-----------------------------
Ahhhh, these are the worst kinds of reviews to write. The ones where you know the book you just read was objectively not bad, and that a lot of people will like it, but it just wasn't a "you" book. That's my problem with The Glass Arrow. It really wasn't a "me" book. It had a lot of interesting elements, and a lot of potential, and a couple of good characters, but... unfortunately, it just really wasn't my thing.
First off, the synopsis is actually a bit misleading. The problem isn't that women are just scarce, causing them to be hunted. The problem is really twofold: the society's outlook in the first place -- that women are things to be owned -- plus the fact that women in more populated cities are less likely to be able to have kids; the women who live outside the cities, in the wild, don't have this problem, and yes, those women are hunted. Because in the cities, all the rich men want to have a son to be their heir. And all of this has apparently resulted in places like the "Garden", a facility where girls are basically imprisoned (willingly or otherwise - some girls are apparently okay with this situation). They're given treatments to make them better able to have children, and then dressed up to be paraded out to the market every month, and bought by whoever can afford them.
This situation is upsetting, to say the least ("abhorrent" and "nausea-inducing" are probably better descriptors). But that's not why I didn't enjoy this book. This sort of situation is one that had a lot of potential for a great plot, great characters, and great messages about equality and respect regardless of station or gender. This horrific society was a faceless (or many-faced, depending on how you look at it) enemy that immediately gets your blood boiling, so you want to really root for the main character to kick the entire society's butt.
Well... the messages were there, and I did like the characters, but this book also had a lot of downfalls for me.
Unfortunately, I didn't find the plot all that great. As the synopsis says, the book starts out with Aya being captured. She's taken to the Garden, and from there, it's basically just escape attempt after escape attempt, and then a quick attempt at a rescue mission, and then the story's over. The plot was focused on Aya and her desire to get back to her family, and it didn't touch on the big-picture problems that this world's society is dealing with, which was super disappointing to me. To an extent, I guess this is understandable: The Glass Arrow is a standalone, and I don't think a full societal revolution could've happened in one book. Unfortunately, this type of intensely personal focus, with no regard to the bigger picture, isn't the type of story I enjoy.
I also really struggled with The Glass Arrow's believability. I never bought that this society could've resulted after some sort of terrible disaster. They're able to perform complex surgeries. They've got high-tech gadgets, electric cars, and food pills instead of actual meals (because real food is expensive, even though... there seems to be plenty of it outside the city...?). And yet there's a lot about the city that is seriously low-tech, because tons of stuff was "abandoned in an attempt to return to the simple life" (eARC, 65%). For example, having horses instead of cars is apparently a mark of the upper-class. There was just... a lot about the world that didn't make sense to me.
Additionally, one thing that bothers me in any book, but especially ones that are supposed to be dystopian/post-apocalyptic, is silliness. I don't know what other word to use for it, really. But in The Glass Arrow, places like the Garden are horrifying, and yet it had a very Hunger Games Capitol vibe - all the girls are renamed after flowers, and every market day there's a theme, and the girls are dressed up to match. Also, the girls' caretakers are people whom Aya calls "Pips", who are basically the servants at the Garden and for anyone in the upper-class. They're all horrible to the girls there, and the reason Aya calls them Pips is because they make these pip! pip! sounds when they're annoyed. . . . ?! This strikes me as a little bit.... I don't even know the word. Ludicrous. And, obviously, horrifying because this is how much this society values people, not only women -- it doesn't. But the with the whole pip! pip! bit... I really couldn't take it seriously? The combination of "silly" and seriously upsetting is just not my thing at all.
However, there were elements of this book that were very good.
One thing I liked -- or, not a thing, a character -- was Kiran. Kiran is a boy whom Aya meets... in circumstances I'm not going to describe because they might be slight spoilers. ;) Kiran is a Driver (one of the men who works with horses in the city but lives in a small village some distance away, in the wild), and Drivers never speak. This was a situation I hadn't seen portrayed, ever -- a relationship between two people who couldn't communicate just by talking -- and it was really cool. I loved watching them figure out how to make themselves understood, Aya's slow acceptance of his silent presence, and the way their relationship was based on something deeper than words.
He leans back against the wall again, not understanding a word I'm saying. So I talk. Because no one has listened for a long, long time.
- eARC, 26%
Additionally, Simmons portrayed an incredibly important message in contrasting this society with Aya's own convictions -- the fact that your worth is not determined by anyone else's opinions about you, or desire for you. It's something that Aya knows with her whole heart from the very beginning, and she never wavers in her knowledge that she is worth something, no matter what others tell her, and that she deserves respect. And I really admired her character for that.
They've forgotten, or maybe they never learned, that their worth is not determined by how much a man wants them.
- eARC, 51%
In conclusion...
I truly wish I had liked this book more. It had so much potential, and I still think it's got a lot going for it and it had some really good aspects, but it was made up mostly of things that aren't "me" things -- they weren't things that I personally enjoy or can easily look past.
Figuring out a rating for this was hard. It's probably closer to a 2.75, somewhere on the higher end of the "not for me" (2-stars) and "it was okay, but..." (3-stars) spectrum, so I'm rounding up to a 3. I think if you want a post-apocalyptic story that's got a very specific and personal focus; you don't mind reading about a society that is truly abhorrent and nausea-inducing (you're supposed to feel that way); and you don't care too much about those worldbuilding issues I mentioned, you'll probably like this one.
--
There were books involved...