The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

"Like The Handmaid's Tale, Simmons's book serves as essential commentary on women's rights."--Cosmopolitan.com Once there was a time when men and women lived as equals, when girl babies were valued, and women could belong only to themselves. But that was ten generations ago. Now women are property, to be sold and owned and bred, while a strict census keeps their numbers manageable and under control. The best any girl can hope for is to end up as some man's forever wife, but most are simply sold and resold until they're all used up. Only in the wilderness, away from the city, can true freedom be found. Aya has spent her whole life in the mountains, looking out for her family and hiding from the world, until the day the Trackers finally catch her. Stolen from her home, and being groomed for auction, Aya is desperate to escape her fate and return to her family, but her only allies are a loyal wolf she's raised from a pup and a strange mute boy who may be her best hope for freedom . . . if she can truly trust him. The Glass Arrow: a haunting, yet hopeful, new novel from Kristen Simmons, the author of the popular Article 5 trilogy.

3.5 Stars

“If the scientists here are so great, how come they can't do what we can do? How come they can't make a boy? The Governess once told us they've tried but the results were deformed, or sickly or not right in the head. That's why we're so important. That's what they get for messing with nature.“

I have a lot of mix feelings about this book. To stat off with, the premise is absolutely captivating. You have a society where girls are hunted and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Girls like Aya are prized due to their ability to be bred for males. The society that Simmons has created with the Magnates, Drivers, and the girls is unique and fascinating. At at the same time, it is scary to think of a society where young girls are sold due to their ability to potentially create male heirs.

In this book, we have Aya who grew up in the mountains with a small group of other women on the run. When she is caught and brought to auction, live takes on a whole new meaning in terms of surviving and being free again. This is a story of survival and gaining your freedom. And that is what I liked most about it. This was simply a story about Aya's journey to freedom. It was her on her own with help from Kiran. But for the most part she was a strong independent girl who could take care of herself. The book was also not a full on love story between Aya and Kiran. It was a subtle building of something more without it driving the plot completely.

As for my issues with this book, the big thing was how incredibly slow the plot was. It took me way longer to get through this book due to how long it took to get to the story. The first third or so of the book is just Aya attempting to escape, time and time again. It was annoying and incredibly boring to see her make little to no progress. The last few chapters is where everything really happens and comes together. And I can say I did not see the identity of a certain character coming.

I listened to this book on audiobook narrated by Soneela Nankani. I've never been a huge fan of audiobooks and this book was no exception. Many people love audiobooks, but I personally prefer holding a book in my hands to read and enjoy it. That being said, I think Nankani did a good job of sharing the story. I just personally am not an audiobook listener.

Overall, this book was a fascinating premise and I enjoyed Simmons writing. I appreciated the way the story unfolded, I just wish it had not been so slow in the beginning. Plus this is a stand alone which is incredibly rare in the genre of dystopia. I would recommend this book to people who are okay with slow starts but more importantly for someone who wants to dive into a truly corrupt and enthralling world.

I received the audiobook from Recorded Books via LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review

This one is already showing up on best of lists for 2015, so I gave it ago. I was worried because I'm pretty sure I DNF'd Article 5, but either Simmons's storytelling has greatly improved or the change in subject matter did the trick. Most of the stars I've awarded are for world building. It is excellent here. The rest of the stars are for a heroine who is not a special snowflake or involved in any kind of a love triangle. Thank goodness. Aya's only redeeming quality is sheer determination. Nothing gets this girl down.
I had some problems with the story flow. It stalls out pretty bad about a quarter of the way through. I had to enact my determination to keep pressing on.Once they got to the mountain, it picked up. I was not charmed by Kiran in any way (still am not), but that is not important to anyone but me. I wonder if I'd have liked him better if he'd been a girl. I wish the family characters would have been fleshed out more. Daphne is also lacking in character. If a wee bit more attention would have gone into making them more complex and a wee bit more attention would have gone in to explaining Aya's religion, I would have appreciated the story even more. I'm also confused about the geography and how there could be outlying settlements with women in them. How are they protected?

There are also too many junior villains. The Governess is a mix of Miss Hannigan and Effie Trinket, but she is not evil enough. Greer is not fleshed out enough to really understand how evil he is, and the mayor is kind of a powdered donut. If this is to be a series, it will need a big bad.

I think this one might be an interesting pick for a Teen Book Club. There is a lot to discuss here, especially the history of the Red Years. Could that really happen? And Pips and Watchers? What about human rights? Interesting.