A Face Like Glass

By Frances Hardinge

A Face Like Glass is an astonishing and imaginative novel from the Costa Award winning author of The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge.

In the underground city of Caverna the world's most skilled craftsmen toil in the darkness to create delicacies beyond compare – wines that can remove memories, cheeses that can make you hallucinate and perfumes that convince you to trust the wearer, even as they slit your throat. The people of Caverna are more ordinary, but for one thing: their faces are as blank as untouched snow. Expressions must be learned, and only the famous Facesmiths can teach a person to show joy, despair or fear – at a price.

Into this dark and distrustful world comes Neverfell, a little girl with no memory of her past and a face so terrifying to those around her that she must wear a mask at all times. For Neverfell's emotions are as obvious on her face as those of the most skilled Facesmiths, though entirely genuine. And that makes her very dangerous indeed . . .

'Everyone should read Frances Hardinge. Everyone. Right now.' - Patrick Ness, author of A Monster Calls.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: May 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781447225942

Frances Hardinge

Frances Hardinge spent a large part of her childhood in a huge old house that inspired her to write strange stories from an early age. She read English at Oxford University, then got a job at a software company. However, a few years later a persistent friend finally managed to bully Frances into sending a few chapters of Fly By Night, her first children's novel, to a publisher. Macmillan made her an immediate offer. The book went on to publish to huge critical acclaim and win the Branford Boase First Novel Award. She has since written many highly acclaimed children's novels including, Fly By Night's sequel, Twilight Robbery, as well as the Carnegie shortlisted Cuckoo Song and the Costa Book of the Year winner, The Lie Tree.

Reviews for A Face Like Glass

[fionaanne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another fine tale of adventure and conspiracy from Ms. Hardinge.

[krau0098 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I picked this book up at my son’s book fair because it sounded cool. This book took me nearly a week to finish, which is practically unheard of for me (I normally read 3-5 books per week). However, it ended up being a really fantastic read and I loved it!Neverfell has lived with a master cheesemaker in seclusion in the city of Carverna. Carverna is an underground city where only the best of the best types of delicacies are made. People in Carverna can only learn expressions, not do them naturally. So Facesmiths are really important and only the very rich have multiple facial expressions. Neverfell is different, her face is constantly changing expressions which makes her both coveted and feared by the other residents of Carverna. As Neverfell goes digging for information on her past, she ends up threatening Carverna’s very existence.At times this book was a bit slow but the sheer creativity and uniqueness of the story kept me involved. This was a crazy story that starts out pretty abstract but ends up being strangely compelling and cohesive.Hardinge is flatout an amazing writer, even if it does take a bit of time and effort to read her writing. Her imagery is amazing and her ideas are phenomenally creative. I don’t know why I have never read another book by her before!I ended up loving this world, these characters and this story...even if I did, at times, curse it for being so dense and hard to read. It didn't help that the version I had was printed in a very small font, which slowed my reading speed a bit.Hardinge's writing style reminds me a lot of Catherynne Valente, although I do believe that Hardinge will be more accessible and easier to read than Valente for most readers. Overall, I will definitely be checking out more books by Hardinge...and in the future I will just make sure to plan on dedicating a full week to reading them.

[lamaestra72 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Talk about a really good piece of literature! The imagery, consonance and onomatopoeia are just a few of the devices that enhance this highly engaging prose. Hardinge is a literary lion! The characters are rich, and the surprises throughout the book leave me on the edge of my seat until the very end!

[shellypya · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the underground city of Caverna, the worlds most skilled craftsmen toil in the darkness to create delicacies beyond compare wines that remove memories, cheeses that make you hallucinate, and perfumes that convince you to trust the wearer, even as they slit your throat. On the surface, the people of Caverna seem ordinary, except for one thing: their faces are as blank as untouched snow. Expressions must be learned, and only the famous Facesmiths can teach a person to express (or fake) joy, despair, or fear at a steep price. Into this dark and distrustful world comes Neverfell, a girl with no memory of her past and a face so terrifying to those around her that she must wear a mask at all times. Neverfell's expressions are as varied and dynamic as those of the most skilled Facesmiths, except hers are entirely genuine. And that makes her very dangerous indeed.

