Scan barcode
crystalstarrlight's review
3.0
Bullet Review:
Thank you Nemo for your recommendation that I not sell this book and stick it out. I may not have read the physical book, but it made me want to pick up the audiobook, and while I didn't adore this to pieces, I did enjoy myself quite a bit.
The long and short of it is: this book is incredibly dark but worlds better than most of the offerings you will find for Young Adults. Characters are realistic, there is some decent world-building, and the story is intriguing, if incredibly dark and for (IMO) the 16+ set. (Stealing underage girl's ova for an infertile population? The question of whether religion is evil because it is religion?) I would rate this better than the other scifi offering floating the cosmos, Across the Universe.
Will I continue? My first instinct is to say no. I have loads of other books that need wading through, the story is mostly wrapped up (though plenty of room for expansion - thank GOD no cliffhanger endings!!), and honestly, I am not that enthused about reading a book where people are bad because they have religious beliefs, not based on their personal moral codes. My mind could change tomorrow, but today, I'll probably not finish the series. That doesn't mean this trilogy is bad, just that I have no personal desire to finish.
3.5 stars and recommended if you want a darker, meatier scifi.
Full Review:
Waverly and Keiran are 15 and 16 respectively, the oldest children on a ship headed for a new Earth. Problems start to arise when the second ship of their convoy, the New Horizon, appears and whisks away the girls (including Waverly). Keiran and Seth, the pilot's angsty son, must try to keep the boys alive and the ship running (withOUT adults), while Waverly discovers a nasty secret on board the New Horizon, led by Pastor Ann Mather.
I almost gave up on this one and would have were it not for a Goodread's friend's encouragement to keep it. So I found an audiobook (I read those faster) and added it to my 2014 challenge to weed through my huge TBR stack. I am really glad I listened to her advice, because this turned out a lot better than I had anticipated. In fact, it's a LOT better than most Young Adult offerings. To show why I liked it (and how it's better than most YA), please follow me with a nice list.
How "Glow" Succeeds Where Other YA Fails:
1) Teenagers act like teenagers. Waverly, Samantha, Felicity, Keiran, Seth, and more act like teenagers. They are afraid, smart, angry. They want their parents around to tell them that things will be okay. They want and do have sex. They can be brave when they need to be, but they also need to know that someone loves them. And some of them want to explore the world and NOT get married to the first set of abs their eyes set on.
2) The romantic triangle does NOT dominate the story. There is a Romantic Triangle, those hideous creatures that make me run in terror. But here, it doesn't make me cringe at all. Why? Because the author gets it; she understands the purpose of a Romantic Triangle isn't to dominate the story. It's in the distant background - something the characters think about when they don't want to think about how sh!tty life is. It also includes wildly different characters, none of whom are perfect. THIS IS HOW YOU DO ROMANTIC TRIANGLES, PEEPS.
3) The world doesn't fall apart when you gently poke at it. I'm not asking for a world in a Young Adult soft scifi novel to stand up to adult questions like, "How does the economy work?" and "How can the ship get to the nearest star so quickly?" I'm just asking for a bit more attention to detail than "Look outside, there are STARS!" No, the science isn't going to stand up to scrutiny, but at least it isn't going to fall apart on me as I read. Again, it's all about Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
4) The story is more than just romance at its core. I know this is closely tied to #2, but let me explain. This story is about survival: survival of the boys in the ship, survival of the girls, survival of the human race on these ships. We also have a really compelling discussion about the place of religion - when does it become bad? Is it always bad? Can it ever be good? Keiran gets invigorated from adhering to religion, while Waverly (suffering from the evils of religion personified in Ann Mather) flees from it. In my reading, neither are wrong and neither are right. (Though it could be argued that you are supposed to side with Waverly who thinks all religion is cultish and bad - understandable based on her horrific experience on the New Horizon.) Compare this with 90% of YA out there, which is generic "I want to love X, but I can't" or "I am super speshul, which boy should I fall in love with".
There is a lot to enjoy about this book, particularly if you want something meaty to discuss. But I don't think I'll continue.
Reasons Why I'm Probably Not Going to Continue This Series:
1) As a mildly religious person, I hate to see every religious person painted as a bad guy. Religion doesn't make a person evil; PEOPLE make themselves evil. Religion can give people an excuse to be horrible people (Westboro Baptist, anyone?), but you can't make a blanket statement saying "All people who believe in X are bad". (Unless you are Anne Rice, apparently...)
