The Glowing Review

The Glowing (The Glowing, #1) by Tom Rimer 

Nice guys often finish last, but sometimes last is all that's left. Majestic Mount Greylock always cloaked the small berkshire town of Adams in its shadow...until now. Until the skies illuminated. Until the Glowing began. When Kamryn Coe, her disheveled teacher, and a group of geeks that'd put a comic convention to shame witness the destruction of their hometown, they must combat a land teeming with drooling alien hordes, while Kam faces the truth of her own birth and its connection to the catastrophe unfolding around her. Time travel, extraterrestrials, humanity's end.

TIME TO SAVE THE WORLD. (Summary from Goodreads)

The Glowing has a definite 80s vibe to it, which I liked. A group of kids (and one adult) against a group of aliens, seems like such an 80s movie. It was really good. This book has trigger warnings for blood, gore, and death.

Kam is a good main character. She shows real emotions when things go to hell, but she also shows strength at the end of the book. There are some things about her and her family that are set up very nicely at the start. It has a great follow through at the end as well.

Kam, her friend Lucy, and her crush Olin have a love triangle that thankfully goes nowhere because they have more to worry about at that moment. There are also some nice moments between Heather, a bully type character, and a girl Dani, who he used to bully. The group of kids really do pull together to make it out alive. The one adult, Mr. Flowers, is just as messed up as the kids, but really tries to hide it for their sakes. It doesn't always work, but he tries.

The aliens are very interesting. They speak a broken English as well as their own language, are violent as hell, and have interesting powers. They sound terrifying in all honesty. They come down in purple stones in the meteors and are connected to them somehow.  Purple is very much a theme of the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I wasn't sure how I felt about two characters being an unwashed, geek stereotype, but I suppose it fit into the 80s vibe of it all. The book has 48 chapters, but it a quick read. The pace really picks up when the aliens arrive and doesn't slow down. I am looking forward to the sequel.