The Glass ArrowAuthor: Kristen Simmons
Publisher: Tor Teen, 336 pages
Publication Date: February 10, 2015
From Goodreads:
In a world where females are scarce and are hunted, then bought and sold at market for their breeding rights, 15-year old Aya has learned how to hide. With a ragtag bunch of other women and girls, she has successfully avoided capture and eked out a nomadic but free existence in the mountains. But when Aya’s luck runs out and she’s caught by a group of businessmen on a hunting expedition, fighting to survive takes on a whole new meaning.
Review:
I liked this book, but it was underwhelming and it may just be a case of high expectations. I absolutely loved Kristen Simmons' Article 5 trilogy, but this one just didn't do it for me. Why? It was interesting, it had a tough heroine, and a good guy for a love interest (plus no love triangle and it's a standalone), but I just wasn't feeling it. And part of it is the lack of dialogue between Aya and Kiran since Kiran is mute. Because of that I didn't feel like I knew Kiran at all. And we never get much information about Kiran and his life.
The main reason this book ended up being just ok for me is the world-building. I. Didn't. Get. It. Now I know that if you have a main character who grew up isolated in the mountains, she won't know much about the world, but still. That's an easy out for not explaining anything. Aya doesn't know anything. About the history of the world, how things work, etc. Which means we don't either. Why do they have electric cars but it's a sign of higher status to ride a horse? Why do they eat meal pills in the city and not food when they know it's better to eat food and there seems to be plenty of food outside of the city? These are just a few of the questions I had that never get answered. I have no idea how this world came to be (except for some strange story about a love triangle leading to war). What??
And you know those books where there are a lot of deaths and some heartbreaking ones? Well, there's not much death in this book at all, but there is a heartbreaking one. For. No. Reason.
And one last thing…why does the synopsis say females are scarce? They're not scarce, there's too many of them and they routinely kill female babies. Females who can have babies are scarce (and they only want boys although how they can have boys without having girls at some point….) That bugged me.
I hate writing negative reviews, and I wanted to love this one, but I didn't.
Posted by: Pam
They kill female babies?! Yeah, I'm not so sure I can read this now. I LOVED Article 5 but I still need to read the rest of the series, but I was really looking forward to this one. But, I'm not so sure that I could stand reading about that.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the honest review, Pam!
Oh no... I am so sad about this. I also loved her Article 5 series, but I honestly haven't read very many good reviews for this one. Lack of world-building does not play out well for me. And the lack of relationship development just due to the lack of dialogue... I'll probably still read this eventually, but I think I'm going to be bumping it down the list.
ReplyDeleteHmmm everything you say sounds reasonable and not far from things that i might question/become annoyed by. I still want to read this one, but my expectations are lower. Hopefully that works in my favor and I'm hoping I connect more with the character and world so that I can overlook some of its flaws. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAw, I'm sorry you didn't like this one, Pam! I hate it when books don't meet expectations. I was okay with the amount of world building we were given - it maintained a slight air of mystery but I feel like we were given enough. I do understand where you're coming from, though! I'm not a huge fantasy reader, so maybe that's part of it.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're next read goes better!
Great review. I've seen a really great review for this today and now a negative one, and now I am rather torn. I think I'll probably try this one, but I won't be going in with really high expectations.
ReplyDelete