the_loudlibrarian 's review for:

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray
4.0

When I first started this, I thought it was going to be a book mainly about space combat. It took me about 150 pages to in into it, but once I did I could not put it down. It's about so much more than just an intergalactic war; it's about humanity, duty, and the lengths people go to for those they love.

So basically, Earth has colonize several other planets and moons. A planet called Genesis is currently at war with the Earth; Noemi is a pilot on a suicide mission to break a gate to allow an attack. When her best friend is killed on a scouting mission, Noemi finds herself on a deserted Earth vessel that has a mech (robot, basically) who is been stranded on it for 30 years. The mech should be programmed to kill her, but when he doesn't she finds herself with an unlikely, of uneasy, ally as she tries to return home.