Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Title: Glow

Author: Amy Kathleen Ryan
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult

Grade: 94% or A

Buy It: Amazon

The Empyrean is the only home 15-year-old Waverly has ever known. Part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space, she and her boyfriend Kieran will be pioneers of New Earth. Waverly knows she must marry young in order to have children who can carry on the mission, and Kieran, the handsome captain-to-be, has everything Waverly could want in a husband. Everyone is sure he’s the best choice. Still, there’s a part of Waverly that wants more from life than marriage, and she is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

Suddenly, Waverly’s dreams are interrupted by the inconceivable – a violent betrayal by the Empyrean's sister ship, the New Horizon. The New Horizon’s leaders are desperate to populate the new planet first, and will do anything to get what they need: young girls. In one pivotal moment, Waverly and Kieran are separated, and find themselves at the helm of dangerous missions, where every move has potentially devastating consequences, and decisions of the heart may lead to disaster.

My Thoughts:: 
I was given the great opportunity to review the audio book of Glow. This is the first review that I'm writing that is completely on an audiobook. I won't suspect that it will be much different, but I want to try to hone in on what made it a different experience for me.

With an audio book I have to just jump right into it. I can't sit down and read a couple pages and then go do something else. I have to listen to a good hour before I can bring myself to move on. The spoken word just has a way of pulling me into a story. There were so many important characters in this novel with big personalities which the two narrators were able to capture perfectly and diversify so as not to confuse listeners.

This is the first book that I read set in space, and it adds a new urgency to all problems. The solutions are no longer simple and the stakes are higher. Getting to know a new world or place is always exciting, but when the place is MOVING and on a journey to a place that they've never been before, the setting is so much more....interesting. I was never bored because there was always something to be thinking about.

Not that I could have been bored in the first place. The plot was so enriching and never failed to twist and turn my mind. The situations that both of the ships were put in was horrible, and I felt sympathy for everyone. But to make things more complicated...I also found almost everyone to be to blame. Even after finishing I'm not sure who the bad guys are or who to blame for the things that happened.

Overall Glow was the most original and satisfying book that I've read in a while and I can not wait until the next book is ready for me to read or hopefully listen to. I'd recommend this book to someone who likes a book filled with secrets to be discovered or just enjoys a future in space.