Sunday 16 October 2011

Her heart will determine the future....

BR - Glow - Amy Kathleen Ryan

Teenagers Waverly and Kieran believe their future is written in the stars.
They are part of the first generation born in space.
They are in love.
They have never seen a stranger before...until the day they are wrenched apart and suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives.

That is the blurb. Now here is the synopsis 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.

The story = brilliant idea, very very intriguing from reading the blurb....the Goodreads Synopsis practically tells the story. In fact, this is one of the complaints I have about this book, the Goodreads synopsis tells more of the story then the book does...some of the stuff in the synopsis isn't even in the book, and it should be because if it was included the story would be complete...
The characters = cute, enchanting, realistic. Although Seth...didn't like him at all. And Waverly shouldn't either. Ryan was trying to capture the popular love triangle theme...and it didn't work. Seth is horrible, He is the baddie of the goodies and usually, I fall for that, but Seth wasn't a baddie goodie in the ooft I wish you were real kind of way. He was just horrible and should have been a baddie. Ryan should have just made the book more a focus of the difficulties between Waverly and Kieran as a couple who have the ship's expectations riding on them. Unfortunately I didn't get any chemistry between them...at all :-/
The writing style = average. The climax and epilogue was disappointing. This amazing build up, then just a deflating let down....

I had quite high expectations for the book...it's a good story idea, and generally a good writing style, the characters were a bit too try hard and copycat in some places, but it was an average book. Not high on  my favourites, but not bottom either.

Maybe you guys will find it more enjoyable then I do, I hope so! It's a good book, go try it and prove me wrong!
JB xxx