2) While this book was better than most YA, it wasn't compelling enough to make me want to seek the end.
3) I have SO MANY books in my to-read pile, and I don't own a copy of the sequels.
4) I wasn't a fan of Keiran, nor of the boys' story to survive on the Empyrean.
5) I thought it rather creepy and dark that the girls were violated as they were. Also, isn't it strange how they are wanted for their reproductive values and no more? While the boys fight to survive on a ship without adults who know what they are doing, the girls must fight to keep from being sexually violated. On one hand, it says a LOT about our society; on the other, couldn't we have a story where BOTH boys and girls must face the "Lord of the Flies" scenario, instead of shoving the girls into the stereotypical "We need you to make da babehs"?
This is not to say the book is bad; in fact, if you have a hankering for Young Adult scifi, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. And maybe one day when I have my to-read pile under control (HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!), I'll come back to this trilogy. But for now, I'll leave this series pleased, entertained, and enriched. 3.5 stars.
Thank you Nemo for your recommendation that I not sell this book and stick it out. I may not have read the physical book, but it made me want to pick up the audiobook, and while I didn't adore this to pieces, I did enjoy myself quite a bit.
The long and short of it is: this book is incredibly dark but worlds better than most of the offerings you will find for Young Adults. Characters are realistic, there is some decent world-building, and the story is intriguing, if incredibly dark and for (IMO) the 16+ set. (Stealing underage girl's ova for an infertile population? The question of whether religion is evil because it is religion?) I would rate this better than the other scifi offering floating the cosmos, Across the Universe.
Will I continue? My first instinct is to say no. I have loads of other books that need wading through, the story is mostly wrapped up (though plenty of room for expansion - thank GOD no cliffhanger endings!!), and honestly, I am not that enthused about reading a book where people are bad because they have religious beliefs, not based on their personal moral codes. My mind could change tomorrow, but today, I'll probably not finish the series. That doesn't mean this trilogy is bad, just that I have no personal desire to finish.
3.5 stars and recommended if you want a darker, meatier scifi.
Full Review:
Waverly and Keiran are 15 and 16 respectively, the oldest children on a ship headed for a new Earth. Problems start to arise when the second ship of their convoy, the New Horizon, appears and whisks away the girls (including Waverly). Keiran and Seth, the pilot's angsty son, must try to keep the boys alive and the ship running (withOUT adults), while Waverly discovers a nasty secret on board the New Horizon, led by Pastor Ann Mather.
I almost gave up on this one and would have were it not for a Goodread's friend's encouragement to keep it. So I found an audiobook (I read those faster) and added it to my 2014 challenge to weed through my huge TBR stack. I am really glad I listened to her advice, because this turned out a lot better than I had anticipated. In fact, it's a LOT better than most Young Adult offerings. To show why I liked it (and how it's better than most YA), please follow me with a nice list.
How "Glow" Succeeds Where Other YA Fails:
1) Teenagers act like teenagers. Waverly, Samantha, Felicity, Keiran, Seth, and more act like teenagers. They are afraid, smart, angry. They want their parents around to tell them that things will be okay. They want and do have sex. They can be brave when they need to be, but they also need to know that someone loves them. And some of them want to explore the world and NOT get married to the first set of abs their eyes set on.
2) The romantic triangle does NOT dominate the story. There is a Romantic Triangle, those hideous creatures that make me run in terror. But here, it doesn't make me cringe at all. Why? Because the author gets it; she understands the purpose of a Romantic Triangle isn't to dominate the story. It's in the distant background - something the characters think about when they don't want to think about how sh!tty life is. It also includes wildly different characters, none of whom are perfect. THIS IS HOW YOU DO ROMANTIC TRIANGLES, PEEPS.
3) The world doesn't fall apart when you gently poke at it. I'm not asking for a world in a Young Adult soft scifi novel to stand up to adult questions like, "How does the economy work?" and "How can the ship get to the nearest star so quickly?" I'm just asking for a bit more attention to detail than "Look outside, there are STARS!" No, the science isn't going to stand up to scrutiny, but at least it isn't going to fall apart on me as I read. Again, it's all about Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
4) The story is more than just romance at its core. I know this is closely tied to #2, but let me explain. This story is about survival: survival of the boys in the ship, survival of the girls, survival of the human race on these ships. We also have a really compelling discussion about the place of religion - when does it become bad? Is it always bad? Can it ever be good? Keiran gets invigorated from adhering to religion, while Waverly (suffering from the evils of religion personified in Ann Mather) flees from it. In my reading, neither are wrong and neither are right. (Though it could be argued that you are supposed to side with Waverly who thinks all religion is cultish and bad - understandable based on her horrific experience on the New Horizon.) Compare this with 90% of YA out there, which is generic "I want to love X, but I can't" or "I am super speshul, which boy should I fall in love with".
