Spy Glass »

Joshua Corin holds an M.A. in English and an M.A. in theatre from Binghamton University. His first novel, Nuclear Winter Wonderland, was named one of the top ten debut crime novels of 2008. He currently teaches college in Atlanta, Georgia.

After siphoning her own blood magic in the showdown at Hubal, Opal Cowan has lost her powers. She can no longer create glass magic. More, she's immune to the effects of magic. Opal is now an outsider looking in, spying through the glass on those with the powers she once had, powers that make a difference in the world.

Until spying through the glass becomes her new power. Suddenly, the beautiful pieces she makes flash in the presence of magic. And then she discovers that someone has st olen some of her blood—and that finding it might let her regain her powers. Or learn if they're lost forever…

Publishers Weekly

Fantasy and romance jostle uneasily in Snyder's third Glass Magic adventure. Sassy adolescent heroine Opal Cowen sacrificed her magical powers by draining off some of her blood in Sea Glass. Now she hopes to reverse the process, but someone has stolen her blood. While navigating the inevitable love triangle, Opal launches herself into a dicey spy-training program, equipped with a future-telling spy glass and her faithful steed, Quartz. Opal's sacrifice is also Snyder's, and the loss of power is paralleled: without the appealing glassblowing lore of earlier books, Opal's frenetic dual quests to recapture her magic and decide between two hunky lovers loses much of its originality, reducing this limited-vocabulary novel to a superficial and conventional young adult thriller. (Sept.)