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nklosty's review against another edition
4.0
The story was engaging and had a good pace to it. I liked how the characters had intertwined relationships. 90
ameserole's review against another edition
4.0
OMG! I don't know why I waited so long to dive into this but I was not disappointed.
Defy the Stars gave me the urge to ship two amazing people together. Well, I mean.. any book does that really but I seriously loved Abel and Noemi so freaking much. Ugh, they were an amazing team and the ending of this probably broke me. It's like when your favorite celebrity couple gets married and makes you believe in unicorns, love, and feelings. Then like a year later they squash all of it like a damn bug and break up.
THAT IS WHAT THIS BOOK DID TO ME.
I feel you people. My hopes were crushed today as well. Let's bond.
Besides the slow burn of a romance, and I am highly expecting a reunion in the next book because of this, everything else was a ton of fun to listen to. I loved learning more about everyone's role in this book/world. Even finding out more about Abel's past and Noemi's were fun tidbits to find out. Each piece of information was just mindboggling to me.
Overall, I don't think I have any questions.. other than the main one - IS THERE GOING TO BE A REUNION? If so, please make it so happy because I will be crying tears of joy.
Defy the Stars gave me the urge to ship two amazing people together. Well, I mean.. any book does that really but I seriously loved Abel and Noemi so freaking much. Ugh, they were an amazing team and the ending of this probably broke me. It's like when your favorite celebrity couple gets married and makes you believe in unicorns, love, and feelings. Then like a year later they squash all of it like a damn bug and break up.
THAT IS WHAT THIS BOOK DID TO ME.
I feel you people. My hopes were crushed today as well. Let's bond.
Besides the slow burn of a romance, and I am highly expecting a reunion in the next book because of this, everything else was a ton of fun to listen to. I loved learning more about everyone's role in this book/world. Even finding out more about Abel's past and Noemi's were fun tidbits to find out. Each piece of information was just mindboggling to me.
Overall, I don't think I have any questions.. other than the main one - IS THERE GOING TO BE A REUNION? If so, please make it so happy because I will be crying tears of joy.
zuzz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
vidhi26p's review against another edition
5.0
This was an amazing creation by Claudia Gray, once again she blows my mind away by creating a world advanced by technology to remind us all what it means to be human. The premise is unique, but retains the YA signature of two characters fighting for the future of their own worlds. I highly recommend this to any fans of Gray and to anyone who wishes to be enraptured into the future for a day or two.
saaraannina's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
ameenah_94's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn’t too sure on how I was going to rate this. But in the end I was won out by the beauty of the growing relationship between the two main characters and the journey the MMC took to finding his humanity.
It’s a bonus that I really liked the characters, even though the FMC was slightly too selfless it bordered on unrealistic. She could’ve been written to be a bit more human with some believable flaws. She was written to be too good, too caring and even though the author repeatedly told us she has a bad temper, to offset this, we never really saw it.
On top of this book just really touching me, it was well written and felt like an actual book. That’s an art that’s been lost these days, especially in the romance genre where authors write more like they’re still on fan fiction sites.
Although I really loved reading this book, it did border on the slightly boring side. So I’m still considering whether or not I’m interested in reading the next two books. Especially because the main characters are most likely going to be separated for most of the book and I really when authors do that!
So overall all the 4★ are more just about how the book made me feel. In actuality maybe the rating should be a bit lower, I don’t know.
It’s a bonus that I really liked the characters, even though the FMC was slightly too selfless it bordered on unrealistic. She could’ve been written to be a bit more human with some believable flaws. She was written to be too good, too caring and even though the author repeatedly told us she has a bad temper, to offset this, we never really saw it.
On top of this book just really touching me, it was well written and felt like an actual book. That’s an art that’s been lost these days, especially in the romance genre where authors write more like they’re still on fan fiction sites.
Although I really loved reading this book, it did border on the slightly boring side. So I’m still considering whether or not I’m interested in reading the next two books. Especially because the main characters are most likely going to be separated for most of the book and I really when authors do that!
So overall all the 4★ are more just about how the book made me feel. In actuality maybe the rating should be a bit lower, I don’t know.
lawbooks600's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Representation: Black, Asian and biracial (half Latina and half Pacific Islander) characters
Score: Seven points out of ten.