There is a lot to enjoy about this book, particularly if you want something meaty to discuss. But I don't think I'll continue.
Reasons Why I'm Probably Not Going to Continue This Series:
1) As a mildly religious person, I hate to see every religious person painted as a bad guy. Religion doesn't make a person evil; PEOPLE make themselves evil. Religion can give people an excuse to be horrible people (Westboro Baptist, anyone?), but you can't make a blanket statement saying "All people who believe in X are bad". (Unless you are Anne Rice, apparently...)
2) While this book was better than most YA, it wasn't compelling enough to make me want to seek the end.
3) I have SO MANY books in my to-read pile, and I don't own a copy of the sequels.
4) I wasn't a fan of Keiran, nor of the boys' story to survive on the Empyrean.
5) I thought it rather creepy and dark that the girls were violated as they were. Also, isn't it strange how they are wanted for their reproductive values and no more? While the boys fight to survive on a ship without adults who know what they are doing, the girls must fight to keep from being sexually violated. On one hand, it says a LOT about our society; on the other, couldn't we have a story where BOTH boys and girls must face the "Lord of the Flies" scenario, instead of shoving the girls into the stereotypical "We need you to make da babehs"?
This is not to say the book is bad; in fact, if you have a hankering for Young Adult scifi, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. And maybe one day when I have my to-read pile under control (HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!), I'll come back to this trilogy. But for now, I'll leave this series pleased, entertained, and enriched. 3.5 stars.
reaghan527's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
breezy610's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't really like the character in this book, that's why i am giing four stars. If the character hadn't been...i dunno. there was something that i didn't like bath them. The story and the plot line are what make me give it four stars. It was amazing. I could feel the fear, desperation and all other emotion as i read the book. I will be check out the next book to see what other emotion the autor can get out of me.
bookph1le's review
1.0
It wasn't long after I started listening to the Glow audiobook that I noticed it was suffering from one of the great flaws of the split perspective novel: I found one side of the story far, far stronger than the other, and was annoyed when I had to listen to the perspective I didn't like. Using the split perspectives device is always such a risk, and I'm finding more and more that it's one that doesn't work particularly well most of the time. This in and of itself might not have killed the novel for me, had there not also been a lot of seemingly contradictory things going on. There will be some spoilers in this review.
I'll start with what I didn't like: Kieran's perspective. Right away, I was not a fan of the character. From the beginning, I felt the author was setting the reader up to be leery of Kieran. It's unclear exactly what his motives are when he proposes to Waverly. This may be because the story is told from Waverly's perspective, so it's difficult to tell if she's misreading him but, still, I already was hesitant to connect with him, and things didn't get better from there. In general, I thought Kieran was too whiny and passive for me to root for him. However, he's by far not the only male character that I did not like.
I thought it was strange that Waverly was a little attracted to Seth, who seems to be a really awful person. I get the feeling that there are meant to be depths to Seth, but having Waverly disappear from the story right away nixes any chance to get to see other facets of him in the first installment. Instead, he seems to be nothing more than a bully who becomes a petty tyrant.
The power struggle between Kieran and Seth was just plain annoying and silly to me. Here they are, thrown into a terrible situation where the girls have been kidnapped and many of the adults have been killed, and the two of them spend most of their time together bickering. I could see them not getting a long later, once they're trying to establish some sort of order in the aftermath of the attack, but I just could not buy that they'd be fighting the entire time there are all these external forces at work. The whole dynamic between the two of them seemed like petty fighting over who would get to be alpha male, and I was really turned off by it.
Waverly's perspective was far, far more interesting, and I'd have preferred if Ryan had stuck with this particular aspect of the story. I was really intrigued and disturbed by the idea of the girls being taken, mainly because I knew exactly what was in store for them. I have to admit that I was a little reluctant to listen to some of the novel because I was afraid of what might happen to the girls. Though having their eggs harvested was not what I had been expecting, I still found this to be particularly horrifying. However, my criticism with this part is the lack of reaction the girls showed. Yes, they did mention a couple of times that they weren't happy about it, but I just found it so hard to buy the idea that they were seeing New Horizon women walking around pregnant and, yet, Waverly never experienced any real angst over it. This was especially incongruous, considering there was so much emphasis on Waverly's marrying young because of her fertility.
