The Glass Arrow

Overview

"Like The Handmaid's Tale, Simmons's book serves as essential commentary on women's rights."—Cosmopolitan.com

Once there was a time when men and women lived as equals, when girl babies were valued, and women could belong only to themselves. But that was ten generations ago. Now women are property, to be sold and owned and bred, while a strict census keeps their numbers manageable and under control. The best any girl can hope for is to end up as some man's forever wife, but most are simply sold and resold until they're all used up.

Only in the wilderness, away from the city, can true freedom be found. Aya has spent her whole life in the mountains, looking out for her family and hiding from the world, until the day the Trackers finally catch her.

Stolen from her home, and being groomed for auction, Aya is desperate to escape her fate and return to her family, but her only allies are a loyal wolf she's raised from a pup and a strange mute boy who may be her best hope for freedom . . . if she can truly trust him.

The Glass Arrow: a haunting, yet hopeful, new novel from Kristen Simmons, the author of the popular Article 5 trilogy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765336644
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/02/2016
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	352
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Kristen Simmons has a master's degree in social work and is an advocate for mental health. She lives with her husband, Jason, and their precious greyhound Rudy in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her most popular books include the Article 5 trilogy, The Glass Arrow, and Metaltown.

Editorial Reviews

12/22/2014
This grim cautionary tale opens taut and suspenseful, with its heroine being hunted down like an animal, her adopted family slaughtered and scattered. Fifteen-year-old Aya, raised a free female in the wilderness outside the capitol city of Glasscaster, is taken to the “Garden” to be groomed and sold at auction, valuable primarily for her breeding potential. Determined and resourceful, Aya fights daily for her freedom, making herself unsuitable for auction while plotting to save her remaining family from assimilation into a nightmarish patriarchy. Her only ally is one of the mute, Roma-like, “Drivers”—a boy she names Kiran who first tries to kill her and then risks everything for her. A world where girls and women are commodities to be sold and resold is frightening enough; more chilling are the girls who embrace their fate or the women who participate in the system for profit and status. However, Simmons (the Article 5 series) invests little in backstory; the origins of this dystopia are murky, and the men tend to be flatly drawn mustache-twirlers. Ages 13–up. Agent: Joanna MacKenzie, Brown & Miller Literary Associates. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons plunges readers into a heart-wrenching and wholly startling new world. Aya's story is terrifying in the best possible way, and left me shuddering over the painful awareness of humanity's darkest capability, and yet not losing sight of its greatest potential. Simmons portrays a stunning heroine of strength and resilience that captivated me until the very last page.” —Christina Farley, author of the YA bestseller Gilded

“Fully imagined and richly written, The Glass Arrow seamlessly blends the best of adventure and romance with characters you will root for. I was transported.... A dark tale shot through with hope and the idea that sacrifice and love can conquer all. I couldn't put it down.” —Amy Christine Parker, author of Gated and Astray, on The Glass Arrow

“The Glass Arrow is an intense and disturbing read that is impossible to put down. From the rush of the first chase scene to the emotional conclusion, Aya is a fearless heroine that you can't help falling in love with. I stayed up way too late completely enthralled, chilled and ultimately satisfied by the frightening world Simmons created. Now where is book 2? I Need it right now!” —Ellen Oh, author of Prophecy

“There's much of Katniss Everdeen in Aya—a familiar strength and determination. Aya is an independent thinker, strong and self-reliant…. Fans of dystopian and postapocalyptic YA fiction will thoroughly enjoy this read.” —School Library Journal

“Romance readers will find plenty to swoon over, while fans of dystopian futures will find this a compelling… read. Aya's fierce determination and ability to think quickly and creatively in crises make her a great role model, and her nature-based faith lends an interesting balance to the action-driven tale of social justice. Simmons creates sympathetic yet intriguingly flawed characters, and tweaks familiar dystopian elements to excellent effect.” —Booklist

“This grim cautionary tale opens taut and suspenseful, with its heroine being hunted down like an animal, her adopted family slaughtered and scattered…. A world where girls and women are commodities to be sold and resold is frightening enough; more chilling are the girls who embrace their fate or the women who participate in the system for profit and status.” —Publishers Weekly

“Article 5 is a gripping, atmospheric story of survival. Alongside a fierce depiction of oppressive government, Simmons has created a bleak portrait of an America lost. I could hardly put it down.” —Kendare Blake, author of Anna Dressed in Blood

“The realistic underbelly of Article 5 is what makes this dystopian tale a haunting read and incredibly engaging. A true dystopian force.” —The CW

“This action-packed novel is a dystopian unlike any other I have read.” —The Huffington Post on Article 5

“An adrenaline-pumping ride into a terrifying future. I have no nails left.” —Anne Greenwood Brown, author of Lies Beneath, on Breaking Point

“The action never stops.” —Booklist

“Paints a picture of a world that could easily be our future. [Simmons's] fluid writing creates an easy-to-read story that opens the eyes of readers to what the loss of civil liberties could entail. This book is a must have for all young adult collections.” —VOYA

From the Publisher

12/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—In a not-too-distant future, void of the belief in prayer and God, prayer is outlawed. Each public auction of available young girls raised for breeding purposes begins with a moment of silence to give thanks to the rich men who seek out subjects to purchase. Not only are women denied basic human rights in this caste society, but no one is given the opportunity to rise out of their assigned station. Lower caste men are neurologically altered to serve as either mindless, fashion-conscious baby-sitters for the chatteled young girls or emotionless security guards to keep the girls in line. Sixteen-year-old Aya, an educated renegade raised to think independently, is captured for sport by a rich young magnate and turned over to the capital city of Glasscaster for auction to the highest bidder. Aya is valuable because she has lived her life free, with natural foods, unlike the chemical substitutes given to the young girls raised within the city walls. This means that Aya has a higher chance of giving birth to a male child. Despite her attempts to sabotage her auctions, Aya finds herself not only sold, but also transferred to the highest household in town, Mayor Rykor's home. The extensive security system in the home makes it hard for Aya to find a means of escape, and much to her surprise, she discovers that it's not the mayor who has purchased her; it's his nine year old son. There's a much of Katniss Everdeen in Aya—a familiar strength and determination. Aya is an independent thinker, strong and self-reliant. Despite some slow pacing in the middle, fans of dystopian and postapocalyptic YA fiction will thoroughly enjoy this read.—Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden Middle School, Newport News, VA

School Library Journal

2014-11-04
A teenage girl raised free in the wild struggles to escape the fate of city girls—being auctioned for breeding.Aya's captured during a brutal attack and brought to the city, where she's placed in a holding facility for unpurchased virgins. City girls, raised on "meal supplement pills," aren't as fertile as wild girls, so Aya's a hot commodity, making it imperative that she sabotage her chances of purchase. Acting out to avoid going to auction, she is punished with solitary confinement. In solitary, she meets a Driver (odd, mute mountain people who handle horses and are viewed as a lower life form) and forms a strange friendship with him. After failed escape attempts result in stricter surveillance by the biologically enhanced Watchers, quick-thinking Aya hatches a last-minute (hilarious) plan during the auction—and it might have worked if the mayor's son hadn't also found it funny. Aya has just moments to be rescued by the Driver from life as property. A forced gynecological-exam scene that's horrifying but not explicit is the most graphic sexual content, enhancing the terror of the culture's implied, off-page rapes. The culture and world are vaguely drawn, suffering from dropped plotlines, convoluted rules and poorly defined settings. The ending neither screams sequel nor especially satisfies. The ideas—extreme control of women and their sexuality—are more successful than the story's execution. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews