...on Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Series: Sky Chasers #1
Published by St. Martin’s Griffin
Publish Date: September 13, 2011
307 Pages
Source:  Publisher for Review

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. –(summary from Goodreads)

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

My Thoughts:  Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan is another one of those instances where I don't understand the comparison to The Hunger Games. I did, however, find myself accidentally comparing the story to Beth Revis' Across the Universe and I could not help it. Both took place on a ship in space. Both had a guy and a girl that were sort-of romantically involved. In both, the guy's leadership was questioned. And in both, there were conspiracies and reproductive issues and survival was the priority. 

You guys, I NEVER like to compare books. So, that's as far as my comparison will go...because the stories did feel different and read differently. They had different tones about them and I enjoyed them in different ways. This is not The Hunger Games and this is not Across the Universe. 

The first thing you need to know is this:
There are two different ships. They are VERY different.   

The story begins on the Empyrean, which is moving a group of people to New Earth to start a new life. The people on the Empyrean are curious lately because they are able to see their sister ship from their windows (or portholes or whatever their looking-glass-pieces are called). The problem with this: the New Horizon left years before Empyrean and should be light-years ahead of them, and certainly not visible to them. Their curiosity turns to excitement as they begin to ready their ship to welcome some of the New Horizon crew aboard. When they do not hear any information from their Captain or the Council about why the ship has slowed down to be closer to them - even after their requests for information - the people of the Empyrean begin to have fear.

Their fear is warranted. The New Horizon attacks the Empyrean, killing some and injuring many others. Worst of all, they kidnap all young girls and take them back onto the New Horizon, leaving the Empyrean with a crew of mostly young boys and only a few injured adults to pilot their damaged ship. The crew of the New Horizon tells lies to the girls, making them believe that the entire population of the Empyrean was lost and they were lucky to be rescued. This is smart because some of the younger girls actually begin to empathize with their captors and start to enjoy life on board the new ship. The older girls, however, do not believe a word being spoken to them. This is important because the New Horizon has plans for all of the young girls. 

The second thing you need to know is this:
The characters in this story kept me on my toes.   

The story centers around Waverly and Kaiden. Waverly is the female lead - she becomes engaged to Kaiden early in the book. Kaiden is next in line to become Captain of the Empyrean. He is well-respected among most of the other boys on the ship. Kaiden loves Waverly although she is not certain she is ready for a commitment such as marriage. She is only fifteen! She wants more from life than marriage and having babies just to make sure the species is carried on...plus she sometimes thinks about this other boy, Seth, that she remembers from when they were younger. Would she rather be with Seth than Kaiden? Hmm. 

Seth demonstrates some bravery in a couple of situations where Kaiden either didn't at all or acted too slowly. For example, Seth acts protective over Waverly when an older gentleman makes her feel uncomfortable with his words and his creepy lingering gaze. Seth also is first to initiate ideas to try and get the girls back once they are kidnapped from the ship while Kaiden seems to be in a stupor of some sort. 

Over the course of the book, there is a battle of wills between Seth and Kaiden. Who is strongest? Who makes the best decisions? Who can run the ship most efficiently? Basically, it boils down to which guy has the most followers... Unfortunately, when most of the adults died or were injured, the regular and proper way of doing things died with them, meaning that these young boys are doing the best they can to determine a leader. In these types of circumstances, a leader always just sort-of emerges - but it may or may not be the leader that it was supposed to be. 

I was surprised over and over with who kept forging ahead as leader of the Empyrean. By the time I got to the end of the book, I could hardly believe the way things had turned out with all three of these characters. The big, horrifying, life-changing ordeal that they each went through changed them all in huge ways and MAN it leaves readers with an interesting set-up for the start of the next book. 

The third thing you need to know is this: 
This is another of those science-fiction/dystopian books
that gets all up in reproduction and survival of the species.  

I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I like these types of books. They are freaky and crazy and maddening at times, and usually filled with a lot of WHAT ON EARTH! EWWWW! OH MY GOODNESS! WHY ARE PEOPLE GOING ALONG WITH THIS? moments. Glow is no exception.

The New Horizon wants to get to New Earth before the Empyrean does - they have their reasons! They are a way different group of people than those from the Empyrean - they have different ideals, different hobbies, different likes/dislikes. They hope that in getting to New Earth first and populating, they can sort of establish a bit of control there, making New Earth more like they are. The problem: nobody is having babies on their ship. The solution: attack the Empyrean and take all of the young girls. Y'all see what is happening here? 

Things get a little twisted and messed-up with the reproductive stuff. Every reader will likely have their own opinions, but honestly - this isn't anything we haven't read or heard of before. This is crazy crazy dystopian stuff and I love reading it. 

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Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan is a science-fiction dystopian book that deals with population control and survival and leadership and all kinds of interesting things. It started out quickly and was pretty fast paced the entire way through the book. The alternating points-of-view between Kaiden and Waverly were great because it was important to see what was going on with the madness on both the New Horizon and the Empyrean. Yes, I mean madness. A huge part of the book was just action-driven madness and craziness as people ran around and did their best to get the girls back, repair the damaged Empyrean, establish order among a raucous group of young boys, stabilize injured adults, and so on and so on and so on. 

While the beginning of the book hinted at a romance, it surprisingly wasn't prevalent at all. There were little mentions of feelings here and there, but remember that Waverly and Kaiden were separated throughout the vast majority of the book, so the romance couldn't really happen - at least it couldn't/didn't in this first book. While I also initially thought there would be a love triangle, there really didn't feel like one. It just felt like the Seth was a friend or just another guy character that wanted to lead the ship. Ultimately,the romance took a back seat to the real issue of the book, which was survival and rescue. I wasn't expecting this at all when I started Glow. I wonder if the next book will include a potential love triangle? I'm not sure yet. I also have no idea where this potential engagement/romance is going. I guess we'll see.

Because of all of the action in the book, and the drama and stress the characters were under - y'all, they were stressed and moving around constantly - I didn't form as deep a connection with them as I would have liked to...until the very end. THEN THINGS BECAME INTERESTING. Well, wait, it wasn't exactly a connection at the end, but I have a real interest in Waverly, Kaiden, and Seth because of the twist and turn of events that happened at the end of the book.

In Glow, crazy sci-fi stuff happened and I liked it. I will absolutely be reading book two, Spark - which I already have. I think that fans of science-fiction and dystopian books would like this one, particularly if they keep away from book comparisons like the one on this cover comparing it to The Hunger Games. This book isn't at all like The Hunger Games. It's Glow, it is separate from The Hunger Games, and it should be treated as such.

NOOOOOOO!
Glow is great without the comparison!

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Glow will appeal to fans of:

Science-Fiction, Dystopian
Action-Driven Plot
Romance, although it isn't HUGE in the plot:
I'm not calling it a triangle...yet.

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

is currently available for purchase.

**I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion and review. I received no compensation for my thoughts. Thank you St. Martin's! 

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Have you read GLOW yet?

If you have, what did you think?