As for the youthful marriage, it did not ring at all true to me that Waverly's mother would be so on board with it. I could see if she were a couple of generations removed from the days of marrying later in life, but since she herself had gotten married when she was older, I really thought she should have been a lot more conflicted about the idea of Waverly having to marry and become a mother at such a young age.
Waverly's struggle with Anne Mather is interesting, as is her rather conflicted relationship with Amanda. Still, I didn't think Waverly's mixed feelings about Amanda were developed well enough. It was fine for her to be sort of indifferent on the surface, but there should have been a lot more going on in her head, particularly once Amanda became pregnant.
I think the thing that ultimately turned me off from the novel was the turn it took with regard to religion. First, I had a problem with the New Horizon being termed the "religious" ship when it was so clearly a "Christian" ship. It seemed to me that a situation like that would call for a more diverse representation of the human race (if only in the interest of genetic diversity) and that there should have been more Muslims represented, along with people who were Jewish, Hindu, etc. I get the feeling that the author was sticking with comfortable territory, but the problem is that this makes the world seem unrealistic, which is never a good thing for a novel.
I was also flabbergasted when Kieran suddenly starts preaching away like Anne Mather. I'm not sure if the author's intent is to develop this in later novels, showing the contrast between people who use religion for good and those who use it as an excuse to commit heinous acts. Maybe this is her intention, but it just felt so, so odd to me that the story switches from having a fanatic like Anne Mather to having Kieran use religion as a device for unifying the boys. Um, wasn't this what caused all those problems on the New Horizon? Also, judging by the small clues dropped, such as Waverly's mom saying "yuck" to the idea of a religious wedding, I just could not believe that so many of the boys would jump right on board with Kieran's approach. After all, this was supposed to be a ship full of secular people, which makes me think it likely there'd have been quite a few skeptics on board.
All in all, I was really not impressed with this novel. It had a lot of interesting ideas and themes, but I didn't feel that any of them were very well developed, and I couldn't get past what felt like such inconsistencies. Maybe Ryan will ultimately be able to tie them all together, but I don't plan on reading the other books in the series to find out.
I'll start with what I didn't like: Kieran's perspective. Right away, I was not a fan of the character. From the beginning, I felt the author was setting the reader up to be leery of Kieran. It's unclear exactly what his motives are when he proposes to Waverly. This may be because the story is told from Waverly's perspective, so it's difficult to tell if she's misreading him but, still, I already was hesitant to connect with him, and things didn't get better from there. In general, I thought Kieran was too whiny and passive for me to root for him. However, he's by far not the only male character that I did not like.
I thought it was strange that Waverly was a little attracted to Seth, who seems to be a really awful person. I get the feeling that there are meant to be depths to Seth, but having Waverly disappear from the story right away nixes any chance to get to see other facets of him in the first installment. Instead, he seems to be nothing more than a bully who becomes a petty tyrant.
The power struggle between Kieran and Seth was just plain annoying and silly to me. Here they are, thrown into a terrible situation where the girls have been kidnapped and many of the adults have been killed, and the two of them spend most of their time together bickering. I could see them not getting a long later, once they're trying to establish some sort of order in the aftermath of the attack, but I just could not buy that they'd be fighting the entire time there are all these external forces at work. The whole dynamic between the two of them seemed like petty fighting over who would get to be alpha male, and I was really turned off by it.
Waverly's perspective was far, far more interesting, and I'd have preferred if Ryan had stuck with this particular aspect of the story. I was really intrigued and disturbed by the idea of the girls being taken, mainly because I knew exactly what was in store for them. I have to admit that I was a little reluctant to listen to some of the novel because I was afraid of what might happen to the girls. Though having their eggs harvested was not what I had been expecting, I still found this to be particularly horrifying. However, my criticism with this part is the lack of reaction the girls showed. Yes, they did mention a couple of times that they weren't happy about it, but I just found it so hard to buy the idea that they were seeing New Horizon women walking around pregnant and, yet, Waverly never experienced any real angst over it. This was especially incongruous, considering there was so much emphasis on Waverly's marrying young because of her fertility.