[eduscapes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A FACE LIKE GLASS by Frances Hardinge tells the story of an underground people where facial expressions are learned.When Neverfell arrives in Caverna, her face stuns the people around her because they aren’t accustomed to natural facial expressions. She must wear a mask and figure out how to survive in this strange world where society is connected to social status and every expression has meaning.Librarians will find fans of Hardinge happy with this imaginative new middle grade fantasy. Share this novel with middle grade students ready for a book with strong characters, witty exaggeration, and creative world building.Published on May 9, 2017 by Harry N. Abrams. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

[grammarchick · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

You know you look great. Great. Painfully stunning. Then the person waiting for you looks up and their face says you are the last thing they want to see and possibly you also have half a biscuit stuck in your teeth.It sucks to see disappointment, fear (unless you are trying to scare someone) or disgust (maybe you picked that nose on purpose, who knows) on a face, but it's still information to help us process the situation.We need people's faces - nonverbal communication typically counting for more than half of the information exchanged in our conversations to give us clues. Now imagine a society where everyone just has a series of learned configurations to represent everything they are feeling or thinking. In A Face Like Glass, we meet Neverfell, a preteen orphan with a past she can't remember, who is growing up in Caverna, a sprawling underground civilisation that was created after horrible things devastated the cities on the surface. Many generations later, the inhabitants still don't believe it is safe to leave so they party/drudge/court eyesight problems and asthma in their city below. It's a very hierarchical scene with drudges doing all the dirty work, tradesmen making delicacies just to keep their ruler The Steward from getting bored and nobility playing mind games. Of course there's a statement about injustice and entitlement, but the part of the book that just kept fascinating me and creeping me right the hell out was the facial thing. Caverna infants come out "blank as eggs" and are taught a few expressions during their time in massive crèches. Lower-class babies are taught about what you'd expect for a servant (i.e., automaton who can't complain), usually amounting to only 3 or 4 expressions. No matter if they are sick, dying, furious, joyful or what; they can only make the "I'm eager to serve" or "I understand your need to punish me" or "I'm happy that I sleep on rocks" faces. Upper-class kids are given more and can buy lessons from Facesmiths ("Face 57, the Willow Bows Before the Gale" is an actual thing) as they get older. The unique Neverfell has a 'face like glass,' in that it allows you to see through to whatever she is thinking or feeling. No Facesmiths required, lots of suspicions raised. Of course this makes her very special and very upsetting to the status quo. When she gets caught up in a rich girl's scheme, Neverfell starts seeing things she can't unsee and finding out more about who she is - and why it's so important that nobody rocks The Steward's boat. Her story was frustrating at times but that actually worked to make it more believable. Of course someone's going to get busted half a dozen times when they have no Face 372, Dawn Breaking Over Ohio or whatever to cover up their intentions. Hardinge does a good job of building a world that is sprawling and vivid - it startled me all over again when someone's carriage was hoisted from cave to cave or people fed the lamps hanging over everything. I felt like I was right there (and then remembered I was also claustrophobic. Maybe don't read this in a small, enclosed space.) Usually I refuse to recommend post-apocalyptic stories but this was so far post and the scenario was so strange that I just have to tell people to read it. Also there's no teen romance, vampires or boarding schools, so if you're inundated with all three, this is a nice break. Hope you enjoy the book, try Hardinge's other work or, at the very least, feel relieved that all those cringeworthy selfie faces didn't have to be paid for.

