Red Queen Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Quote1 Red and Silver, and stronger than both. Quote2
Julian Jacos to Mare Barrow about Newbloods

Glass Sword is the second novel in the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard.

Summary[]

If there's one thing Mare Barrow knows, it's that she's different.

Mare Barrow's blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court attempts to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Prince Maven, the friend who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against their oppressors.

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.

Will she crumble under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.

Plot[1][]

Mare, Cal, Shade, Kilorn, Farley, and the rest of the Scarlet Guard are traveling by the underground train to Naercey. They are being pursued by King Maven and the Nortan army. He has brought Red slaves to use as a human shield to protect his front line. Maven lets missiles fly in an air raid on Naercey. Evangeline Samos and Ptolemus Samos are on the ground with other Silver fighters. Mare and her friends manage to escape on a submarine, called a mersive, and are taken to Tuck Island.

Upon arriving on the island, Mare sees that soldiers from the Kingdom of the Lakelands are there. The Lakeland commander, known as the Colonel, has taken over the leadership of the Scarlet Guard. It's revealed that the Colonel is Willis Farley, Farley's father. He immediately puts Cal in chains and takes him to be interrogated. Mare learns that her family has been safely brought to Tuck. She is reunited with them.

Mare learns from Farley that Cal is locked up in Barracks 1, an underwater bunker. Mare and Kilorn go to talk with him. At the last second Kilorn pushes Mare into the cell of Silent Stone with Cal. Later, Kilorn, Shade, Farley, and the Colonel come to question them. Shade, Farley, and Kilorn attack the Colonel and rescue Mare and Cal. Kilorn is able to grab the list of newbloods from the Colonel's office. The group steals an air jet to escape from Tuck and begin the search for newbloods before Maven kills them.

The first newblood they find is Nix Marsten, and he agrees to join them. Next, they travel to Harbor Bay. Farley uses her contacts with a smuggler gang, the Mariners, to get into the city. However, the gang betrays them because Maven has offered a large reward for the capture of Mare and Cal. The group is able to escape and they make it into Harbor Bay. They make it to the Security Center where the addresses for all citizens in the region are kept. They get the information they need, but discover that Maven has beaten them to the first person on their list, Wolliver Galt, and has set a trap for them. Maven uses an unknown machine on Mare that causes her great pain, as if her lightning is being uses against her. She passes out for four days. When she wakes up, she learns that her friends were able to save her and get them all out of the city. She also discovers that the machine Maven used on her has left lightning-shaped scars on her body. The group has spent the four days she was unconscious getting several of other newbloods out of Harbor Bay.

They continue to find and recruit newbloods across the countryside. The newbloods treat Mare as the Lightning Girl—as an outsider. They see her as different. Mare struggles with not feeling like herself anymore, and she struggles with wanting to push Cal away and wanting him to stay close. Cal teaches and trains the recruits in how to use weapons, fight, and control their abilities.

Maven begins leaving Mare notes in their quest to find more newbloods. When Maven reaches a Newblood first, the group arrives to find the Newblood and all of their family dead, even babies. In his notes he tells her that the killing will stop if she turns herself in. Mare doesn't tell anyone about the notes. Cal believes Maven is still in love with her and will do anything to get her back. Mare refuses to return, even if it means Maven will stop the violence. Mare and Cal both struggle with missing the Maven they thought they knew, and reconciling that person with who Maven really is.

The group learns that Maven is sending the first 5,000 child soldiers conscripted under the Measures to the front lines, but they can't think of a way to save them. They are known as the Dagger Legion.

In Rosen the group meets a strange man named Jon who is a Newblood and a seer. He does not join them, but tells them that Julian Jacos, Mare's old tutor and friend and Cal's uncle, and other Silvers who refused to bow to Maven are imprisoned with newbloods in Corros Prison. Maven's mother, Queen Elara Merandus, plans to use the newbloods in the war. Jon also points them to a young, headstrong Newblood named Cameron Cole, who will be vital to their plans. When they find her, the group discovers that she has escaped from Corros and has the ability to turn off the abilities of others. Cameron tells them she is on her way to rescue her brother, Morrey Cole, who is one of the soldiers in the Dagger Legion. She is forced by Mare to join their rescue mission. Mare convinces the group to go and reduce them. Cal plans to also release the Silvers that are being held prisoner as well in the hopes that they will join them, or at least help them escape. The idea of rescuing Silvers makes the others uncomfortable.

Together, Mare's volunteer group of newbloods and her friends break into Corros Prison. They begin to release the newbloods and Silvers. Suddenly they are discovered and a battle breaks out. To the surprise of the group, Elara is there, and she goes after Mare. When Ptolemus, who is also at Corros, kills Shade as he rescues Mare, she loses control of her emotions and lightning and violently and brutally kills Elara. On the air jet Mare and Cal have a fight over her decision to kill the guards. Cal is appalled at her actions and Mare reminds him that he has killed thousands of Reds at a general in the Nortan army. They remain of bad terms, and disagree about what should be done next.

Cal wants to head back to their safe house, the the Notch, where they left the rest of their group, but Mare wants to go to Tuck to make a deal with the Colonel. Upon arriving at Tuck, Cal heads back to the Notch for the newbloods. Meanwhile, Mare and the Colonel strike a deal. They produce a broadcast with a message calling for reds, newbloods, and Silvers to rise up together against Maven. Mare also displays Elara's corpse.

The Colonel introduces Mare to Rash and Tahir, representatives from the Free Republic of Montfort, a secretive country. Their leader has offered Mare and the other newbloods sanctuary. Mare refuses. The Colonel and Mare make a plan to rescue the Dagger Legion. The Colonel will take a group of volunteers and Mare will take another. They will attack on two fronts. Her brothers, Bree and Tramy, join her for this rescue.

As Mare's group, which includes Bree, Tramy, Kilorn, and Cal, fly to the Choke, they are attacked and their jet is ripped apart. They are all encased in cages and when they land on the ground they see Maven and his soldiers. Mare offers a trade to him. She will willingly go with Maven as his prisoner if he lets everyone else go free safely. Maven agrees.

Mare is brought to Whitefire Palace where Maven broadcasts her surrender. She is made to walk past Silver Elites as they call her a murderer, traitor, and other vile names. He makes her kneel at his feet while he places a golden collar and leash around her neck. Maven promises that she will be put on display, just as Mare did to his mother's body.

Characters[]

Newbloods[]

Reds[]

Silvers[]

Editions[]

The Collector's Edition of Glass Sword was published on November 6, 2018. It comes with a printed case and has color interior art, a redesigned cover, silver-stained edges, and a bonus Glass Sword scene from Shade Barrow's point of view about the early stages of his relationship with Farley.[2]

The Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition of Glass Sword includes a full-color guide to the Silver Houses, as well as an alternate Red Queen ending and Glass Sword opening chapter.[3]

References[]

Advertisement