As for the youthful marriage, it did not ring at all true to me that Waverly's mother would be so on board with it. I could see if she were a couple of generations removed from the days of marrying later in life, but since she herself had gotten married when she was older, I really thought she should have been a lot more conflicted about the idea of Waverly having to marry and become a mother at such a young age.
Waverly's struggle with Anne Mather is interesting, as is her rather conflicted relationship with Amanda. Still, I didn't think Waverly's mixed feelings about Amanda were developed well enough. It was fine for her to be sort of indifferent on the surface, but there should have been a lot more going on in her head, particularly once Amanda became pregnant.
I think the thing that ultimately turned me off from the novel was the turn it took with regard to religion. First, I had a problem with the New Horizon being termed the "religious" ship when it was so clearly a "Christian" ship. It seemed to me that a situation like that would call for a more diverse representation of the human race (if only in the interest of genetic diversity) and that there should have been more Muslims represented, along with people who were Jewish, Hindu, etc. I get the feeling that the author was sticking with comfortable territory, but the problem is that this makes the world seem unrealistic, which is never a good thing for a novel.
I was also flabbergasted when Kieran suddenly starts preaching away like Anne Mather. I'm not sure if the author's intent is to develop this in later novels, showing the contrast between people who use religion for good and those who use it as an excuse to commit heinous acts. Maybe this is her intention, but it just felt so, so odd to me that the story switches from having a fanatic like Anne Mather to having Kieran use religion as a device for unifying the boys. Um, wasn't this what caused all those problems on the New Horizon? Also, judging by the small clues dropped, such as Waverly's mom saying "yuck" to the idea of a religious wedding, I just could not believe that so many of the boys would jump right on board with Kieran's approach. After all, this was supposed to be a ship full of secular people, which makes me think it likely there'd have been quite a few skeptics on board.
All in all, I was really not impressed with this novel. It had a lot of interesting ideas and themes, but I didn't feel that any of them were very well developed, and I couldn't get past what felt like such inconsistencies. Maybe Ryan will ultimately be able to tie them all together, but I don't plan on reading the other books in the series to find out.
letsbebookfriends's review against another edition
2.0
*2.5 stars*
I started off liking the feminist tone of this books. Waverly's storyline is quite wonderful to read, but Kieran's story was so self-righteous, I found myself hating his pages. ugh.
I started off liking the feminist tone of this books. Waverly's storyline is quite wonderful to read, but Kieran's story was so self-righteous, I found myself hating his pages. ugh.
emrodav's review against another edition
4.0
*I received a copy for free from the publisher via a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.*
I'm quite surprised by how much I like this book. I'm a bit skeptical about all science-fiction books, because it's not really my favorite genre. Dr. Who is about all the sci-fi I want. However, Glow was a great book to get me into the science-fiction groove.
The premise is interesting, and I was intrigued from the first page. I mean, the first sentence is beautiful, "The other ship hung in the sky like a pendant, silver in the ether light cast by the nebula." I was really intrigued, and after the first few chapters, I wanted to know the ending.
The only major complaint I have about Glow was the characterization of the main three characters. It was lacking, and sometimes made them hard to care about or relate to.
I'm awaiting the sequel, and would recommend this series to even those skeptical about picking up a science-fiction novel.
I'm quite surprised by how much I like this book. I'm a bit skeptical about all science-fiction books, because it's not really my favorite genre. Dr. Who is about all the sci-fi I want. However, Glow was a great book to get me into the science-fiction groove.
The premise is interesting, and I was intrigued from the first page. I mean, the first sentence is beautiful, "The other ship hung in the sky like a pendant, silver in the ether light cast by the nebula." I was really intrigued, and after the first few chapters, I wanted to know the ending.
The only major complaint I have about Glow was the characterization of the main three characters. It was lacking, and sometimes made them hard to care about or relate to.
I'm awaiting the sequel, and would recommend this series to even those skeptical about picking up a science-fiction novel.
courtneyyloves's review against another edition
2.0
It was Okay, Id wanna know what happened next but it reminded me of the kid movie Walli.!!! The Waverly kinda annoyed me.
rjdenney's review against another edition
5.0
OMFG.
That is how the ending left me.
fantastic book, with awesome characters!
I can't wait for book two.
Video coming to my channel soon.
- R.D.
That is how the ending left me.
fantastic book, with awesome characters!
I can't wait for book two.
Video coming to my channel soon.
- R.D.