Its to be expected that I would enjoy this, all of Höst's books have been greatly enjoyed by me. This is however the one I've put off reading because at first I wasn't certain about it. I'm really uncertain why, I bought it (Kindle and paperback edition), I happily displayed it and told folks about it when I would mention Höst's works to them. I just somehow didn't get around to reading it yet.

Then I got sick and was laid up in bed unable to move more then a few feet and this just happened to be my bed stand (I had recently lent it out and had it returned to me).

Those familiar with Höst's works (Champion of the Rose or the Medair duology mainly) will recognize some of the patterns here. Pre-ordained event, things spiral out of control due to unforeseen variables, and then clever planning (with a bit of contingency planning as well) wins the day with a layer of bittersweet consequence. This is of course much MORE than that--it doesn't describe Ren's fractured morality or Kendall's stubborn need for independence or the Kellian's complicated history making a mush of their present circumstances--but the bare bones run down to that I think.

Ren has moved herself up on my list of Höst's characters by simply being everything she says she is and not giving an inch to anyone who says otherwise. Very few people seem to understand what exactly Ren is doing or giving up. Faille understood, maybe because his people (the Kellian, golem constructs of magic made by the Black Queen 300 years ago to be her brute force) are stuck in a similar position. Ren could, and did do, everything in her power to keep the Grand Summoning from occurring, but she's tainted by her ancestry.

Kendall is more or less an after thought at first. Used by the Sentene to track Ren, then shuffled off to a school of mages too far advanced for her untutored self, before finally she's tossed about understanding way more then anyone gives her credit for (initially). The inclusion of things from her point of view does a lot to explain everything that Ren doesn't care about (or can't think about). We see more of the politics, hear more from the outsider observations about how the ordinary people see things.

As Kendall begins to understand what's going on, the reader can see the larger picture and understand a lot of what Ren isn't saying and Kendall can't know.

I would have liked to spend more time with the Kellians. We see basically three and those are the three we learn the most about. Sukata is passionate about her magical studies, her mother Captain Illuma and then Faille, who interestingly apparently was a topic of sympathy from his fellows from almost as soon as Ren appeared (though how he knew is beyond me). Over the course of the novel both Kendall and Ren observe ways to understand the feelings of the Kellians, but by in large they are much more shrouded in mystery.

Things move quickly in the book and at this I come to sticking point. I'm not entirely sure how much time passed from the first page to the last, though at least a month went past based on something Seb (Ren's younger brother) said. That being the case, Ren's interest in Faille seemed to just suddenly appear. Not like insta-love (just add lust), but it was just there suddenly and I'm not sure the story supported it fully.
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The last time I reviewed books by Andrea K. Höst I commented that she is very good at putting her characters in situations that I find compelling. There's an emotional intensity to these characters' situations that I react to. Her characters are cut off from their home and the people they care about - a sort of exile - and have to navigate a loss of agency and being stuck with people they don't know while grieving for what they have lost.

So I was a little surprised Stained Glass Monsters didn't quite fit the pattern.

Both of the main characters have lost their parental figures but they have also had some time to deal with that. The younger of the two, teen-aged Kendall, does also lose the shed she was living in, but she's not upset for very long; instead she's curious to see what happens next. Or perhaps because of how the bounces back and forth between her and Rennyn, it skips over some of Kendall adjusting to her new circumstances at a school for mages.
Meanwhile Rennyn has the support of her younger brother (who shares her secrets) and she is focused on the very important task she has been training all her life for. Completing that task doesn't go exactly to plan and Rennyn's not entirely happy about that, but she's... still in control.

Like Kendall, I was curious about what happened next but I certainly didn't feel a desperate need to put my life on hold to finish the book. At least, not until I was over halfway through, until I had become invested in the characters. It took a while to get to know them because the it switches between Kendall and Rennyn, and also because Rennyn has her secrets.

That said, I enjoyed Stained Glass Monsters. I liked the family interactions between Rennyn and Sebastian, and the way they deal with their family's legacy. I liked the worldbuilding, and that so many of the prominent characters are women. I liked the subtle romantic subplot. Stained Glass Monsters stands alone but apparently there's to be a sequel, so I'm looking forward to whenever that comes out. ( )

Stained Glass Monsters by Andrea K Höst is a standalone (ish) fantasy book from an author whose books I've enjoyed several times in the past. I added the "ish" because I just saw a listing on her website indicating that there will be another book in the same universe, apparently a sequel, but the first book is pretty self-contained.

When a motionless woman dressed in white appears in the village of Falk, Kendall Stockton has no inkling that the strange apparition will soon leave her homeless, and tangled in the affairs of mages and monsters. For the white figure is the first sign of a spell which will shatter cities, and make the caster as powerful as the gods.

Saved by a stranger who claims her goal is to stop the woman, Kendall is torn between admiring the mage Rennyn Claire's strength, and doubting her methods. What is Rennyn willing to do to win? Do the best of intentions justify pragmatic sacrifice, or is Rennyn Claire no better than the monster she is trying to stop?

This was a nice read. The two main characters — Rennyn, the powerful mage who has been trained her whole life to save the world, and Kendall, the teenage orphan that coincidentally crosses her path — provide nicely contrasting points of view. Rennyn is focused on her task and saving everyone (particularly the world and protecting her brother). Kendall, on the other hand, starts off following events only because she has nothing better to do. She's not very invested in what's going on beyond her own safety and given the opportunity to learn magecraft, decides to only bother until she can learn enough to get paid to be the most basic kind of magic wielder.

I enjoyed Stained Glass Monsters, but it's not my favourite Höst book. Although I was never bored, I did feel it moved a little slowly, especially in the middle. There was an element of following Rennyn as she went from points A, B, C to achieve X, Y, Z stages in her quest to save the world. To Höst's credit, we are spared needless details about X, Y, Z and all those scenes include some other element to drive the book onwards, usually character development.

I really liked that Rennyn was allowed to be a powerful and highly competent character. She had obstacles to overcome, but those were mostly external. What internal obstacles she faced were irrevocably linked with the whole world-saving thing. That she struggled to overcome them was because they were hard and anyone else would have struggled more. Also, Rennyn wasn't running around saving the world because she was a mystical chosen one. Her family, for historical reasons, saw it as their duty to protect the world and hence trained and planned extensively for the task. This is the only source of Rennyn's specialness. She was the only one who could do it (well, her or her brother, who was also prepared but Rennyn took point as the eldest) because she was the only one who had properly been prepared to do it. (Well, OK, one small aspect was because of her lineage, but not quite in the traditional "chosen one" sense.) It's a thoughtful twist on the "chosen one" trope.

You know what I've just noticed about Höst's books? It came up when I was reviewing Hunting as well. I start writing my review thinking "well, I enjoyed that but I'm not sure how much I have to say about it" and then I start writing it and, in the course of reflecting on the book, end up finding added depths that I didn't necessarily notice while I was actually reading. Thumbs up. There's also the fact that almost all the key players in Stained Glass Monsters were women, apart from Rennyn's brother and her love interest. Which makes me happy.

Stained Glass Monsters was a pleasant read and I recommend it to fantasy fans. Especially to readers of fantasy not wanting to commit to a long series, since it stands alone nicely (although I can see where the sequel might go).

4 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. ( )