DNF Review: Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Glow
Amy Kathleen Ryan
Series: Sky Chasers #1
Genre: YA Science Fiction / Romance
Released: October 2011
by Macmillan
Source: Purchased
Rating: DNF

Add to Goodreads | Purchase online

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 one of those book that I put on my to-read list based only on the cover and not what the book was about. So when I bought the book while on holiday, I was a little surprised to read that the book was a romance book. But that aside, I bought the book hoping to not be disappointed. Boy, was I disappointed.

I only got through half of the book before giving up from boredom and getting lost in the midst of numerous characters that I presume have absolutely nothing to do with the plot. What I did read I found to be just too slow for my liking. Apart from the New Horizon attacking the Empyrean and kidnapping all of the girls, very little interesting happened. Most of what I read was comprised of Waverly and the other girls being shown around the New Horizon and becoming accustomed with the religious ways of the ship's inhabitants and Kieran and the boys finding out a way to fix the Empyrean. Other than that, practically nothing happened. Hopefully something happens somewhere in the book, but that probably would have marked the book down if I had the patience and finished it.

I didn't find the characters of Glow to be likable at all. I have probably never come across such flat and bland characters in a book. To me, Waverly was extremely prejudiced towards the people on the New Horizon, just because they're religious. And on top of that, her decision making was terrible. I was waiting for her to be an awesome ass-kicking heroine but that never happened. Some heroine. Kieran wasn't prejudiced but he wasn't much better, he also was bad at making decisions and appeared to be motivated by some one-sided argument. Good grief...

One of the things that really bugged me about this book is the religious tones. The ship New Horizon is described as being full of hardcore religious types and it is implied that they are evil and their faith is possibly the reason why. I realise that there are people who dislike people who are of faith, but the religious people in Glow were pretty much stereotypes. A ship full of multiple Ned Flanders. I just couldn't take any more of that.

Glow is told from the view of both Waverly and Kieran and, to be honest, I found neither of them to be interesting or engaging. I found the writing style to be drawn out and added to the boring plot, which had already made my eyes feel heavy every time I looked at the page.

I got about half of the way through Glow before setting it aside forever. Everytime I picked it up, I'd read about two or three pages and then put it down again. I was hoping for a great story about love among the stars and I didn't get that. Unfortunately, this book gets a big fat DNF from me.