Book: Glitter by Aprilynne Pike

Published October 2016 by Random House Books For Young Readers|384 pages

Where I Got It: I own the hardcover

Series: Glitter #1

Genre: YA

A royal murder. The promise of a throne she never wanted. And a glittering drug that is her only way out.

Outside the Palace of Versailles, it’s modern day. Inside, the people dress, eat, and act like it’s the eighteenth century. The palace has every indulgence, but for one pretty young thing, it’s about to become a very beautiful prison.

When Danica witnesses an act of murder by the young king, her mother makes a cruel power play…blackmailing the king into making Dani his queen. When she turns eighteen, Dani will marry the most ruthless and dangerous man of the court. She has six months to escape her terrifying destiny. Six months to raise enough money to disappear into the real world beyond the palace gates.

Her ticket out? Glitter. A drug so powerful that a tiny pinch mixed into a pot of rouge or lip gloss can make the wearer hopelessly addicted. Addicted to a drug Dani can sell for more money than she ever dreamed.

But in Versailles, secrets are impossible to keep. And the most dangerous secret—falling for a drug dealer outside the palace walls—is one risk she has to take.

Glitter is a book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for a while, and for some reason, I was in the mood to read something I own but hadn’t read yet.  Since I’ve really enjoyed her books in the past, I decided to go with Glitter.  I liked Glitter, but not as much as I thought.

Some of the world-building was odd.  I know it’s the first book in a series, so while I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t get more backstory, part of me is still hoping that we’ll get something.  Like, why are there people pretending that they’re living in Versailles?  They have a king and queen (Marie Antoinette and I think Louis…whatever Louis they were when Marie Antoinette was around), and they have to dress like they did during that time, but they also have technology.  It’s just strange, and at first I was thinking that it was some sort of alternate history sort of thing, but the more I read, the more I realized it wasn’t.

There’s some corporation involved as well, but I, for the life of me, couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on with that.  Are there other places similar to Versailles, where they have this odd blend of technology and re-eanctments?  Or is it just Versailles?

Also, it kind of defies genre a little bit.  It’s not historical fiction, since they’re pretending to be living in Marie Antoinette’s time, but it’s not dystopic.  It’s like…sci-fi mixed with thriller I guess?  I have no idea but at any rate, the world-building was just not what I was expecting.  It made it seem like the book was having an identity crisis because it could not make up its mind about what it wanted to be.  I loved her Wings series so much, and I was a little disappointed in the world.  I’m still going to read the next one at some point, because I am curious about what happens next, but I’m not in any rush.

This book did have a certain level of ridiculousness, which was a bit much in this case.  It’s ridiculous, but not the kind I’m willing to overlook.  Danica, while determined to get out of the palace and not marry the king, was also incredible selfish and not at all caring about the consequences of selling drugs.  She wasn’t bothered by the fact that she was getting people addicted to drugs, or that it killed people.  I have an inkling she might not see the error of her ways, but I could be wrong, considering marriage is not something she wants.  At least to the King.

I know it seems like I didn’t like this book, but I did.  It held my attention, and the characters are pretty memorable, even though I liked very few of them.  And I do want to read the next book, so I definitely liked it enough to keep going.  Also, I like Pike enough that I’m going to pick up the next one at some point.

3 stars.  I didn’t love Glitter (obviously) but I still liked it.