Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: September 13, 2011
Format: ARC
Status: First in the Sky Chasers books
Source: The lovely Small let me borrow this.
Genre: Teen Science Fiction
Location: Outer space, aboard the Empyrean and the New Horizon.
Other Info: Amy Kathleen Ryan is also the author of Vibes, Zen and Xander and Shadow Falls.
Description (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.
I think this description is slightly misleading. Waverly and Kieran aren’t promised to each other. Everyone just assumes that, as the two oldest children on the ship, their relationship is inevitable. The description also doesn’t communicate the fact that Kieran and Waverly have genuine feelings for one another and overexaggerates Waverly’s interest in Seth. In fact, Waverly spends the greater part of the novel separated from both boys. The story’s kind of a romance sandwich with equal parts horror and action in between.
Glow seems to me to be one among a burgeoning trend in Teen novels–humans becoming infertile and teen girls being subjugated as a result. Amy Kathleen Ryan takes this concept a step further. Don’t look for a miracle in the fourth act to completely save Waverly from violation. The degree to which things are taken in this novel horrified me, though nothing is graphic and my horror was entirely conceptual.
I think my distaste over the novel’s concept highly flavored my reading of it. I spent the majority of the book wanting to yell at supporting characters–an indication, I suppose of my emotional reaction to it. One of the primary conflicts (for Waverly, at least), is that those who benefit from her violation are nice, caring people. I don’t say genuinely because I can’t go that far. Frankly, they disgusted me and I was unable to look upon them with anything but contempt. To be honest, most of my reactions to this book are angry and unforgiving. I don’t know that I can look at it objectively, though I do try to remind myself that it’s fiction.
In an effort to find something rational to say about this book, I will state that I was suitably compelled by the last part. When Waverly finally makes it back to the Empyrean and she discovers who and what has gotten the boys on the ship through the loss of their parents and all the girls…it’s devastating. Especially after what happened just before that, which I can’t say much about because that would be spoiling. But the book ends on such a compelling note, I can’t WAIT to read the next one.
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[...] Publication Date: July 17, 2012 Format: CD Status: Second in the Sky Chasers series, following Glow. Source: Received from the publisher in exchange for review. Genre: Teen, Science Fiction Other [...]