A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz

A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz

Goodreads Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Beckan and her friends are the only fairies brave enough to stay in Ferrum when war breaks out. Now there is tension between the immortal fairies, the subterranean gnomes, and the mysterious tightropers who arrived to liberate the fairies.

But when Beckan's clan is forced to venture into the gnome underworld to survive, they find themselves tentatively forming unlikely friendships and making sacrifices they couldn't have imagined. As danger mounts, Beckan finds herself caught between her loyalty to her friends, her desire for peace, and a love she never expected.

This stunning, lyrical fantasy is a powerful exploration of what makes a family, what justifies a war, and what it means to truly love.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
 
This was a really good book, but it is definitely a love it or hate it. I most definitely (and I guess luckily) loved it. The writing style was unique and interesting and unreliable narrators make everything so much more interesting. Especially with the "edits" and "add ins" and the dialogue at the end about things that did or didn't happen throughout the book. It makes you wonder just how much of the story happened the way it was written or what other twists there were along the way that the reader wasn't privy too. 

Beckan was super fun -- probably because she was written as Scrap sees her, but was still written so raw and real. He is obviously in love with her, but that doesn't change the reader's perspective on her because he writes her as he knows her and to him she is still raw and real. He sees Beckan as a hero but also as a broken girl who has suffered traumatic loss in her time. He understands that Beckan is so much more than just one thing and can capture her voice. And she makes such interesting choices and they are all hers. Scrap may be writing it all down, but Beckan is still free to choose. These choices may have been embellished after (and some of them may not have happened) but they would still have been Beckan's choice.

Josha was a good character, but I would have liked to learn more about him and his relationship with Cricket. I feel as though we learned a lot about Cricket but not a lot about Josha and Cricket was "dead" for the entirety of the novel whereas Josha was alive and breathing. I do think that part of this was a bias on Scrap's part (since he was the narrator) but I did like the glimpses of his life and his relationships.

I did like the race politics and the mythology. The world building was there but it was a bit all over the place. There was still some expansion of the typical mythology and I was interested in learning more about the creatures that aren't typically discussed. Especially the tightropers. I imagined them as like spider people but I'm not sure if that is a good description. I also imagined everyone to be like very tiny, just fyi. The descriptions made them feel very tiny so that is how I pictured them. The fairies were SO GOOD. I liked every decision that the author made about how to portray them ALTHOUGH DO BE WARNED ABOUT BAD BAD LANGUAGE.

The plot was imaginative and kept me on the edge of my seat. I was worried that there wouldn't be enough book left for the plot, but there was and even some little extras. I do hope this remains a standalone and not a series. Or maybe have a companion that is written from Rig's perspective. I mean it was hinted at, and would give us a look at the gnome's perspectives during the entire book. (Plus then I would know what happens at the end and not be worried during the last 20% of the book)

Overall: 4/5 because I loved how creative and imaginative it was!