Goodreads Synopsis:
Waverly and Kieran are finally reunited on the Empyrean. Kieran has led the boys safely up to this point, and now that the girls are back, their mission seems slightly less impossible: to chase down the New Horizon, and save their parents from the enemy ship. But nothing is truly as it seems…Kieran’s leadership methods have raised Seth’s hackles— and Waverly’s suspicions. Is this really her fiancé? The handsome, loving boy she was torn from just a short time before? More and more, she finds her thoughts aligned with Seth’s. But if Seth is Kieran’s Enemy No. 1, what does that make her?
In one night, a strange explosion rocks the Empyrean—shooting them off course and delaying their pursuit of the New Horizon—and Seth is mysteriously released from the brig. Seth is the most obvious suspect for the explosion, and Waverly the most obvious suspect for releasing him. As the tension reaches a boiling point, will Seth be able to find the true culprit before Kieran locks them both away—or worse? Will Waverly follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? With the balance of power precarious and the clock ticking, every decision counts… every step brings them closer to a new beginning, or a sudden end...

My Review:
Wow, what a book. I really enjoyed reading this. I know it's been a while since I read the last one, and I didn't think it was that great, but this one really turned the series around for me. I'm glad I read it. I'm also really glad that the last book was summed up at the beginning of this one, because like I said it's been a while since I read it. I like the cover and the characters really developed during the story. It's super exciting and I didn't expect any of it. I didn't want to put it down because I couldn't wait to see what happened next.
So the adults have been captured, and the kids run the ship now. Although the characters didn't really act how I though fifteen year olds would act, they were still interesting and kept the story going nicely. I love space so this book was good for me. Usually I don't like viewpoints changing, but I welcomed the chapters switching between Seth, Waverly, and Kieran and it really showed what was going on around the ship the entire time. I will definitely be checking out the next book in the series!
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The series gets worse. Glow started with promise. A seemingly functional society set in a spaceship making their 150 year long trek across the universe to find a planet to replace their Earth home. (JK I don’t remember how long but it doesn’t matter in the end, oops spoilers!) But then it all goes to hell when the leaders of the two ships don’t get along and one of them actually manages to hurt the other crew horribly by taking away their fertility. Suddenly the second spaceship is under attack and two thirds of the adult crew is wiped out and all the girls are kidnapped leaving a sixteen year old captain in training in charge of a bunch of other kids. That’s not where the book goes downhill.
It landed in the toilet when the kidnapped girls made their way back home and Waverly Marshal decides she hates god and religion because it’s what Ann Mathers loves so that means Kieran her ex boyfriend who has stuck a “Honk if you heart Jesus” bumpersticker on his captain seat is also a dictator. She hates what Ann Mathers does yet seems to do the same in the end.
The promise of growth in the last book for our young leader Kieran Alden is shattered when he shrinks to immaturity. Because of his uncharacteristically stubborn outbursts and irrational conclusions he loses the trust of some kids. Then he refuses to listen to Seth even though the kid seems sorry enough to actually be telling the truth. If the regression of certain characters is because of the trauma of what happened in the first book then I would have liked for that to have been explored at least a little in this second part.
There are so many parts that made me hate Waverly. She went from a strong female character to a whiny b-i-t- I won’t even finish that because Kieran already said it in the book and I loved it. But here are some great quotes that just about sum her attitude in this book.
“You know,” Debora said, an edge of impatience in her voice, “not every religious person is like that woman, Waverly.”/“I didn’t say that.”/“You don’t have to,” Debora said, her eyes on Waverly’s knees. “Anyone can tell it’s your attitude.”
“This is Kieran Alden. Please stop what you’re doing and pay attention, as this might be the most important announcement I’ll ever make.”/Waverly rolled her eyes. Since taking over the ship, Kieran was given to hyperbole. She supposed that’s what got people to listen to him.
“Is that the truth?”/“Yes,” he whined./But she pulled the trigger anyway. ----great scene to sum up her hypocrisy throughout the book.
It was obvious from the first book that Seth was actively trying to sabotage Kieran’s leadership through lies and murmuring yet for some reason he was painted as this guy who didn’t do it out of malice but because he didn’t think Kieran could do a good job…even though when he had the reigns the little kids hated him. Knowing that here’s a quote that boiled my blood.
“Then why did you stage a mutiny?” Kieran demanded./“It wasn’t a mutiny, Kieran,” Seth said gently, almost kindly. “You weren’t the Captain.” Really??? And here’s this special gem: “I was just trying to scare some sense into him by threatening to shove him out an air lock”
At this point I'm hate reading this series. ( )

