Book Review: Glitter by Aprilynne Pike

Glitter (Glitter Duology #1) by Aprilynne Pike

Blurb:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike comes a truly original new novel—Breaking Bad meets Marie Antoinette in a near-future world where the residents of Versailles live like it’s the eighteenth century and an almost-queen turns to drug dealing to save her own life. 

Outside the palace of Versailles, it’s modern day. Inside, the people dress, eat, and act like it’s the eighteenth century—with the added bonus of technology to make court life lavish, privileged, and frivolous. 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.

My Review:

Welcome to the palace of Versailles where despite the fact that it's somewhere in the late 2000s/early 2100s people still live as if it's 1700, except with modern technology.

A hundred years ago Versailles was bought from the French in an underhanded deal by the head of a tech company (I think, don't hold me to that) who refurbished the palace to its' former glory, brought in his employees and declared himself king of what he called "Sonoman-Versailles" - a separate country from France. (Reviewer note: Does anyone else think that sounds like the name of the cookware store Williams-Sonoma??)

Now four generations later the country and company is being run by nineteen-year-old Justin. When our heroine seventeen-year-old Dani accidentally sees the young king having rough sex with a nobleman's daughter and he sees Dani and panics, accidentally strangling the girl to death, Dani's mother cooks up an evil plot. She and Dani will remain quiet about what they've seen if the King marries Dani and makes her his queen. At first, Justin balks at the idea but like a caged animal he eventually gives in. 

Dani doesn't want to be Queen and she definitely doesn't want to marry a man that could potentially kill her but she has no choice. In an attempt to escape her life at Sonoman-Versailles, Dani sneaks away from the palace to the Catacombs of Paris in the hopes of being smuggled away from her old life to a new one. But her face is too noticeable and her would-be savior tells her he'll only help if she manages to raise five million euros. 

Dani doesn't think it is possible until she discovers the illegal drugs her father has been stealing money from her to purchase and Dani begins to see a way out. She'll sell these addictive glitter drugs to the noblemen and women of Sonoman-Versailles to earn the money she needs to escape her impending marriage. 

When the drug deal she meets turns out to be the same man she met in the catacombs she's even more determined not to fail and with the help of one of the drug dealer's young assistants, Saber, Dani comes up with the idea to put the drugs into cosmetics to sell at court. 

The idea is a startling success and Dani sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe she will escape in time. But she's forgetting - drugs are addictive and they come with deadly consequences. After two unexpected deaths the entire Glitter operation begins to implode, will Dani be able to escape Sonoman-Versailles with Saber, the boy she's begun to have feelings for? Or will everything begin to crash down on top of her?

This book took two tries for me to get through and I did end up liking it in the end. I like the world Dani lives in at Sonoman-Versailles, it's an interesting contrast to the modern world outside the palace walls. And there were some interesting technology devices in this book - not a lot though which is what I would have expected in a futuristic world after reading similar books like The Thousandth Floor. 

However, I didn't quite see King Justin as the villain he's made out to be. Yes, he killed his lover accidentally in a kinky-sex-gone-bad situation but its not like it was full-blown premeditated murder. I don't believe he intended to kill the girl. There's a huge difference between negligent homicide, manslaughter, and out-and-out murder. Hell, what Justin did could even be considered an accident - he was startled and he squeezed the girl's neck too tight. I kind of think Dani's reaction to Justin was a little blown out of proportion. 

 And yes, Justin is a cocky, arrogant, jerk who is used to getting what he wants; but he's a 19-year-old king, seriously, what else do you expect? I kept waiting for a stand out scene or some solid proof that made me think "OMG this guy is a monster!" but I didn't really get that. Yes, he's an antagonist in this story, but is he really a true "villain" or just someone that struck an unreasonable bargain in a moment where he felt like a cornered rat? At times I almost found myself liking him, but hey, I tend toward the screwed up guys. 

Honestly, if anyone is a villain here it is Danica's mother. I can definitely say I think she's a cold, conniving, scheming witch with a b.

Despite all that I liked the premise of the book and I'll probably read the sequel. It was an enjoyable read once I looked past my issues with Dani's reaction to Justin and realized it wasn't as well thought out as my favorite futuristic book, The Thousandth Floor. 

My Rating:

3.75 of 5 Stars!