Search - Glow (Sky Chasers)

Waverly and Kieran are teenagers living in a ship which left a dying earth, one of two ships en route to New Earth. Their ship, Empyrean, is primarily occupied by people who have no religious affiliation while New Horizon is occupied by fundamental believers. Waverly and Kieran are believed by all destined to marry.

Both ships encounter the problem of infertility. Scientists on Empyrean solve the problem and supposedly share their results with the people living on New Horizon. Just one hitch - the women of New Horizon become sterile due to an error in the transmitted data. Accidental or intentional?

Conflicts between the captains evolve into violence and New Horizon residents invade Empyrian and abduct the girls, murder many adults and severely damage Empyrian. Of the remaining adults, most are exposed to severe radiation poisoning and die, one by one, leaving only the boys to operate Empyrian.

As the story unfolded I found myself troubled by the scenarios the author described as the boys travel through space hoping to catch New Horizon. For me, several of the incidents seemed beyond belief. However, the story takes a strange twist when Kerian becomes a spiritual leader. Will he be as cruel as the New Horizon leader? The story ends assuring the reader that there will be a followup - perhaps the start of a series. This is a novel worth reading and I look forward to the sequel.