Book Review (4).

Glow (Sky Chasers #1)

by Amy Kathleen Ryan 

Publication: October 7 2011 

Publisher:  PanMacmillan Children's Books

Pages: 385

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopian

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

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.

Glow is the most riveting series debut since The Hunger Games, and promises to thrill and challenge readers of all ages.

My Thoughts.

Sit down and buckle up, and get set for a ride into outer space.

Having never really read anything Sci-Fi before, and not knowing what to expect but really liking the synopsis, I was quite excited to read this book.

You're instantly transported to a spacecraft called the Empyrean, which is headed to New Earth after the Earth we know is no longer hospitable.

We find the two eldest teenagers on the ship Waverly and Kieran (also the first kids born in space), and the book starts off with them getting engaged.

Being a small population aboard the ship at 16 I guess you could say they're expected to marry and produce children almost straight away to increase the population.

Meanwhile outside their ship is another spacecraft called New Horizon, no one aboard Empyrean knows what they want.

It turns out that there are no kids aboard New Horizon because every female is infertile, so they manage to get aboard Empyrean and convince all the girls (by lying to them) to climb aboard their ship.

Straight away Waverly knows there is something funny going on so we are with her on New Horizon trying to figure out how to escape, while on board Empyrean her fiancee Kieran and another boy Seth who has been in love with Waverly for years fight to save their ship (which was partly destroyed when people from New Horizon forced there way on board) and to try and rescue Waverly and the other girls.

And we have people onboard both ships that you just know are going to end up being bad people.

But all in all we have a fantastic story that has plenty of action, shocks and a love triangle I can't wait to read about in future books (just so you know I'm rooting for Waverly and Seth).  

A big thanks to the author Amy who's opened my eyes to reading outside my usual genres, and for getting me to try something different.

I cannot wait for the next book in the series, I give this 4/5.

A big, big thankyou to Charlotte Ree @ Pan Macmillan Australia.