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A Face Like Glass

Frances Hardinge

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Feb 01, 2013 Wealhtheow rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, ya

One day Cheesemaster Grandible finds a little girl fallen into a tub of his whey. She remembers nothing, not even her name, and so Grandible names her after a cheese and takes her on as an apprentice. For seven years Neverfell turns, massages, and painstakingly crafts cheeses. (These are not the ordinary cheeses that you or I might think of. Here's a snippet that might give you some idea of these fantastical foods: "Grandible distrusted visitors, so by now all his booby traps would have been set One day Cheesemaster Grandible finds a little girl fallen into a tub of his whey. She remembers nothing, not even her name, and so Grandible names her after a cheese and takes her on as an apprentice. For seven years Neverfell turns, massages, and painstakingly crafts cheeses. (These are not the ordinary cheeses that you or I might think of. Here's a snippet that might give you some idea of these fantastical foods: "Grandible distrusted visitors, so by now all his booby traps would have been set. Doors would be locked and their handles smeared with a paralyzing veneer of Poric Hare-Stilton just in case. Besides such precautions, there were also the ordinary hazards of a cheesemaker's domain. Open the wrong door and you might find yourself faced with shelves of Spitting Jesses, rattling on their dove-feather beds and sending up a fine spray of acid through the pores in their rinds, or some great mossy round of Croakspeckle, the very fumes of which could melt a man's brain like so much butter.") But she's lonely, and curious, and one day she scrambles through a little passageway after a runaway rabbit and finds herself outside the cheesemaker's domain. Once she comes face-to-face with ordinary people, the reason Grandible insisted Neverfell wear a mask at all times is revealed: she naturally shows expression. Everyone else has to learn what an expression looks like after hours or weeks of difficult study (there is even a guild of Facesmiths who design, tweak, and teach new expressions), and so the ever-changing, immediately readable face that Neverfell presents to the world is shocking. It gets her into, and out of, trouble, as various characters seek to use its transparency for their own machinations. But in the end, it is not Neverfell's face but her empathy, unexpected logical leaps, and facility with machines that saves not just her, but all of Caverna.

This was a fascinating, captivating read. The characters are unique and memorable, and the world of Caverna is so richly, wonderfully described. I loved that every so often, something would happen that would turn the entire narrative on its head. The mark of a really good surprise is if you can look back and everything makes as much or more sense in light of the new information, and the twists in this book always do. And the writing itself is so charming, with so much character, humor, pathos and life to it. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2011 katayoun Masoodi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, favorites

thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

1 like · Like · see review

May 13, 2017 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: mt-bookpile-2016-2020, old-reads

Wow. Loved. This. This came soclose to being a 5 star - sometimes the plot meandered too far, or got repetitious, when more description or action was called for.

But when this is on, it's on. The "horror" of Neverfell's face, its mobility, contrasting with the frozen faces of the others in Caverna is so well depicted. I kept thinking about watching this unfold on screen, how the Facesmiths would teach people how to use an expression, or how this was (in a small way) similar to Oz' Princess Langw ...more

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