I reviewed when I started getting ARCs was Greenglass House by Kate Milford. I loved the depth of characters and the page-turning puzzles. So of course when I saw there was a sequel, I HAD to have it. Now, it's important to note this is book 4 in the series, which I didn't realize until halfway through, but it can be read as a standalone with very few spoilers regarding the other books. I still plan to read the other books (which are on hold at my library due to COVID-19) and I don't feel like this book ruined them for me. This book follows best friends Marzana and Nialla who live outside of Nagspeake in a place called the Gammerbund, where a lot of interesting people live but nothing interesting ever happens - or so Marzana thinks. When her parents are visited by someone seeking their help finding a kidnapped girl, Marzana is quickly pulled into the mystery and decides this is her chance to have an adventure. She rounds up a group of friends, old and new, and they try to find the missing girl before it's too late and before their parents find out what they're doing. Now, on to the things I really liked about this story. I loved that there are so many strong, female characters. You have Marzana, Nialla, Emilia, Meddy, Violet, and even Peony. I love that Marzana experiences anxiety and that her character grows and develops coping skills and confidence, but that at the end she is still herself. She still has anxiety, she has just learned how to handle it better. She puts her foot in her mouth and says hurtful things and she doesn't realize or resolve them immediately. In this respect, her development does not feel rushed. I liked the development of new friendships and the story behind the group's name. I liked the tension between Marzana feeling left out of her mom's stories and Meddy and Emilia knowing the stories but their parents being deceased and how it reflects that people have different perspectives. I also liked the final puzzle of what the kidnappers were looking for. I felt it was touching and a poignant lesson to learn, but it also made me sad they couldn't at least let the kidnappers see the solution to the puzzle - without spoiling the big twist, I feel like given the unique circumstances, some compassion was called for in this case. The cover is also gorgeous. Whimsical whisps of smoke fluttering around the towering stained glass accents of the mansion-turned-school that Marzana and Nialla attend. Honestly, if there were more illustrations, I’d give this book 4 stars. I think part of the reason I couldn't rate this higher is that at almost 500 pages, I felt like it dragged and went off-topic too many times. I found myself getting distracted and disappointed, which was upsetting considering Greenglass House is one of my favorites. It is almost 100 pages longer than the other books in the series besides Ghosts of Greenglass House, and I just felt like there were definitely some parts that could have been cut. The result is a book that moves slower than Old Iron and ultimately felt like a Thief Knot itself - tied loosely and falling apart at the slightest nudge. There were three main elements that I felt were unnecessarily included and took up a lot of space without a lot of payoff - the old iron, the mysterious tea shop the children explore, and Peony's message. Firstly, the old iron does provide a gorgeous setting and interesting history of why the city has limited technological development and why the Belowground stations have halted. It is an intriguing element that deserves to be a mystery of its own - but delivery on that fell flat because we got no answers on exactly what it is and why it moves on its own. Perhaps these things will be discussed in other books, but I feel like if you take up nearly 40 pages to describe it, it should be treated as more than a simple setting. I felt like it was only included because it looks nice and provides great imagery, but if that is true, it could have been accomplished in far less pages. Second, Sodalime's Glass Museum and Radioactive Teashop. A very interesting place the children explore, with interesting pieces of glass and magically-appearing food from invisible hosts (that they eat without any questions, which is weird for children who ask so many questions - did no one consider this food could be put there to harm them?). This location is beautifully described but we never find out any answers as to why it was created by the author. And finally, Peony's message. We spent so many pages learning that Peony had hand-cut the pages from her graphic novel so that there would be a secret message. It turns out this message does give clues to where she is. And based on the way the message is written about teacups, it seemed to me like it could be in Sodalime's, which would give us answers as to how there is food prepared when the children arrive and why Sodalime's is even brought up in the first place. But no, Peony is instead found in an abandoned amusement park teacup ride. So is that our answer? That Sodalime's is a red herring for readers who want to try to solve the mystery themselves? If so, it feels disingenuous to mislead your readers when the real answer is not given. The amusement park is not mentioned prior to the reveal, so there is no way to solve the puzzle on your own. Like some other reviewers, if this had been a standalone book, I feel like I would have expected less and enjoyed it more. But I did expect more out of Greenglass House. I loved the characters and the story, but the execution left something to be desired. It is a good book, but I did not feel the same way as I did about Greenglass House. It left me with far too many questions that I feel won't be answered later in the series.
NOTE: I received an ARC copy of this book on NetGalley. I received no incentive to read or review this book other than said copy of work. The review below contains my own thoughts and opinions. Special thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the free copy.