I wanted to read this for a while but I never got around to doing so until now. When I finally got the opportunity to read this novel I seized it, then I picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I enjoyed it but I can understand why others wouldn't. Romance readers would be disappointed. Sci-fi lovers wouldn't be.
It starts with the first character I see, Noemi Vidal, fighting for her planet Genesis in the rebellion against Earth. She meets a mech, Abel, in an abandoned ship while trying to save her friend, Esther.
Unfortunately for Noemi, Esther dies since the latter refused treatment, leaving only Noemi and Abel. To add salt to the wound, Noemi's planet needs help so she asks Abel to make a plan, and that is to get a device that can destroy the gate, stopping fighters from travelling there. So begins the long adventure Noemi and Abel take only to find one part. Defy the Stars shines in its immersion and captivating worldbuilding because I could never put it down, there's an explanation for everything and nothing is nonsensical. I enjoyed the character development also.
I could see the worlds when reading this and appreciated how they were distinct (e.g., Stronghold is a mining planet, Genesis is fairly new, Kismet is a tourist attraction, Cray is arid and Earth is Earth.) However, Defy the Stars is not without its flaws. The romance is barely there for a story the publisher marketed as one third romance. Yeah right. It's more like one percent. It rubs me the wrong way when authors make the cast diverse only to tick off boxes. Black? Check. Asian? Check. You get the idea. It's more superficial and tokenistic than anything significant. If all the people were white, it wouldn't make a difference. The conclusion is action-packed and finishes on a cliffhanger. I'll still get the second instalment, but I'll wait until I have time.
Score: Seven points out of ten.
I wanted to read this for a while but I never got around to doing so until now. When I finally got the opportunity to read this novel I seized it, then I picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I enjoyed it but I can understand why others wouldn't. Romance readers would be disappointed. Sci-fi lovers wouldn't be.
It starts with the first character I see, Noemi Vidal, fighting for her planet Genesis in the rebellion against Earth. She meets a mech, Abel, in an abandoned ship while trying to save her friend, Esther.
Unfortunately for Noemi, Esther dies since the latter refused treatment, leaving only Noemi and Abel. To add salt to the wound, Noemi's planet needs help so she asks Abel to make a plan, and that is to get a device that can destroy the gate, stopping fighters from travelling there. So begins the long adventure Noemi and Abel take only to find one part. Defy the Stars shines in its immersion and captivating worldbuilding because I could never put it down, there's an explanation for everything and nothing is nonsensical. I enjoyed the character development also.
I could see the worlds when reading this and appreciated how they were distinct (e.g., Stronghold is a mining planet, Genesis is fairly new, Kismet is a tourist attraction, Cray is arid and Earth is Earth.) However, Defy the Stars is not without its flaws. The romance is barely there for a story the publisher marketed as one third romance. Yeah right. It's more like one percent. It rubs me the wrong way when authors make the cast diverse only to tick off boxes. Black? Check. Asian? Check. You get the idea. It's more superficial and tokenistic than anything significant. If all the people were white, it wouldn't make a difference. The conclusion is action-packed and finishes on a cliffhanger. I'll still get the second instalment, but I'll wait until I have time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, and Grief
Full trigger warnings: Terrorism and pandemic mentioned, physical illness, hospitalisation and death of a child, sibling, parents and friend, grief and loss depiction, explosions, military violence and war themes, near-death experiencepantsreads's review against another edition
4.0
4.5/5
I tend to devour Claudia Gray's books—her ability to mix daring adventure and serious swoon is so dang good—so it's no surprise that I ate this one up. Noemi is amazing, regardless of how she sees herself in the beginning of the book, and Abel is so much more than his mechanical parts.
I was worried at one point that this book was slipping into instalove territory, but Gray added a bit of of twist at the end that'll make the relationship even more meaningful in the books to come.
Check out my full review at Forever Young Adult.
I tend to devour Claudia Gray's books—her ability to mix daring adventure and serious swoon is so dang good—so it's no surprise that I ate this one up. Noemi is amazing, regardless of how she sees herself in the beginning of the book, and Abel is so much more than his mechanical parts.
