The Glass Arrow

This just did not do it for me. DNF. I really don't care about the characters or the society. ( )

There had better be another one or i'm gonna scream at that ending. ( )

The Glass Arrow is heralded as something akin to a young adult take on Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, which I'll admit both intrigued and made me a bit wary, as those are rather illustrious shoes to fill. Particularly with the barrage of young adult dystopian literature currently flooding the market, few seem to live up to expectations, causing skepticism. However, forever the literary optimist, I chose to give Kristen Simmons' latest a fair chance. The Glass Arrow follows fifteen year old Aya, a rebel living in a small mountain camp with her family outside of the city. Hunted by militants and bounty hunters, women of her age are in particularly high demand, sought for breeding and auctions for the wealthy within the city's walls. In a world plagued by infertility, eligible women are rounded up and sold to the highest bidder, those from beyond the boundaries being an especially hot commodity. Aya's harrowing journey as a captive at a holding facility leads through her often violent encounters with the other females being groomed for market, her valiant attempts to sabotage the monthly auctions, and her time spent in solitary as punishment where she befriends a stray wolf and a mysterious mute male who seems hellbent on helping her escape. While the fierce protagonist and gripping story are undeniably a huge draw, what is most satisfying about this book may actually be what it lacks. There is no ridiculous love triangle or zealous romance developed in three pages, no young teenager somehow capable of singlehandedly toppling an entire corrupt system, and no canned plans for an unnecessary trilogy. While the pacing is slow early in the book and Simmons' feminist angle can be heavy-handed (lacking the subtlety and starkness of Atwood's dystopian classic), the mature subject matter is handled with grace while the worldbuilding is impeccable. With its riveting storytelling and unique features, The Glass Arrow is a standout. ( )

Set in a dystopian future where women are treated as property, Aya is abducted from her home and family. Follow her struggle to escape her captors and regain her freedom.

I really liked this book. I let it sit around awhile before starting it, but after started, I wondered why I had waited so long. There were a couple of details within the plot that didn’t quite make sense to me. Girl babies were often frowned upon or killed, but the need of girls were in such high demand that they went great lengths to kidnap and buy or sale them. Also, the girls at the auction house had to be virgins or they were disfigured and thrown out as the lowest in society, but many were bought used and recycled (for lack of a better word) back through the house. So some of these dystopian world rules didn’t exactly connect, but the story was so interesting that I was able to overlook these irregularities. From the beginning, the story had me hooked. I couldn’t wait to see what Aya was going to do next in each situation. Also, it was fascinating discovering the classes and types of people. ( )