Once you’ve seen into the future, can you change your destiny?


In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illness. 17-year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact that she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell.
Jasper is from a rich and influential family and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday loom closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a ‘normal’ life. But then Jasper disappears.
Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not intefere with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded Community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society and into the pits of the human soul. And as she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper’s abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she has grown up to believe, but she also learns to love as she has never loved before.

Anna has always lived with the knowledge that she is a “Pure” girl. A girl who faces no mental illnesses in the safety of her Community. That is, until The Board discovers a secret that reveals that she just may not be so pure after all. Now, Anna faces being exiled into the much feared City.

The only thing stopping Anna from being exiled is her upcoming joining to “Pure” boy, Jasper Taurell. But on the eve of their binding, Jasper is abducted, and nobody seems to care about finding him. Taking matters into her own hands, Anna decides to venture into the City to bring Jasper back home. Things don’t go quite as smoothly as Anna intended, though, and she must face down multiple problems before she can bring Jasper back to the Community.

When I first started reading this book, I was on the fence. It was a little confusing for the first few chapters, and I wasn’t really understanding the whole mental illness concept. It made more sense the further I got into the book, though. For example, I was having a problem accepting that the Pures stood no chance of developing depression. Depression is something that can happen to anyone and multiple things can develop it. Therefore, I couldn’t really wrap my head around the fact that the Pures didn’t experience those type of illnesses.

The more the story progressed the more I fell in love with it. It actually really reminded me of Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver. Both books had two different ideas, but the structure was very similar. Not only that, but it was so easy to fall in love with both books. Claire Merle created this beautiful and scary world that left me not wanting to put the book down.

The characters in The Glimpse were brilliant. Ana was such a strong character. She never backed down from her beliefs or her mission, and she never gave up. Cole was absolutely positively gorgeous! I have a new book crush. He carried that hunky, I don’t give a damn, coolness factor. If that makes sense. I am so rooting for those two. I don’t know what will happen in the next book, but I’m dying to find out!

There were a few things in this book that left me a little confused. First, it took me quite awhile to understand that this book was placed in the future and that it was located in England. Claire Merle lives in France, so it makes sense. It just took awhile for me to register that this book was not set in The United States.I also had a really hard time understanding what an interface was. In fact, I never did figure that out. I settled on the idea that it was a phone that was on someone’s stomach, which I know has to be so wrong. I kind of made it into a kind of projection that shined on someone so you could see what they were doing. It sounds confusing because it was. In the next book, I hope there’s a little more clarification on things. Descriptions may have been given at the beginning of the book, but, if so, I didn’t run across them.

I have to give a small warning with this book. It does include a few scenes that involve child abuse. There are also a couple references to rape. There was no gore or anything that made me overly uncomfortable. Please do keep this in mind while reading the book.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book. I haven’t read very many books this year that I fell head over heels in love with, so it was really refreshing to read The Glimpse. Dystopian lovers and fans of Pandemonium need to go get this book immediately. It was that good. It was really hard for me to put this book down. I ended up dreaming about it. I also got really fidgety in my classrooms because I just wanted to come home and find out what happened next. Go get this book. I hope you all enjoy it!

Pages: 432

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Publication Date: June 7, 2012

Rating: : ★★★★½

Teaser Quote: “Ana watched Cole as he crossed to the dock. Despite the shabby suit and bruises on his face, his smooth movements conveyed deep self-assurance. His shorn hair was dark, his eyes deeply set, and his muscular frame towered above the guard. Everyone in the courtroom rose, looking left as the Bench arrived, but Cole turned his gaze to their table. His eyes met Ana’s and locked on her. Heat rose to her cheeks. She struggled to disengage but found it impossible until he looked away.“