Review: Glitterland by Alexis Hall

 Glitterland (re-release)

Alexis Hall

5 🪩 out of 5 

My original review from Dec 2020:

This book was so much more than I expected. It’s title and cover do it little justice. 

The characters are written with depth and tenderness, the relationships are dynamic and engaging, but the real beauty of this book comes in the passages detailing the main character’s bouts with his mental illness. The author’s descriptions of bipolar depression display an on-the-nose, “been there” authenticity.

That said, there were also many moments where I found myself laughing out loud. Alexis Hall is as adept at profound sadness and beauty as he is with lighthearted comedy and romance. He writes stunning prose and the most endearing dialogue. Is there nothing this author can’t do?

✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨

It was so great revisiting this one again. I had forgotten about so much of what originally made me love it.

It’s truly beautiful in both content and writing. I’ve never read such a beautiful character as Darian. He is a kind-hearted cinnamon roll who doesn’t abide status slights and knows what’s important in life. Ash is a bipolar depressive struggling with his mental illness and bouts of self-loathing. The dialogue and inner monologues Hall gives to these characters are some of the most beautiful words I’ve read. 

Ash’s Oxford-educated pretentiousness allows Alexis Hall to let his smart boy flag fly. The many Shakespeare references were a particular favorite of mine. But the writing style is what impressed me most and makes me hope Alexis Hall will one day venture into other genres. I think he would knock a really dramatic litfic out of the park. 

I really enjoyed the bonus content - the author annotations are fun. And I’d read Aftermath before but it’s an absolute must-read after Glitterland and I’m glad they’ve included it here. Shadowlands was great, too. Niall is a character who feels like there’s so much more to him and I’m glad that we get to see that early scene from Glitterland filled in with his perspective. He’ll be getting his own book at some point which will no doubt be interesting. I’m excited to be able to get back to the Spires universe with new content.

I hadn’t intended on rereading this book immediately upon arrival but it ended up being delivered on a day when I was trying to decide on my next read, so I picked it up and, well, 80 pages and several highlights later… 🤷🏻‍♀️  

I tried my hand at tabbing and highlighting for the first time with this and I wish I had done a few things differently but it turned out all right. (Darian’s highlights/tabs are all in orange-y yellow. 🤭 He’s the one bright color I used throughout the book, like the ball of sunshine he is.) 

Do pick this one up if you haven’t already. It’s a truly beautiful (and unexpectedly hilarious) experience. 

🧡☀️🪩🌈