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A review by wanderingwordwitch
Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
3.0
Original review on my blog: http://throughthegateway.blogspot.co.uk/
Waverley and Kieran, two teenagers born on the spaceship Empyreon, believe they are meant to be together- but both feel the underlying pressure that their families expect them to marry in order to ensure the continuation of the human race, beyond Earth. Waverley doesn’t know what to think when Kieran proposes to her- after all, she’s only fifteen. But then the ship is attacked, and the two are separated. Thus begins Glow- a space sci-fi novel like none I’ve ever read before.
I was hooked from the start. Waverley and the others have never seen a stranger before, but without warning, many invade the ship from a neighbour spaceship, taking all the girls aboard prisoner, and trapping the surviving adults in an area of the ship which is slowly being flooded with fatal radiation. The leader of the other ship, Anne Mather- a sinister character due to her relative ordinariness and kindly manner- attempts to deceive the girls into believing the other ship was destroyed, and that they have been rescued, not kidnapped. Waverley and several others are not fooled, and determine to find their parents. As it turns out, the families on the other spaceship have been unable to have children, and there is no doubt that this is the intended purpose for the girls. But as the plot unfolds, it becomes less clear who is in the right. Was everyone on the Empyreon really what they seemed? What have the adults been keeping from them? And what happened on Earth to cause them to leave the planet behind?
With the ethical issues implied here it would be easy for the novel to descend into didacticism, but the pulse-pounding pace is maintained up to the end. There aren’t a large number of space sci-fi novels for young adults, and I can honestly say that Glow is unlike any I have ever read. Waverley and Kieran are believable characters, young people forced into positions of responsibility neither feel they can live up to, as Kieran struggles to survive in a world without adults, and Waverley tries to find a way to reunite the girls with their families.
Glow is a unique space adventure which is thought-provoking whilst maintaining a gripping narrative. I’ll definitely be reading the next novel in the Sky Chasers series.
Waverley and Kieran, two teenagers born on the spaceship Empyreon, believe they are meant to be together- but both feel the underlying pressure that their families expect them to marry in order to ensure the continuation of the human race, beyond Earth. Waverley doesn’t know what to think when Kieran proposes to her- after all, she’s only fifteen. But then the ship is attacked, and the two are separated. Thus begins Glow- a space sci-fi novel like none I’ve ever read before.
I was hooked from the start. Waverley and the others have never seen a stranger before, but without warning, many invade the ship from a neighbour spaceship, taking all the girls aboard prisoner, and trapping the surviving adults in an area of the ship which is slowly being flooded with fatal radiation. The leader of the other ship, Anne Mather- a sinister character due to her relative ordinariness and kindly manner- attempts to deceive the girls into believing the other ship was destroyed, and that they have been rescued, not kidnapped. Waverley and several others are not fooled, and determine to find their parents. As it turns out, the families on the other spaceship have been unable to have children, and there is no doubt that this is the intended purpose for the girls. But as the plot unfolds, it becomes less clear who is in the right. Was everyone on the Empyreon really what they seemed? What have the adults been keeping from them? And what happened on Earth to cause them to leave the planet behind?
With the ethical issues implied here it would be easy for the novel to descend into didacticism, but the pulse-pounding pace is maintained up to the end. There aren’t a large number of space sci-fi novels for young adults, and I can honestly say that Glow is unlike any I have ever read. Waverley and Kieran are believable characters, young people forced into positions of responsibility neither feel they can live up to, as Kieran struggles to survive in a world without adults, and Waverley tries to find a way to reunite the girls with their families.
Glow is a unique space adventure which is thought-provoking whilst maintaining a gripping narrative. I’ll definitely be reading the next novel in the Sky Chasers series.