Glow: Book I, Potency
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At the end of the book, I felt as if I still didn’t know her as a character, that there was nothing unique about her, other than maybe her genetics. Harper felt too flat for me, not likable, or unlikable as a character, and never really showing any true emotions.
Overall, this just wasn’t for me. It was very difficult to get to the end, and if I hadn’t received an ARC, I probably would have DNF’ed it.
**i received an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**
by
it was ok
bookshelves: 2019, arcs, beautiful-cover, bullying, cliques, drug-abuse, no-barely-finished, science-fiction
I had a feeling I was going to struggle with Glow from chapter one. There were issues with the writing style (which I’ll go into later) that were present from the beginning. However, I was hopeful that the plot, and character development would be enough to save the writing, and I’d still like it even if I didn’t Love it.
Glow follows Harper, a home-schooled teenager with a strict mom, who has her on a curfew that Harper thinks is unfair, and occasionally tries to break it. Harper just wants to play soccer with her friends, and while she’s out, she sees something crazy, like unexplainable crazy. Her town along with other cities in the world are infected with Maasai Mara Sleeping syndrome which is a nice way of saying: first you get sick, then, you die.
The plot, really goes crazy from there. After the first 20%, we’re hit with a plot twist that is maybe a little over-the-top, and a little rushed on the execution. After that, I found it hard to stay interested and to continue reading as the twist was a little too forced on the reader, and a little too crazy.
Glow follows Harper, a home-schooled teenager with a strict mom, who has her on a curfew that Harper thinks is unfair, and occasionally tries to break it. Harper just wants to play soccer with her friends, and while she’s out, she sees something crazy, like unexplainable crazy. Her town along with other cities in the world are infected with Maasai Mara Sleeping syndrome which is a nice way of saying: first you get sick, then, you die.
The plot, really goes crazy from there. After the first 20%, we’re hit with a plot twist that is maybe a little over-the-top, and a little rushed on the execution. After that, I found it hard to stay interested and to continue reading as the twist was a little too forced on the reader, and a little too crazy.
The writing ends up hindering most of the book, as it’s written in present tense which can already be a hit and miss, but especially for this book, as so much of the story is told to the readers and not shown. Adding this to the present-tense writing style and, the book draggggggs.
The characters also weren’t as likable, or unlikable as I wanted them to be. Harper has been thorough a lot in this book, and yet she’s boring and kind of flat. She doesn’t hardly get mad at her family (especially not to their faces) which she has every right to. And her main character traits: her love for biology and soccer, are kind of forgotten at some point and never mentioned again. And there were several times where she made a few comments (even just in her head) that bothered me. At one point she thinks:
I struggle to keep my face straight. If he wants to destroy the human race to get revenge on a few bullies, it’s not wonder he wasn’t popular.
This is already a kind of mean thought, but coming from someone who’s never gone to public school? The guy just confessed to complete strangers how he was bullied in high school, and how that’s when he realized the world wasn’t what is should be. Which he’s right. There shouldn’t be bullies in a perfect world.
The characters also weren’t as likable, or unlikable as I wanted them to be. Harper has been thorough a lot in this book, and yet she’s boring and kind of flat. She doesn’t hardly get mad at her family (especially not to their faces) which she has every right to. And her main character traits: her love for biology and soccer, are kind of forgotten at some point and never mentioned again. And there were several times where she made a few comments (even just in her head) that bothered me. At one point she thinks:
I struggle to keep my face straight. If he wants to destroy the human race to get revenge on a few bullies, it’s not wonder he wasn’t popular.
This is already a kind of mean thought, but coming from someone who’s never gone to public school? The guy just confessed to complete strangers how he was bullied in high school, and how that’s when he realized the world wasn’t what is should be. Which he’s right. There shouldn’t be bullies in a perfect world.
The actions of many other characters bothered me too. Harper's family especially seems to act unreasonably at times, and after awhile, she never thinks about them again.
At the end of the book, I felt as if I still didn’t know her as a character, that there was nothing unique about her, other than maybe her genetics. Harper felt too flat for me, not likable, or unlikable as a character, and never really showing any true emotions.
Overall, this just wasn’t for me. It was very difficult to get to the end, and if I hadn’t received an ARC, I probably would have DNF’ed it.
**i received an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**
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