[strider66_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pros: fascinating world-building, interesting characters, twisting plotCons: Neverfell was found around the age of five in the tunnels of Cheesemaster Grandible. Seven years later, a series of errors has her emerging into the wider world of Caverna and the mysterious Court that rules it. For in a world where Faces must be learned and lying is a fact of life, Neverfell’s face can change expression with her emotions, and lying is beyond her skill.The world of Caverna is fascinating. You’re introduced to it - and all of its various workings - slowly, through Neverfell’s eyes and experiences. While she’s told early on that everyone lies and manipulates, her own trusting and trustworthy natures make it hard for her to protect herself from the plots of others. As the book progresses, you learn more about the world and the darknesses it’s based on.The plot takes a lot of turns I wasn’t expecting, which was a real joy. Neverfell’s a great character and her constant curiosity has her acting in unpredictable ways. She starts off hopelessly naive, but over the course of the book learns what society is like, and that not everyone she meets has her best interests in mind. The Kleptomancer is really fun, and I’d have loved seeing more of him and of the brilliantly insane cryptomancers.This is a fun book, one that briefly touches on numerous discussion points, so it would make a great book club novel.

[atreic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I bought this because I thought the Lie Tree was the best book I'd read for years, and then this blew me away even more. Amazing. There's a strong air of Northern Lights about it - a young adult story about a wild child with a mystery past, in a world which is similar to ours, but exploring a strange difference about the people. In this case, instead of daemons, it's that people can only use the expressions they've been taught, which makes Faces expensive and powerful.The world is in many ways broad brush and over the top - a city in caves, crazed cartographers, magical wines and cheeses and perfumes, a ruler who never sleeps, but thinks with only half of his brain at any time, prison cells which are small cages suspended over a lake they can be lowered down into - and in many ways subtle and nuanced - all the characters do what they do for understandable, in character reasons, and the plot is beautifully crafted so that all the strands come together like harmony in a song and suddenly you understand, enthralled...

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What if there was a world underground where people only had a few expressions, where one girl has a multitude of expressions and this starts a dialogue about the world and the politics of the world. Where the things that people produce are almost magical how can there be equality for those who have and those who have not.

It's interesting, closer to 3.5 than 4 but it did keep me engaged and reading, it suffered a little from being read just after Rose under Fire which left me a bit traumatised, if I had read it at another time I think I might have given it a 4.

[ninelarks-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Grandible the True Cheesemaker is content staying in his side of the Caverna making cheese that are beyond imagination, a scowl almost permanently on his Face. But when one day he pulls a girl out of cheese curds, this strange cavern city will be turned upside down. Neverfell has a face like glass, and in this place where even infants are taught to lie with their Faces, nothing will be same after they lay eyes on her.

This book was beautiful. It turned the heart and made me yearn for the right words to describe something that settles in the throat like unshed tears. I stayed up all night for this book even after promising myself to fix my sleep schedule.

At first I was skeptical. The beginning starts off like a very young children's story, with the main character Neverfell seeming more like six years old than twelve. And she gets thrown around in events, survives on pure luck and intervening characters, and bubbles over with ridiculous amounts of naivety. I can't stand those types of characters.
But Hardinge does something amazing. She knows how to develop characters without a sudden 180 switch in personality. It's a slow, deep change from within. One that tugs a little at the corner of the lips to a frown. And then the slightest wrinkle between the brows. And then the clearness of the eyes that see beyond fake Faces and lies. Neverfell becomes a character that grows into someone that takes action, that moves people. It's so lovely.

I love Hardinge's diction. The style of writing and her the word choice makes it all so real.

This is a world that I have loved getting to know. I wish it were a little longer and I think that there are certain parts that could still be fleshed out. But overall, what a beautiful world to know.

Four and half stars. If I were ten years younger, this would be five stars. Heck, I almost gave it five stars now. But the ending wasn't strong enough. It wasn't exactly weak enough that I have quibbles with it, but the ending just didn't tie up everything. It came a little too quickly without enough development, which makes sense because it's a secret. But still. I wouldn't consider a powerful ending.
Recommended for anyone who loves fantasy and beautiful imagery.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Neverfell is an anomaly in the underground world of Caverna. Whereas everyone in Caverna is born expressionless and has to be taught to make appropriate Faces, everything Neverfell thinks is visible on her face. When she leaves the home of the master Cheesemaker who took her in (Cheeses have magical and even deadly powers, as do several other substances in Caverna), she gets sucked into political machinations that force her to fight for her life as she goes from poison taster for Caverna’s ruler to advocate for the Drudge class. Again, the flights of fancy and ridiculousness leaven the otherwise quite deadly and grim stakes.