Title: Glow
Author: Amy Kathleen Ryan
Published: September 13th, 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!
