Review: Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

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Fiquei muito surpresa com o tanto que gostei deste livro. Esse não é o tipo de coisa que prefiro ler, com temas futurísticos, de naves e tudo o mais, mas realmente foi cativante e envolvente. Depois que terminei, tive que sair na rua gritando para todo mundo comprar e ler, de tão bom e impressionante que achei! (Ok, eu forcei meus amigos a me escutarem falando sobre o livro por meia hora, e meio que os ameacei a lê-lo, mas não foi na rua e tals.) Adorei os temas feministas e bem atuais na nossa sociedade. Eu simplesmente amo distopia, e foi por isso que este livro foi direto para a minha estante de favoritos. 

Atualização: Já consegui fazer/forçar duas amigas e a minha mãe lerem Glow/Brilho, e elas amaram. Mais gente precisa ler. ;) É muito mais do que a sinopse descreve.

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16-year-old Kieran was the first child to be born abord the Empyrean (closely followed by Waverly, his probable wife-to-be), and was highly celebrated by a crew that went through so many hardships trying to find a way to cure the fertility problems they started to suffer in their journey to a new planet. That is why everyone assumes he'll be the next Captain. But his chance to prove himself worthy comes way sooner, and in a much more difficult package than he could ever have predicted.

The spaceship New Horizon should have been years ahead of the Empyrean, but for weeks now they have been getting closer and closer. The crew is alight with curiosity, but the Captain seems quite nervous. And with no lack of reason. The New Horizon is preparing to invade his ship and kidnap all the girls. And kill everyone that gets in their way (some of them more than deserved it -especially the MEN-, but it wasn't really the way to settle things, I guess). When it finally happens, all that are left are the boys, along with a handful of seriously injured adults. 

The kidnapping ship is filled with religious fanatics under the control of Reverend Mather, a woman with understandable reasons, but certainly not deserving of pity. Anne Mather is totally cuckoo. She wants the girls in order to harvest their eggs to impregnate the brainwashed women in her ship. Aaaand she wants to keep the 'egg factories' close by. For now, that is. (evil laugh). Until Waverly finds a way to take off with all the girls in search of their own ship. 

When the girls get there they are surprised (and THAT's putting it mildly) to discover that there were no adults in charge, and that the older boys (Kieran and -hottie-though-slightly-crazy- Seth) had fought a LOT for the power, with Kieran 'winning' in the end. Kieran struggled to find a way to keep the morale of many hopeless newly-made orphans in what was starting to look like a sinking (watch out for the pun!) ship, until he finally found a way to bring them together and restore their hope. With, ta-da! RELIGION. O.o

Waverly's head almost blows up (I could totally picture it) when she sees her beloved almost fiancee and last hope on Earth (uh, ship?) slowly becoming her worst nightmare: another Anne Mather. And Kieran is heart-broken when Waverly doesn't automatically 'digs' his newly found power of 'being the vessel of god and carrier of his will' and all that.

The book ends in a way that was sure to give me a few white hairs and now I can't write much more because I REALLY need to get my hands on a couple of Sparks, like pronto.

P.S.: I noticed tons of people did not like this book, but I particularly found it BRILLIANT. The author was just amazing and found a great way of introducing serious matters (rape, excess of male empowerment and female DISempowerment in a enclosed society -inside a freaking ship lost in the middle of space-, along with excessive religious views, power struggle, and sabotage) to young and mature audiences alike. Sure, maybe this wouldn't be perfect for 13 year-olds, but from 14 up it's one hell of a great book. 

Teens need to know there is evil in the world, and it's usually closer than you think. Power figures, people that should protect and take care of you CAN, in fact, turn out to be the enemy. DUH! Watch out, girls. Men aren't always trustworthy and you should learn it as soon as you can. Oh, and old ladies that look all nice and comfy? Well, they can turn out to be crazy religious bitches who will 'surgically' rape to steal your eggs and shoot you if you try to run from them, but she still totally loves you and wants you safe. In her crutches, but safe. O.o Okay, maybe not the second part (you never know, tho), but the first is a fair warning. 

Remember Red Riding Hood? Now imagine the wolf is a member of your family or your neighbor. Keep your eyes open, don't show weaknesses. They might be a predator. Aaaand enough with this, jeez. This was supposed to be a book review, not a speech on rape awareness. But I do ADMIRE Amy a hell of a lot for putting the word out there in a more constructive way than usual.

This book is amazing, don't let the low ratings fool you. Give it a try and let me know. ;)