The Glass Casket by McCormick Templeman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal. Mystery
Content: Implied sex, Gruesome deaths 


Death hasn't visited Rowan Rose since it took her mother when Rowan was only a little girl. But that changes one bleak morning, when five horses and their riders thunder into her village and through the forest, disappearing into the hills. Days later, the riders' bodies are found, and though no one can say for certain what happened in their final hours, their remains prove that whatever it was must have been brutal. Rowan's village was once a tranquil place, but now things have changed. Something has followed the path those riders made and has come down from the hills, through the forest, and into the village. Beast or man, it has brought death to Rowan's door once again.
Only this time, its appetite is insatiable.

3.5 stars.

I've had this book on my to-read list for a long time and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. This was different, and I thought that was mostly a good thing. There is a paranormal element, but it also has a fairy tale type feel to it, and a mystery. Another reviewer pointed out that it has elements from several different fairy tales in it, especially Snow White. I didn't think of that while I was reading, but now that she pointed it out I can see it. There's the glass casket, and the way that character is described among other things.

The main character Rowan is the daughter of a scholar. Her father doesn't believe in the town folklore of fairies and witches and such, so neither does Rowan, but she's about to have some eye opening experiences. There are mysterious deaths in the woods, and an ominous presence is felt there, but not seen. The mystery continues to ramp up when the deaths start happening within the village itself. I liked the mystery that surrounded the woods and the village and it took me a little while to figure it out.

I liked most of the characters in this book, and even the multiple possibilities of a love interest for Rowan was well done. I did however get annoyed with the instalove between two of the characters. It didn't really make sense and I thought for a while that it would be explained as some sort of enchantment, but unfortunately it wasn't. There was just no real substance there, and as far as I'm concerned, those characters were just infatuated with each other. I honestly never really liked either of those characters very much in the first place. That's really the only negative part but it's why I'm giving it 3.5 stars instead of 4.

If you like dark, creepy fantasies with a fairy tale feel, then you might like this book.