The Glass Arrow
by 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.
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.
The Glass Arrow was an incredible read and really shocked me. The summary from Goodreads says that it is a mix between The Handmaid’s Tale meets Blood Red Road but since I've never read either of them, I was coming into this story with a fresh start, without any expectations. I have heard that Simmons is an incredible author and I was definitely not disappointed.
The story starts out when Aya, our main character, is being captured. Because all women are captured and being sold for population control purposes, she has been hiding in the woods with some of her family and have grown up to be more wild. Once she's captured, she's put into the Garden - a place where all girls get prepared to be sold at the auction and have given another name to go by - Aya's being Clover, a weed. Not wanting to be sold off, she tries to get into more fights so she can go into solitary where she can see Brax, her wild wolf who she came to love. And that's when she meets Kiran. A mute Driver who never hurt her and was not taken back that Aya was Unpromised.
I loved this book. The world building was incredible and very much made sense. I did find it offensive that women were viewed as "baby makers" of the society but that was the world that they lived in and I really sympathized with them. Aya was really incredible. I loved how wild and determined she was, there are not a lot of YA novels where we find the female be so strong and mature for her age that she could take on guys bigger than her. Just simple things like working out and trying to get stronger for her escape made me love her even more. Definitely packed with action, although slow at times to explain about the world building and other characters, I really enjoyed this book.
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.
Social Media
