Hardcover, 336 pages
Expected publication: February 10th 2015
Publisher: Tor Teen
Author: Kristen Simmons
The Handmaid’s Tale meets Blood Red Road in Glass Arrow, the story of Aya, who lives with a small group of women on the run from the men who hunt them, men who want to auction off breeding rights to the highest bidder.
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.
Kristen Simmons is the author of the ARTICLE 5 series and THE GLASS ARROW (Tor Teen). She loves her family, Jazzercise, and chocolate cupcakes. She currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Glass Arrow is a captivating, haunting, and yet beautifully written story of a young girl's fight to survive in a world where females are scarce and the ones that survive are sold to the highest bidder for whatever purpose the buyer chooses....
As soon as I saw the synopsis for this book on Goodreads then I knew I was going to love it. I am a sucker for a good survival story and The Glass Arrow is a perfect example. The main character, Aya, is portrayed as such a strong heroine and has overcome the odds for years while living in the forest. When she is finally captured by the Trackers she is then sent to a place called The Gardens where young girls are prepared for auction and sold to the highest bidder.
"Daphne was the first to tell me why the hunters were so eager to sell me to the Garden. The city scientists think it's the fresh air or the real food--as opposed to the meal supplement pills pumped down their throats in the early, formative years--that make wild girls like me, and those born in the outlying towns, like my mother, different. Whatever the reason, I'm worth quite a lot. I'm twice as likely to produce a living, healthy boy child than any other woman born in the city."
While in the Gardens Aya befriends a young boy that is called a Driver. Drivers are over the barns and the horses and responsible for the transportation of the Gardens. Drivers are unable to speak. I could not find in the book where it is clearly defined why they are unable to speak but it is just known that they can't. So when Aya meets the young Driver she names him Kiran and because he cant speak she feels like she can tell him anything. Each time they meet she tells him all about her life and all her secrets. Their friendship is slowly blooming into a romance when Aya is called to be sold at the auction.
One of my favorite characters in the entire book is Brax. Brax is a young wolf that Aya found while at the Gardens. She saved him and has raised him from a baby. I love their loving relationship and how protective he is over her. I have a softness for animals and especially ones like Brax who has no one but Aya and Aya feels like she has no one but Brax. They have such a special friendship and Brax will go to the ends of the earth to protect Aya.
"I cannot swallow the giggles that bubble from my throat as Brax kisses my cheeks and my neck with his long, rough tongue. Licks with sniffs and snorts through my mess of hair, as though he believes I've hidden treats inside my curls. His paws are on my shoulders, pinning me down, and his breath smells a little fishy, but I am overjoyed. Brax is the only good thing I have in my life since I was taken."
The Glass Arrow was full of so much raw emotion, shocking twists, and intense survival scenes. Kristen Simmons knows how to write a story that is so real and causes the reader to see the story and feel what the characters are experiencing. Kristen hits on topics that are controversial and grab reader's attention. I really enjoyed The Glass Arrow and am looking forward to the sequel and seeing where the story takes Aya and Kiran......
"Yes I say. But the fear has already set in. By the end of today I'll either by free or dead....."
**The quotes from this book have been taken from an Advanced Reading Copy and are subject to change when the final book is printed. Please refer to the final, finished copy for exact quotes!**
**I want to say Thank You to Tor Teen for the opportunity to review this book!!**
Hardcover, 384 pages
