Author:
Amy Kathleen Ryan
Publication Date:
July 17, 2012
Publisher:
St. Martin’s Press
Format:
Hardcover, 320 pages
Price:
CAD $19.99
Source:
An ARC was provided by Raincoast Books for review! Thank you!
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Description
Waverly, Kieran and Seth are in a race against time – and with the future of humanity hanging in the balance, there’s no room for mistakes…
After a desperate escape from the enemy ship, Waverly has finally made it back to the Empyrean. The memory of home has been keeping her alive for the past months… but home is nothing like she left it. Forced to leave their captive parents behind on the New Horizon, she’s returned only to find that Kieran has become a strict leader and turned the crew against Seth. What happened to the Kieran she thought she knew? Now Waverly’s not sure whom she can trust. And the one person she wants to believe in is darkly brilliant Seth, the ship’s supposed enemy. Waverly knows that the situation will only get worse until they can rescue their parents – but how?
Before they have time to make a plan, an explosion rocks the Empyrean, and Seth and Waverly are targeted as the prime suspects. Can they find the true culprit before Kieran locks them away… or worse? Will Waverly follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? Now more than ever, every step could bring them closer to a new beginning – or a sudden end.
About The Author
AMY KATHLEEN RYAN earned an MA in English Literature at the University of Vermont, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the New School Creative Writing for Children Program in New York City. She is also the author of two widely acclaimed young adult novels, Zen and Xander Undone and Vibes.
Review
Waverly has gone off to the dark side. Quite literally she seems to lose her humanity in this book and I couldn’t help but cringe when she did those ghastly things. Maybe being on the ship with no adult supervision has finally made her go a little crazy.
Seth doesn’t seem as evil in this one than the last book. I quite liked reading his viewpoints. I actually pitied him knowing that he was trying to help the ship and not destroy it.
Kieran seemed like he was brainwashed into believing all the things he was doing was right. I didn’t understand why him and Waverly were at such opposite ends. I do believe that Kieran is an adept leader and he did his best to become the captain when everyone needed help, he was there to take charge and I admire that in him.
There’s a lot of vengeance trying to be sought in this book and I’m not sure it bodes well for the people of Empyrean. All it does is create more violence and more evil acts. I was appalled at what some of these teens were doing. Their minds are unhinged and aren’t thinking clearly. They are desperate to help their parents and are doing everything in their power but torturing people is not the way to do it. I fear this will cause an avalanche of emotions that will make it harder for them to get over.
Great story and I really can’t wait for the last book!
Rating 4/5
Quotes
“It was his goal to get a real smile out of her someday. He wanted to see what she looked like when she was happy.”—Seth
“She’d been through too much. Some part of we had snapped. Her humanity had gone on hiatus, and what was left behind was her animal instinct: Kill, hurt, main, survive.”—Seth
“All I know,” Seth said, trying his best to sound reasonable, “is that I made things worse by being mean when I could have made things better being kind.”—Seth
“I don’t care that I’m not good enough for you.”—Seth
I gave it a two stars, mainly because, as you said, Waverly has gone over the ‘dark side’. I hated her a lot, and I was disappointed mainly by that. To me, it felt like a ‘in between’ book. Like you, I can’t wait to see what happens next, but my expectations are REALLY low! I had high expectations for Spark since I love Glow, but now I decided to lower them for the third and final book. I’m still glad you liked it!
Happy reading, Giselle!
Cathee