Enjoyable But Ultimately Unmemorable | Defy The Stars Book Review
Hi friends!
Welcome back to my blog! Today I am going to be sharing with
you all a book review for Defy The Stars by Claudia Gray! This is the first one
of her books I have read but I know her Firebird trilogy was quite popular in the
book community too!
Originally, I wasn’t going to give this a try because I had
written it off as another classic sci-fi novel with the whole dying world and this
one special snowflake who could save it trope but then I gave in after hearing
positive reviews from other bloggers (and also because of that gorgeous cover –
I mean the UK/AUS one GLITTERS!!)
About the book.
Author: Claudia Gray
Pages: 425
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Publication date: 4 April 2017
Publication date: 4 April 2017
Synopsis: She’s a soldier.
Noemi Vidal is a seventeen years old and sworn to protect her planet, Genesis. She’s willing to risk anything—including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she’s a rebel.
He’s a machine.
Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel has advanced programming that’s begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he’s an abomination.
Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true. (source)
Noemi Vidal is a seventeen years old and sworn to protect her planet, Genesis. She’s willing to risk anything—including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she’s a rebel.
He’s a machine.
Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel has advanced programming that’s begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he’s an abomination.
Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true. (source)
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi
Thank you to Allen And Unwin for providing me a review copy however this is an honest review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
My thoughts.
{ writing }
The writing of this is simplistic enough. I like how the
author didn’t get too overly detailed as many other authors do in sci-fi because
it confuses me endlessly. I liked how easy it was so follow along and
understand. The story wasn’t too hard to get into and once you caught onto what
was happening, it was easy to follow along.
Gray also seemed to have a good enough knowledge about ‘sci-fi-esque’
things space, spaceships and all that jazz and it came across clearly and well.
{ idea }
The idea of this was enjoyable enough but as said before, it
was nothing new and sadly nothing special either. It was the whole planetary
wars and star crossed lovers. (See also: Illuminae and These Broken Stars). If the
execution of this had been better, it still could have been pulled off, but
sadly, there was nothing special in it, from the basic characters and
predictable plot to the unwitty dialogue and run-of-the-mill romance it was readable
but really nothing too extraordinary.
I feel it could have been bettered if there had been a
stronger connection with the characters that were more realistic and expressive
but it wasn’t and they weren’t and I’m just a sad little disappointed bean now
because I had really expected better.
{ plot }
There is not much I can say about the plot, not because it’ll
spoil it but because I can’t even remember much and it’s only been two weeks
since I read it!
All I remember was the plot was action packed and kept me on
my toes, but not enough to remember what it was about now, other than two characters
trying to save the galaxy and simultaneously dodging the bad guys.
Yes, it wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t fantastic either and this
was just one of those ‘meh’ books that I literally have nothing TO say because WHAT
can I say?
{ characters }
The characters were ok. As I mentioned before, they wasn’t much
of a connection and relatability to them and they were quite bland. I went into
this expecting it to be a fairly romance heavy book because the UK/AUS cover
has the boy and girl looking at each other and the tag line ‘love is the ultimate
rebellion’ to find there was BASICALLY NO ROMANCE. Yes, romance is hinted at
and it is developing throughout the book but there is still barely any there???
(And yeah, I guess it’s good Gray developed it a little otherwise instalove
gets me just as fired up but it didn’t work very well for this and just left me
disappointed and annoyed it was so wrongly advertised.)
{ finally }
It’s true – maybe a month ago I would have been nowhere near
as harsh – but I’ve read a lot of books this year already and I wanted
something that stood out to me and this one was sadly not it! And sorry this
wasn’t a very long review! If you’re a regular on my blog you know I usually
have reviews that are around 800 – 1000 words but I had nothing much to say
about this book because it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good, it was just ‘meh’.
OVERALL RATING:
★★★
Have your read Defy
The Stars? What did you think? Or are you planning to? Let me know below!
18 happy thoughts
I've enjoyed her prior books but for whatever reason haven't felt compelled to read this....