I was worried at one point that this book was slipping into instalove territory, but Gray added a bit of of twist at the end that'll make the relationship even more meaningful in the books to come.
Check out my full review at Forever Young Adult.
owlyreadsalot's review against another edition
3.0
Right from the beginning I'm shown how much the world has changed and all that has transpired. It is a brutal awakening to a world, where faith is what's left for the youth of the world, as they are about to venture out in what will possibly be their final stand against creations that are way superior then themselves. That it just from the first chapter of the novel and moves into a mix of feels for me as I continued to read on.
Even though it clearly starts off to a great beginning, the rest of the novel is a little bit of a roller coaster as I find myself loving certain sections and characters, and finding it hard to keep complete interest in the rest of it. There is always something going on, a main part of it is the never-ending battle that ensues between the humans on Genesis and the mech armies bent on destroying them.
"The enemy's ships are new. Their weapons are more powerful. And their soldiers aren't even flesh and blood. Instead they have mech armies: robots, shaped like humans but without mercy, without vulnerabilities, without souls."
There enters Abel who defies are preconceived notions about the mech (at least when it comes to him) and how things aren't always as they seem. He was one of the main reasons I couldn't stop reading, such a great character and always evolving mentally. Not that Noemi is any less of an awesome main character, but Abel really brings all the feels to this story. Of course, there are moments that he acts too much as what he really is, but that quickly moves aside.
"Abe could easily reach the Daedalus before Noemi and fly away free. Instead he's tethered to her more surely than if their wrists were handcuffed together. And yet, leaving her behind doesn't seem like such a tempting idea in this moment. Noemi Vidal is, as he decided the night before, not unpleasant. She is a girl far from home, trying to save her world any way she knows how."
That's why, as some of the chapters moved a little slower, this was a read I really enjoyed. There are sad moments, intense ones, adventure at every turn, and bonds that are made stronger as the novel moves along. Then I get to the last few chapters and they are definitely the most intense of the whole novel. It mostly makes up for the tons of slower moving chapters. All in all, I can't wait to see what's waiting for me in the next installment Defy the Worlds.
***I was provided use of this copy through my library Portage County. All opinions are my own.***
Even though it clearly starts off to a great beginning, the rest of the novel is a little bit of a roller coaster as I find myself loving certain sections and characters, and finding it hard to keep complete interest in the rest of it. There is always something going on, a main part of it is the never-ending battle that ensues between the humans on Genesis and the mech armies bent on destroying them.
"The enemy's ships are new. Their weapons are more powerful. And their soldiers aren't even flesh and blood. Instead they have mech armies: robots, shaped like humans but without mercy, without vulnerabilities, without souls."
There enters Abel who defies are preconceived notions about the mech (at least when it comes to him) and how things aren't always as they seem. He was one of the main reasons I couldn't stop reading, such a great character and always evolving mentally. Not that Noemi is any less of an awesome main character, but Abel really brings all the feels to this story. Of course, there are moments that he acts too much as what he really is, but that quickly moves aside.
"Abe could easily reach the Daedalus before Noemi and fly away free. Instead he's tethered to her more surely than if their wrists were handcuffed together. And yet, leaving her behind doesn't seem like such a tempting idea in this moment. Noemi Vidal is, as he decided the night before, not unpleasant. She is a girl far from home, trying to save her world any way she knows how."
That's why, as some of the chapters moved a little slower, this was a read I really enjoyed. There are sad moments, intense ones, adventure at every turn, and bonds that are made stronger as the novel moves along. Then I get to the last few chapters and they are definitely the most intense of the whole novel. It mostly makes up for the tons of slower moving chapters. All in all, I can't wait to see what's waiting for me in the next installment Defy the Worlds.
***I was provided use of this copy through my library Portage County. All opinions are my own.***
mlcreads's review against another edition
3.0
Abel is a mech, and artificial life form. He is a prototype and one of a kind but he has been abandoned on a deserted spacecraft for 30 years and his intelligence has evolved. Noemi is a 17 year old soldier trying to save her friend when she enters the abandoned spacecraft and finds Abel. He is programmed to accept commands from the highest officer which in this case is Noemi and together they set off for an adventure. Abel creator wants to reclaim him and soon they are being hunted across the galaxy. There is a touch of ramance and lots of adventure.