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A review by steph01924
Defy the Fates by Claudia Gray
4.0
Whew, that was a whirlwind of three books in as many days. Loved the ending; it was satisfying and fun.
Reading them so close together did make a few minor flaws in this book a bit more apparent, but they weren't enough to detract from the book overall. I would have almost preferred two longer books instead of a trilogy so we could cut a bit of the fat (there were so many instances of Abel and Noemi preparing to sacrifice themselves for each other that it could have been a dangerous drinking game).
There was a moment in the middle that was the only part that didn't jibe for me--it was essential to get the characters in the places they needed to be for the remaining action to unfold, but out of everything it FELT like author maneuvering compared to being a logical thing the characters would have done (or perhaps I am just feeling especially aware of this right now so soon after the ending of GAME OF THRONES. YMMV. #ImNotBitter).
But overall Gray does relationships so right. The characters get to know one another and fall for their personalities, not their bodies. There's enough squee stuff but it's not all "his hot eyes raked over my trembling body" that sounds great but loses meaning after a while. These characters had some moral and philosophical differences that, whaddya know, they actually discussed and came to thoughtful compromises and solutions. Refreshing!
Gray also just makes up some damn fun stories. First we had the multiverse in A Thousand Pieces of You, now we've got space travel and new planets and the morals of AI (parts of this book reminded me of playing that newer video game DETROIT: BECOMING HUMAN--as well as a myriad of other robot stories, of course).
I can't wait to see what she'll write about next!
Reading them so close together did make a few minor flaws in this book a bit more apparent, but they weren't enough to detract from the book overall. I would have almost preferred two longer books instead of a trilogy so we could cut a bit of the fat (there were so many instances of Abel and Noemi preparing to sacrifice themselves for each other that it could have been a dangerous drinking game).
There was a moment in the middle that was the only part that didn't jibe for me--it was essential to get the characters in the places they needed to be for the remaining action to unfold, but out of everything it FELT like author maneuvering compared to being a logical thing the characters would have done (or perhaps I am just feeling especially aware of this right now so soon after the ending of GAME OF THRONES. YMMV. #ImNotBitter).
But overall Gray does relationships so right. The characters get to know one another and fall for their personalities, not their bodies. There's enough squee stuff but it's not all "his hot eyes raked over my trembling body" that sounds great but loses meaning after a while. These characters had some moral and philosophical differences that, whaddya know, they actually discussed and came to thoughtful compromises and solutions. Refreshing!
Gray also just makes up some damn fun stories. First we had the multiverse in A Thousand Pieces of You, now we've got space travel and new planets and the morals of AI (parts of this book reminded me of playing that newer video game DETROIT: BECOMING HUMAN--as well as a myriad of other robot stories, of course).
I can't wait to see what she'll write about next!