Review: Glow

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Series: Sky Chasers # 1

Official Website

Description: In this thrilling first installment, a violent battle separates two young lovers on a ship bound for New Earth. Will they find a way back to their ship-and each other? And most importantly, will they survive and preserve the future of the human race?

Review: I don't remember my thoughts on first going into this book. I was a weenie and started it around July? I'm not sure, it was so long ago. And I got really sucked into it, and I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I always wanted to read it, but I had more books on my to-read list, and I had to read those. So I abandoned Glow, and I picked it up for the first time 2 days ago. And I sped through it, and I finished it and Wow.

Glow tells the story of Waverly and Kieran, who are the oldest children aboard the Empyrean, one of two space-ships headed for New Earth. What happened to Old Earth isn't figured out, but one of the characters describe it being a 'desert; a horrible place to live." However, we're not given the entire story. So the Empyrean and a sister ship, the New Horizon, set sail for New Earth. Traveling separately, they have never interfered with the other's route, until now. Until the members of the New Horizon take all the young girls aboard their ship. As for Waverly and Kieran, the young lovers are separated.

The story is told in alternating points-of-view split between Waverly and Kieran. In Waverly's tale, she is trapped aboard the New Horizon, with adults who are lying to her and scared Empyrean girls. Since she's the oldest, and the most experienced, she's given the task of being the leader, of being the female hero. I really liked Waverly's character a lot. I have never read of a more strong female main character, besides Katniss. But honestly, Waverly was strong, brave, and did not believe the crewmates of the New Horizon for an instant. She trusted her gut and was right in doing so. The things she had to deal with will make your stomach crawl, but you'll understand the grief and pain she had to endure.

However, on the Empyrean, things aren't going so well either. I honestly cannot tell you which scenario is worst, Waverly's or Kieran's. I think Waverly's, because I'm a woman, and what they did to her would make an woman cringe. But on Kierans side of the universe, there is no leadership. The adults are trapped in another section of the ship, and opening the air lock will destroy the ship. When Kieran does manage to free the adults, something happens and the adults either die or being deathly ill. Kieran is the Empyrean's right-hand man. When the Captain died, Kieran would take over. So, naturally, Kieran tries to take control of the boys. But things don't go as planned and another boy, Seth, takes over. And, to get a mental image, it reminded me a lot of Lord of the Flies. Like, the good boy tries, and fails, to take leadership, so the bad boy takes leadership and all hell breaks loose. But you don't know if Seth is a bad boy. He shows a good side in front of Waverly, but when alone with the boys, he's a total idiot. He starves Kieran and traps him in a brig. What the hell!

There was a lot of feeling terribly sorry for these characters. They had leadership roles thrown at them, and they couldn't handle them. But this book was amazing. Jeez, just everything about it! The backstories, the characters, even the ones you wanted dead were just really great. And not in the great category like Waverly and Kieran, great as in greatly executed. Like, their character was well written in and it provided for an incredible story.

The only problem i had with the book was the use of words. I'm not very familiar with futuristic space ships, so when they used lingo like 'air lock' and shuttle port' and such, I couldn't imagine the scene in my head and it was not good.

“I think in our day-to-day lives, we’ve forgotten who we are. We are the forefathers of a new civilization. We will lay the foundation for countless generations of human beings in a corner of the galaxy where nothing..., I say nothing like us has been seen before."

- Glow; Amy Kathleen Ryan