Thursday 5 January 2012

Review: Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Summary 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.



The cover of this book made me wary as I've found that some books that have awsome covers don't live up to what I tend to expect from them. Oh but this one certainly did!

I began this book wearily, not knowing what to expect but immediately I was sucked into the story of why the characters were where they found themselves. I'm a huge fan of people going into space so this book was right up my street!

I have this tendancy of deciding on wether or not I will enjoy a book or even if I will keep reading it! If you're not a big fan of slow beginnings you have no need to worry while reading this, the action begins very quickly and it gets addictive after that. I stayed up until 3.35 reading it and no matter how hard I tried to stop I just couldn't! I was hooked!

I love Waverly so much. I couldn't get over how brave she was throughout some terrible incidents that would cripple lots of others with fear. She develops beautifully as a character. She started out as a strong character and ended as a hm what word could we use? Well just imagibe something really strong and you have Waverlys character. Amy Kathleen Ryan wrote Waverley in an amazing way that made her relatable and you really connected with her. She is protecive and is wiser than most fifteen year old girls. I suppose living on the Empyrean would do that to you. There seems to be a lot of focuse on the fact that girls seem to be expected to have loads of children early on. It would be difficult to deal with such pressure but somehow she manages it.

Kierans determination really surprised me, most of the characters gave up after a certain incident happened, yet he always had his eye on the goal. He clearly loves Waverly and that makes me love him. He doesn't care what anyone thinks of him as long as he has Waverly. I was shocked by the things that he had to suffer and was more than happy when he got better. I couldn't believe how much he changed thoughout the book (I don't think it was a good kind of change either).

Seth. Ugh, I hate Seth. He's one of those characters that remind you of someone you know. Lets face it we know at least one person like him, maybe not as extreme as he is but the have many of the traits that Seth has. At the beginning I thought that Seth would be nice, oh how I was wrong. I shall leave it there with Seth so as not to ruin the book.

The events that unfolded in the book were written in such a way that made my heart beat and made me look around my room just to be sure. I love books that do that! Its always enjoyable to read events like that in books even if you get slightly freaked out. I can not get over the little twist at the end! I mean talk about a cliffhanger. It left me turning the next page and going "NO! You can't end it yet!".

Trust me that reading this book will not be a waste of your time!


3 comments:

  1. I am still deciding on this one have seen good and bad reviews but your review is prompting me to take another look!

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  2. I was told by my local bookstore owner that this is amazing. It's good to know that someone else thinks so. :)

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  3. I'm not sure if i want to read this book or not..i was kinda hoping Seth would be the awesome character :( ...

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Now you've read my thoughts, what are your?