This is the second book of a trilogy called Sky Chasers. First book (Glow) was very entertaining, and this second book is even better. But this second book cannot hold by itself. You need to read the first book to know what happened in order to understand the situation as it is presented.
This is a very well written book, telling us the continuation of the story of an expedition headed to the new earth in a far away galaxy. Two spaceships (New Horizon and Empyrean) are traveling to this new world. One of them (Empyrean) solved the problem of procreation on space while the other (New Horizon) claims sabotage when receiving the information about this solution, that prevent their females to produce eggs. This causes a major conflict between the two spaceships, ending up New Horizon kidnapping of all the girls from Empyrean to steal their eggs and implant them into the women of their ship. The story here resumes when the girls manage to escape from New Horizon in a shuttle with the help of some of their crew, but have to leave behind some of their parents that are still alive and are prisoners in that ship. When Waverly and the other girls return to the Empyrean, she found that only the boys survived the initial attack and there are no adults in the ship and everything is not as it used to be. They make their plans to overrun the other ship and try to rescue their parents, but they soon realize there is an intruder from the New Horizon inside their ship and they need to deal with this new situation. Also there is a proposal for a peace treaty from the New Horizon that increase their hopes of rescuing their parents.
Brilliant overall, you have all the ingredients to captivate the attention from the beginning and you really start cheering for your personal heroes. You have the love triangle, you have traitors, heroes, greedy people etc, that guarantees the success of the story. All characters are developed further in this second book, showing their good and dark sides. My only complain is that the third book of this trilogy will take a while to be published.

This is a page turner and a must have in the permanent library of any science-fiction lover.

This book was published by St. Martin's Griffin in July 2012 and Amazon.com was kind enough to provide this book for me through their Vine Program for reviewing and I was not request to provide a positive review. Opinions expressed here are my own. ( )

Waverly is home. After months of being held captive on the New Horizon, she and the other girls who were kidnapped were able to steal a shuttle and escape. But when she arrived home on the Empyrean, expecting to find it as when she left, Waverly discovers that life on her home ship has changed - and not for the good. Kieran, her boyfriend, has turned into a ruthless leader; he reminds Waverly too much of Anne Mather, the leader of the New Horizon who orchestrated the kidnapping of the girls from the Empyrean, and who will do anything to create the New Earth she envisions. Waverly doesn't feel she can trust anyone - and no one feels they can trust Waverly. As a terrorist attacks the Empyrean, Waverly is held as a person of interest, along with Seth, the former leader of the Empyrean. Kieran becomes more ruthless as his ship is threatened, which causes Waverly to have to make choices she doesn't want to make. As the Empyrean is breached and damaged, Waverly and the crew of the Empyrean must board the New Horizon and live with the people who attacked and killed the parents of the Empyrean, and kidnapped and violated the girls. This sequel to Glow kept me turning pages late into the night. Usually the second book of a series is kind of ho-hum, not much happening, but this one had a lot of twists and turns to keep the story moving. The characters have changed and made it interesting to see what they will do. The dynamics of the relationships have changed to make you wonder who you can trust and who are the good guys and the bad guys. I am so engrossed in this world I can't wait to read the third and final book in the series. I have no idea how it will end - the twists in Spark are defying any predictions I could have made about the third book - but I love that! I like it when characters are unpredictable and stories take directions I wouldn't have seen coming, which is just what Spark did. ( )

I read several reviews from readers who were so excited by *how much better* Spark was than Glow. I have to disagree. I thought Spark suffered from the same weaknesses Glow did--not enough interpersonal development. Ryan is fantastic with dramatic tension when it comes to plot: she can craft a great story, and she is an excellent wordsmith. But something is simply lacking in the Sky Chasers novels when it comes to her character's personal lives. I don't understand their motivations. I don't feel like I'm in their heads. The last few pages of Spark are particularly empty and rushed, and I don't understand the insertion of Kieran's mother at all.

Most frustratingly, I know it's not a fault that's innate to Ryan. I just finished another of her novels, Vibes, and it's fabulous in this regard. I just don't get it.

Some mild language. 3.5 stars.

More on this and other reviews on fefferbooks.com. ( )