Book Review: Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Release Date: September 13, 2011
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 307
Received: ARC from publisher
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page

Summary

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. On board 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.

Review

I'm still a mix of emotions and confusion about Glow, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Glow is a multi-layered book that makes you think about what you just read and begs the question, "What would you do?" With thoughtful world-building, near-constant action, dire situations, and a dystopian presentation that forces the reader to examine all sides, Glow is exactly the type of dystopian I like to read.

But the blurb is a little misleading, I think. It makes the story seem like a love triangle and Waverly's indecision over marrying Kieran will play a prominent role. It doesn't even hint at religion, which takes up far more page time than romance (don't go running yet).

Why I almost DNF-ed

I'm a character-girl, so I was seriously considering DNF-ing Glow when almost every character responded to the Big Crisis like a complete moron. Kieran, the promising future captain, quickly displayed that he was only a hot-shot when the pressure wasn't on. Turn up the heat, and Kieran melted into a puddle of useless stupidity. Waverly needed to be beaten with the obvious stick because, honey, a blind man could see that those guys with guns rounding up the children are so NOT there to help you.

But then I realized something. I'm NOT supposed to like these people. I'm not supposed to think they're heroes who are doing everything right. No, these characters are just regular people, and they're actually responding exactly the way many real people would in a sudden crisis and its fallout. I had to shrug off my usual insistence on hero-worshipping my characters and instead just sit back and watch the true-to-life insanity unfold.

And it. was. horrifying.

Life in the fast lane

It's embarrassing how easily bored I can get with books, but Glow kept the action set pretty high so I always felt engaged. There's a chapter or two in the beginning that I found pretty boring (Oh Waverly, look at your dreamy eyes. Wait Kieran, I don't know if I want to make babies with you yet! Blah, blah), but it sets the stage.

Then, BAM! They are boarded by the other ship and BAD stuff goes down. Kieran and Waverly are separated, with Waverly being taken to the other ship. There isn't much time for either of the characters to spend on gooey thoughts about each other. Instead, they're both occupied with their separate crises.

Kieran needs to fix and pilot a severely damaged ship in a situation that rapidly descends into Lord of the Flies: In Space (and Less Dull). Waverly's situation is not as action-intense, but the tension levels are still sky high. Whereas Kieran's dystopian world is more the development of questionable situations among chaos, Waverly's dystopian focuses more on the established bad world with Waverly desperately trying to out-maneuver a pretty twisted system.

Ok, I can see where you're coming from. 
Wait, no, YOU ARE TOTALLY INSANE!!!

Amy Kathleen Ryan does a great job showing all sides of the situation. The established dystopian world Waverly gets kidnapped into has developed in a way that is logically sound and can almost seem reasonable. The dystopian system is made up of normal, everyday people, and it is easy to look around at the people in our world now and see them acting just like this if presented with a similar situation. The situation Kieran experiences is equally nuanced and realistic.

The characters in the dystopian society are sympathetic and kind, at first glance. They believe they have exhausted all possible alternatives for survival. It is clear the woman in charge is acting in ways she believes are in the best interests of her people. All of them recognize that the situation is dire, but they all believe they are doing the best they can with a bad situation.

And, you know what? I can almost buy into it. That is, until my moral What the heck is wrong with you?! alarms start going off. LOUDLY. The more I read, the more I realized that NONE of the situations, both past and present, are situations I'm cool with and those people are in-freaking-sane if they think their actions can be justified (but that's fine because this is a dystopian).

The fact that these people can leech under my defenses and make me consider their perspective even for a moment is a testament to Amy Kathleen Ryan's genius presentation of the opposing sides. This is how you make a dystopian!

Preach it!

Yes, religion plays a large role in Glow, though general faith is focused on more than any particular set of beliefs. Just like the characters, religion is not presented as all good or all bad. Religion is shown as a saving grace, uniting and motivating people when all hope seems lost. It is shown as a beacon, but it is also shown as a means toward social control and domination.

There is no ultimate judgement passed on religion. The various effects of religion used by different people and for different reasons are simply presented. It is up to the reader to decide if religion is good, bad, both, or neither.

Writing style (yeah, I noticed)

The writing style is very bare bones. It isn't flowery or beautiful or standout. It's very simplistic and straight forward, and doesn't allow for much character depth or individual voice.

What it does do is focus on the plot and character motivations. The writing sets a driving pace with an unwavering focus on events. This is less a book about the characters as real individuals and more about showing the reader a situation.

At first I thought this was a little grating (character girl!), but I quickly found myself wrapped up in the story. The writing isn't pretty, but it is, at least for me, undeniably effective.

The narration switches from third-person-Waverly and third-person-Kieran, but the POV does not alternate the way you might expect. Instead, the book is broken up into five sections. Part 1 alternates chapters between Waverly and Kieran so we can see the crisis unfold through both perspectives. Part 2 follows Waverly, part 3 Kieran, part 4 Waverly, part 5 Kieran, and the epilogue mirrors part 1 with alternating chapter POV switches.

I really liked this narration style because it allowed both sides to be shown (which is necessary for the story to unfold properly), but it switched slowly enough that I was able to become fully immersed in each section and didn't have to deal with a cliffhanger after every chapter.

Bottom line

I'm not sure if I can say I  like Glow because I was appalled by so many of the characters and so much of what was happening. But isn't that what a dystopian should do? Aren't I supposed to recoil and feel uncomfortable and disgusted? I'm thinking points for that, even if it wasn't always pleasant. I would have liked to have been able to love the characters, but I appreciate the level of realism.

Glow is only the first part in a series, and it does end very much in the middle of the story. I will most definitely be picking up the sequel. Not only do I want to find out what will happen next, but I also want to find out more information about what really happened to set all of these events in motion.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Glow that I haven't addressed? 
Feel free to ask in the comments!

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Looking for another book like this? 

You might like  The Last Knight for a similar "all sides" look at the characters' choices

Click on the covers to go to my reviews.

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