Awesome Book Nuts: Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons + GIVEAWAY

Publish Date: February 10, 2015
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 336

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.

My Thoughts:
Ok first off, I HATE The Handmaid's Tale. So when I got this book and THAT is what it said? Yikes. However I LOVED Blood Red Road so putting two books that's I've read and have polar opposite thoughts and feelings on...well I was interested!

I didn't really know what I was getting into, however I was hooked from the first few pages. This book was very well written, with some very raw, emotional, and controversial scenes/topics, I felt I am giving it, it's proper rating. Kristen shows a dystopian world where the feminist struggle is eliminated and their worst fears are brought to life. Her writing is very vivid and real with shocking twists and turns, that has the reader holding on to the edge of their seat.

This story is about a girl named Aya who has lived in "the wild" (meaning outside the city) all her life, her mother warned her about what happens in the city and taught Aya how to survive. When Aya is captured by Trackers, her worse fears come to life, she is thrown into the lot of other girls who are ripe and ready to be sold to become baby-makers for the men of the city. Aya is an amazing female character, she is very realistic, she is strong, yet-flawed, she feels, she struggles, yet throughout everything she never gives up, she continues to fight. I love that she isn't the cookie-cutter dystopian heroine that has all the answers that makes all the right choices. She is great because the author shows you that this character has real emotions such a fear and the will to survive.

Along the way Aya befriends a young Driver whom she names Kiran. A Driver is a class of people who tend to the horses and drive the carriages when needed. They don't speak and are considered so low that they are treated with distain as if they are plagued. Kiran was the polar opposite of the harsh and almost diabolical male side of the city. Kiran is kind, thoughtful, empathetic, gentle and yet he is strong and isn't brought down as a male character regardless of the disgusting side the men of the city are painted. I thought the author does a great job of showing both sides of the spectrum. Men aren't all bad and women aren't all clueless.

The world portrayed is captivating with harsh and gritty descriptions that portray both side of good and evil from both male and female characters. The character developments were spot on and the author navigates your feelings with vivid and emotional and shows that women are worth so much and more than what they are brought up to believe.

Sexual Content: moderate (talk of sex, and rape, not graphic)
Violence: moderate (fightings, abuse, females being hit, men getting beaten)
Language: mild/none
Drugs/Alcohol: mild