ReplyDeleteJen @ YA Romantics
Yeah I don't think I'm going to bother with her other books now sadly!
DeleteThis sounds kind of disappointing. But I haven't read very much sci-fi before, so I'll probably try it! Wonderful review!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Lenna!
DeleteI'm sorry you didn't love this one, but wow, the cover is sooo pretty :D I still have to decide if I will read this one or not. Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)
ReplyDeleteBrittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles
No problem Brittany! Thanks for reading and commenting! <3
DeleteIt's always disappointing when a book is enjoyable, but just not quite good enough to be memorable. I'm sorry that was the case here, but I'm glad you still enjoyed it regardless. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! <3
ReplyDelete~ Zoe @ Stories on Stage
You are way too kind Zoe! Thank you so much! <3
DeleteI totally agree with your thoughts on this! Although I don't remember the plot because I was actually so confused haha. But I loved Abel and Noemi...just not together?!? I honestly didn't see the connection at all anyway. I'd like to lowkey hope they don't become a couple, but knowing YA...I doubt it.😂 The US cover is sooo pretty though!!
ReplyDeleteYES OMG I TOTALLY AGREE! They were good enough characters apart but together, they would have worked better as friends! And I think they will become a couple because it's hinted so there goes all my hopes and dreams of having them as bestfriends!
DeleteAwww, I'm so sad you didn't like this one, Anisha.I loved her previous series but this one doesn't sound so good. Anyway... wonderful review! <3
ReplyDeleteMegan @ http://wanderingsofabookbird.blogspot.co.uk/
Aha I don't know then, maybe I will try her other series to see how I like it! Thanks for reading and commenting Megan!
DeleteAwww sorry this one ended up being disappointing for you. Although, it's good to hear it was simplistic in terms of writing because, like you, sci-fi can tend to confuse me when it gets way too complicated lol. I've heard nothing but good things about this one so it's good to see someone say something different. I still plan on giving it a read because I'm curious but I'll have to keep your thoughts in mind. Great review as always, Anisha!! :)
ReplyDeleteI do hope you enjoy it Melissa! Just because I didn't end up loving it doesn't mean you won't! Fingers crossed you do and thanks so much for reading and commenting!
DeleteI read this book and absolutely loved it! Since I live in the U.S., the cover didn't have the boy and the girl on it, so I guess I didn't expect much romance (although I kind of hoped there would be more, I'm not going to lie). I don't read as much science fiction as I would like, but I guess I liked this so much because it reminded me of Star Trek the Next Generation, haha.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that you were disappointed in this one, though. Have you read anything else by Claudia Gray?
Amazing review, and thanks so much for sharing your thoughts!
Aww I am sorry that you didn't love this one. At least it wasn't awful for you I suppose, that's a good thing! I really loved this one, but I read a similar-ish book a few weeks after and was so bored, so who knows what would have happened had I read THAT first! But um, you have made me NEED the UK edition because GLITTER!? I did not know this and now I must have it in my life, so thanks for that ;) Great review!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of picking this up! I'm glad it was enjoyable overall but that's too bad it wasn't more memorable! Oh we'll. Hope your next read is better! Thanks for the review (:
ReplyDeleteI feel like the "meh" books are always the hardest to write reviews for. If I loved a lot of things about a book I can write about them for ages, and the same goes for things I didn't like in a book. But when I can't really pinpoint WHY a book didn't grab me then I kind of flail around trying to put the feeling/s into comprehensive word, haha.
ReplyDeleteThis one isn't on my TBR, but that's mainly because I'm trying not to add ANYTHING to my TBR because it's so big (and that doesn't even include some of the books I own but am too lazy to add to Goodreads). And I want to read the backlist books I own but haven't read.
Maybe if I'm in the mood for a sci-fi standalone (I think this book is a standalone?) I might pick this one up, but probably not.
Sorry you didn't love it, Anisha!
Leave me a comment below! And feel free to leave your website URL so I can come visit!