Review Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Title: Glow

Author: Amy Kathleen Ryan

Published: September 13^th, 2011 (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Pages: 307
Source: ARC
Series: Sky Chasers #1

Rating: 4 / 5

Synopsis from Goodreads: What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?
Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...
Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.
But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

     

When I read the synopsis I decided I definitely wanted a copy of this book. And I wasn’t let down by the story! It’s well-written, which I thought was a real accomplishment since space isn’t one of the easiest subjects to write about. She even included the different aging-aspects in space. It just gives me a headache thinking about it, forget writing about it.

When the girls get taken the chapters are divided in viewpoints between Waverly and Kieran. I liked the parts from Waverly better, I could relate more to her.

I loved Ryans writing style and the story has a beautiful plot, so I was really sad when the story was over. Luckily there will be a book #2 Spark.

The lead characters, Waverly and Kieran, are realistic. Waverly is a strong girl, she thinks everything through, but she also had a soft spot. She doesn’t really want a save life with Kieran on board their ship. She wants more. When the girls get kidnapped by The Horizon she is the first one who questions a lot of things about what they’re told. She a fighter, she stands up for what she believes in, in this case getting the girls back to their ship, but she also cares about other people. When she hears about the destruction of the Empyrean she is angry. But she doesn’t blame the wrong people aboard The Horizon. Her “foster” parents take good care of her and she becomes friendly with them.

In the beginning I liked Kieran. He sounded like a nice guy, who had the best at heart. I didn’t understand at all why Waverly wouldn’t want to marry him, and chose Seth above him. But further on in the story I began to understand. Seth kind of takes over the ship, after most of the grownups die in and after the attack. And he’s really mean to Kieran. But then Kieran takes over and he gets the same ideas that the people on the Horizon are spilling. At that moment I totally understood why Waverly would fall for Seth. He became more and more likeable. Seth is in most way like Waverly. He’s strong, but also cares about people. He saw the danger in Kieran and acted upon it.

The world around it all is so beautifully build. Like I said before space isn’t one of the easiest subjects and Ryan really put some work into it. And it’s not just they’re in space. It’s much more than that. It’s also about not being able to go wherever you want to. The girls can escape, but where to? So the plan Waverly has to come up with, since most of the girls believe the stories told by The Horizon people, has to be really good and well thought out. There are some aspects that make it really difficult. But everything is connected to the being-in-space-aspect. I don’t know much about space and I was really impressed by all the details Ryan put into the story.

So overall this story was really good. I really enjoyed reading it and I would definitely recommend it to people who like dystopians and want to read something slightly different. You will enjoy this!