Review – Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Magical Realism
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0316222730
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: ?/5 stars

“Graduating from high school is a time of limitless possibilities–but not for Glory, who has no plan for what’s next. Her mother committed suicide when Glory was only four years old, and she’s never stopped wondering if she will eventually go the same way…until a transformative night when she begins to experience an astonishing new power to see a person’s infinite past and future. From ancient ancestors to many generations forward, Glory is bombarded with visions–and what she sees ahead of her is terrifying: A tyrannical new leader raises an army. Women’s rights disappear. A violent second civil war breaks out. And young girls vanish daily, sold off or interned in camps. Glory makes it her mission to record everything she sees, hoping her notes will somehow make a difference. She may not see a future for herself, but she’ll do anything to make sure this one doesn’t come to pass.”

I am a big AS King fan and there are a couple books of King’s I haven’t read…this was one of them. I ended up really really loving this AS King book; I think it is my favorite AS King book so far. I love the protagonist’s snarky attitude and thought the ability she gained was really interesting.

Imagine if you could look at a person and see, not only the past and the past of their ancestors, but also the future and the future of their descendants? What would you do if you found out that one of the descendants is going to change life as we know it and not for the better? How would you make people believe you?

This was a crazily creative book that I found both highly entertaining and a bit scary and creepy. The future portrayed here was scarily possible and absolutely terrifying.

I could not put this book down and ended up devouring this whole book in one night. I immediately gave it to my husband and told him to read it and I really think everyone should read it both to be entertained and as a cautionary tale of what the future could be come.

There is so much in here aside from Glory’s strange ability. She is dealing with her mother’s suicide, issues at school, a cult, and her own self worth. There is so much packed into this book that makes you really think and stretches your imagination.

This is actually one of A.S King’s more approachable books in my opinion; it’s not quite as abstract and ambiguous as some of King’s other works.

Overall I absolutely adored this book to pieces. I would recommend everyone read it. It was absolutely amazing. So creative and so hard to put down.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge