The back blurb for this book was pretty dreadfull. Basically it sounded like a story of a boy and girl, in love, before political turmoil between generation ships separates them.
The real story is so much more. If had to sum it up, I'd say it was a dystopian space opera with a dash of Orwellian horror.
Waverly loves Kieran. Kieran loves Waverly.
As the two oldest of the children born on the spaceschip Empyrean, they are a natural match for each other and when Kieran asks Waverly to marry him in the first chapter of the book, she accepts, with reservations. She isn't sure that the love she feels for him is true love or friendship. But her duty is clear as a colonist of New Earth (that's where the ship is heading, the new planet) to have children and work and Kieran is as good a husband as any girl could expect.
But something unforseen has happened that has Kieran, Waverly and indeed every person on the Empyrean feeling uneasy. Their sister ship, The New Horizon has pulled alongside them. The New Horizon set out from earth a full year before the Empyrean did, so they have never flown alongside each other, it would be an impossibility for the Empyrean to ever catch up with the New Horizon so there is only explanation, the New Horizon slowed down to meet them. The question is, why?
The reason becomes clear in a horrifying instant when the New Horizon boards and attacks. Waverly and all the other girls, some of them toddlers are 'evacuated' to the New Horizon and thus starts their terrifying adventure.
Many secrets are revealed, such as;
Why did the New Horizon attack?
Why are women of the New Horizon infertile?
How did Waverly's father die?
What is Anne Mather, leader of the New Horizon, hiding?
Who will lead the Empyrean?
How will Waverly and the other girls escape?
I've heard it said before that Young Adult Literature is just literature with young main characters, this story proves out that statement.
Matters of freedom, oppression, sex, pregnancy, violence and free choice are discussed, acted on and frequently beaten up in this book and I can't help comparing it to other stories of young people in terrifying situations, such as The Hunger Games, The Giver, Feed, Divergent, Inside Out and How I live Now.
The religious aspects and the sex (everything is behind closed doors) will likely get a lot of people panties in a bunch, but I thought it was realistic and thoughtful, not the least bit exploitative for a book about teen girls forced to propagate a new world.
The characters are believable and kept the plot turning in unexpected ways.
Kieren is a hero who has never been tested. As the captain's golden boy, his place in the world is assured and with Waverly at his side, he will get everything he's always wanted.
Waverly is someone who does what has to be done and stays true to herself, but like Kieran, her life has been pleasant and uneventful, being kidnapped by people who will do anything to have a child isn't exactly something she's been prepared for.
But what really made the story shine above other similar stories are the villains; Anne Mather the leader of the New Horizon, she makes hard choices for the survival of her people and she isn't above blackmail or murder to accomplish what she feels is her god given purpose in life. This is a woman who believes and she has such a vibrant, forceful personality, that the people on her ship would follow to hell if she pointed the way.
Seth - At first I thought he was just the other side of an obvious love triangle between Kieran, Waverly and Seth, but Seth turns out to be the instrument of Kieran's growth as the boys fight for supremacy after the kidnapping and attack by the New Horizon. He says something to Waverly before the attack that had me scratching my head, but his is a deep and shadowy kind of villainy and it was hard not to feel bad for him.
Amanda - friend of Anne Mather, who is desperate for a child of her own. The story ends and I really wanted to know what happened to this character, maybe the next book?
The book is told from two viewpoints, Waverly, kidnapped along with all the other girls and being held on the New Horizon as 'the mothers of the new generation' and Kieran, on the Empyrean, dealing with the damage from the attack and trying to bring a group of traumatized and angry boys together to keep the ship from exploding.
Several moments in the book had me flipping the pages like a madwoman, hardly daring to believe the author would take the characters to such terrible places (she did) and then horrified to realize that Kieran and Waverly were not going to be rescued. I guess that is the point of the book, don't wait for rescue, you're on your own.
I finished the book in record time and if I had one complaint it is for the cliffhanger ending, I'm getting pretty sick of cliffhanger endings! I guess I'll have to wait a year or two to find out what happens next.
