Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Oct. 24th, 2011 10:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
A ship heading for New Earth is halfway through its incredible journey across the galaxy.
On board, sixteen-year-old Waverley and Kieran are part of the first generation born in space.
They are in love.
They believe their future is written in the stars.
They have never seen a stranger before …
… until the day they are wrenched apart, and suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives.
When over-population and pollution lead to food shortages and riots on Earth, two ships are launched a year apart, each heading to New Earth to start a new colony.
43 years later and communication between the New Horizon (the first to leave) and the Empyrean has been patchy. Now the New Horizon has slowed down, enabling the Empyrean to catch up. With no official explanation, speculation is rife on the Empyrean as to what’s happened.
16-year-old Kieran was the first child born on the Empyrean and will eventually become its captain of the Empyrean. He wants to marry 15-year-old Waverly but Waverly isn’t confident in her feelings for Kieran and sometimes wishes for a different future.
When the New Horizon attacks, the Empyrean’s left severely damaged and all its female children are kidnapped. While the adults try to save the critical engineering systems, Kieran and the remaining boys are left in charge and soon divisions begin to emerge.
Meanwhile Waverly and the girls adjust to life on the New Horizon. When their kidnappers explain their actions and the true relationship between the ships, she realises that everything she thought she knew was a lie …
GLOW combines science fiction with romance in a dystopian future.
Kieran’s a difficult character to like. Arrogant and domineering, he uses his religious belief as a way to control others. However you understand what makes him that way and why he makes the decisions that he does. Waverly is a more passive and doesn’t really come into her own until the last quarter of the book. I did like her uncertainty in her feelings for Kieran though and how she feels pressured to be with him.
Where the book lost me though is in the stereotypical view of religion. Its depiction as an instrument of control lacked nuance and made for a stereotypical antagonist. Ryan seeks to draw parallels with the original American colonies, but the allusion doesn’t really work as the stakes aren’t quite the same (although I look forward to seeing how it develops). I also found the supporting characters to be underdeveloped, particularly Seth who’s another potential love interest for Waverly but is defined by his temper.
The cliffhanger means I’ll check out the sequel and much of the book is interesting but even as an atheist, I wish the religious aspect had been more rounded and the supporting characters more developed.
The Verdict:
An interesting mix of science fiction, romance and dystopian future, this didn’t quite come together for me mainly because I thought that the treatment of religion was a little too heavy handed and the supporting cast slightly too underdeveloped. That said, the cliff hanger ending means I’ll read on and I’m interested in seeing where Amy Kathleen Ryan goes with the allusion she’s creating to the colony of the New World.
GLOW was released in the UK on 7th October. Thanks to Macmillan for the ARC of this book.
On board, sixteen-year-old Waverley and Kieran are part of the first generation born in space.
They are in love.
They believe their future is written in the stars.
They have never seen a stranger before …
… until the day they are wrenched apart, and suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives.
When over-population and pollution lead to food shortages and riots on Earth, two ships are launched a year apart, each heading to New Earth to start a new colony.
43 years later and communication between the New Horizon (the first to leave) and the Empyrean has been patchy. Now the New Horizon has slowed down, enabling the Empyrean to catch up. With no official explanation, speculation is rife on the Empyrean as to what’s happened.
16-year-old Kieran was the first child born on the Empyrean and will eventually become its captain of the Empyrean. He wants to marry 15-year-old Waverly but Waverly isn’t confident in her feelings for Kieran and sometimes wishes for a different future.
When the New Horizon attacks, the Empyrean’s left severely damaged and all its female children are kidnapped. While the adults try to save the critical engineering systems, Kieran and the remaining boys are left in charge and soon divisions begin to emerge.
Meanwhile Waverly and the girls adjust to life on the New Horizon. When their kidnappers explain their actions and the true relationship between the ships, she realises that everything she thought she knew was a lie …
GLOW combines science fiction with romance in a dystopian future.
Kieran’s a difficult character to like. Arrogant and domineering, he uses his religious belief as a way to control others. However you understand what makes him that way and why he makes the decisions that he does. Waverly is a more passive and doesn’t really come into her own until the last quarter of the book. I did like her uncertainty in her feelings for Kieran though and how she feels pressured to be with him.
Where the book lost me though is in the stereotypical view of religion. Its depiction as an instrument of control lacked nuance and made for a stereotypical antagonist. Ryan seeks to draw parallels with the original American colonies, but the allusion doesn’t really work as the stakes aren’t quite the same (although I look forward to seeing how it develops). I also found the supporting characters to be underdeveloped, particularly Seth who’s another potential love interest for Waverly but is defined by his temper.
The cliffhanger means I’ll check out the sequel and much of the book is interesting but even as an atheist, I wish the religious aspect had been more rounded and the supporting characters more developed.
The Verdict:
An interesting mix of science fiction, romance and dystopian future, this didn’t quite come together for me mainly because I thought that the treatment of religion was a little too heavy handed and the supporting cast slightly too underdeveloped. That said, the cliff hanger ending means I’ll read on and I’m interested in seeing where Amy Kathleen Ryan goes with the allusion she’s creating to the colony of the New World.
GLOW was released in the UK on 7th October. Thanks to Macmillan for the ARC of this book.
