Review - Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Glow
Series: Sky Chasers #1
By: Amy Kathleen Ryan
hardcover, 307 pages
Published: September 13th 2011 by St. Martin's Press
Obtained: Library
Categories: Sci-fi, Action, Page-Turner, Romance, Dystopian, Suspense
Where you can buy it: Amazon  |  B&N
Author Info: Goodreads  |  Author Site

What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you've 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 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.

My Review Breakdown


Story/Plot: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Ending: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
Final Score: 21/25 = 5 Cupcakes

My Rating:  Positively Enticing!!!

Initial Thoughts: I saw this one on Goodreads and decided not to buy it because it didn't get the greatest of reviews. I decided to wait until I saw it at the library. Well, let me say that once again, you can't always go on what other people thought about a book, because this one blew my mind! I literally could not put it down, and when I did put it down, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Characters: The characters were very well developed, and you can feel what the characters are feeling. When the book starts you can see where the characters had so much room to grow and develop and Ryan didn't disappoint! Waverly is an amazing character; I adore her! I can't wait to see how her and Seth and her and Kieran develop in the next book. I believe I'm Team Seth though right now!

Writing: I am so so so happy that the book is told in the third person so that we could get both sides of what was going on aboard the New Horizon and the Empyrean. The writing is amazing; fast paced and keeps you reading even when you should've gone to bed hours ago! There is pretty heavy subject matter going on, so it's probably for an older YA audience, but its not really anything that is bad. Ryan seems to have really planned out every facet of the book, leaving nothing open-ended or confusing; and you can tell that she really cares about her characters.

Ending: I think the ending was done well. We get a tiny happy moment, and then we're thrown back into the drama. There are so many ways that the sequel can go with the way that Glow ended.

Cover: I'm becoming a fan of the basic, simple covers. This one is all black with a girl (Waverly) in a porthole, with pink shooting around it. The pink is clearly the nebula, and the porthole represents the ship, and the way Waverly is laying could be how she is feeling; held down, trapped, etc.

Final Thoughts: I cannot wait to pick up the sequel when it's released on July 17th, 2012!!

Read this if you like: Tankborn by Karen Sandler, Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts, All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin, Neva by Sara Grant, and Scored by Lauren McLaughlin