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.
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"She flew down from the sky with an arrow made of green glass and told them that she'd give it to the winner of a race across the country."
I'm not a big fan of Article 5. I'm also not exactly a big fan of Blood Red Road either. And I don't even know what The Handmaid's Tale is. So obviously the book isn't exactly on my TBR list immediately. But I decided to give it a try, and boy, wasn't that the right decision. I was a little bit confused and weirded-out when I started the book, but it gradually grew on me and I really, really like it. The Glass Arrow is an ordinary tale, featuring a somewhat ordinary girl fighting for her own freedom. But there are extraordinary things in this story, and I love that it doesn't (and will not) drag.
The Glass Arrow is about a girl who is captured by the authorities known as males in a world where sexual equality is lost once again and try to escape and save her family and lead them to freedom. It's definitely a typical story of a heroine on a journey to fight for something. I wasn't surprised or anything when I read the blurb. But then Aya shows up and she is an amazing character. Strong-willed and surprisingly cunning. In this sweet and somewhat short standalone, she shines brightly. There's another surprisingly amazing character. A mute character. The last thing I would expect from the author is a mute character that has vivid personality of his own. Even without words, his character is portrayed beautifully, expressing deep emotion and thoughts. He's one of the extraordinary things in the book.
To be honest, I was a little bit worried that it would not be a standalone after all. It's a dystopian-based novel after all. And almost all of them are series and trilogies. It's not that I don't like dystopian series. But I've grown tired of some of them. It's hard to imagine that a standalone can have a well-developed background and characters. I stand corrected. It's possible, and the name is The Glass Arrow. I also like the fact that the plot line will not be dragged and turned into something that I don't like. Keeping it as a short sweet dystopian novel is good.
It's a surprisingly good standalone, and I really have a great time reading the book.
Rating: 8/10
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