You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
narteest 's review for:
Defy the Stars
by Claudia Gray
Forewarning, this will not be a very long review at all!
So, first off, I want to say I originally started reading this in 2017 when it came out, but I put it down after 83 pages with the intention to eventually read it. I did it because I didn't think I liked Noemi's reactions in the beginning, nor the unusual mesh of Abel's mind. However, I take it all back. I most definitely should have given this more of a chance in the first place, but I also suppose I didn't want to enjoy it back then. It seems like now was the perfect time and I definitely wasted half a day finishing it off today.
My favourite series by Claudia Gray is her Firebird trilogy. And I originally began reading Defy the Stars before I fell in love with the Firebird books. In comparison, Defy the Stars felt so pale! But now, I take it all back.
Defy the Stars takes a while to warm up to both story and characters. Noemi is a strong character but very set in her beliefs and choices in life, and none of this is compromised when it comes to Abel - a sentient Mech. Abel on the other hand is supposed to be an intelligent Mech, however, he has spent years alone, abandoned by his maker on a spacecraft. In that time, he has developed from a programmed intelligent Mech to something more sentient. When they first meet, its under strenuous circumstances, but over time, throughout their entire space journey, Noemi discovers she can't simply sacrifice him, not when he is more human than machine, and in turn, Abel learns that he is more than the machine that he is - a fact that he knows but years of isolation had made him strange, until he begins interacting with Noemi.
The main plot of this story involves Noemi, in her official officer capacity, determined to fulfil a mission given to her. She does disobey an order and boards an abandoned ship where she encounters Abel, and in the process loses a dear friend. It's from here where the story begins.
This is a run and jump kind of journey story. There's a time limit and tentative trust, as well as near deaths of Mech, imprisonment, orders to kill, and declarations of feelings that are more human than machine. Once I got into the story, everything just took over. I became interested in their journey, interested in Noemi's growing respect for Abel, and in turn, Abel's emotional development. I also really like the conversations of religion without being preachy (which I found occurred in the last book I read). Gray handles it really well with Noemi.
The world is great. It's not detailed but there's enough detail to give the worldbuilding substance and variety. And I love it. It feels as foreign as it is familiar, which by the way, I forgot to mention is that the world is set in the distant future where humans have moved offworld onto other planets, there are jump gates, spaceships, and an abundance of Mechs. Earth is a villain in this, polluted, desecrated, and as many Mechs as there are humans. Genesis where Noemi hails from, is the opposite - not polluted and has very little interest in Mechs.
I've heard other reviews comparing Noemi and Abel to Kady and Aidan from the much loved Illuminae Files books, and I can say, as a fan of Aidan from that series, as much as Gemina is my favourite of the three Illuminae books, Noemi and Abel are nothing like them. Far from it. Yes, there is a human, yes there is a Mech/AI, yes there are jump gates and space worlds. But Illuminae tilts more towards a friendly respect between human and AI - a super creepy and fun in his own way AI who has evolved in a slightly creepy but odd way, he kind of reminds me of a more fun version of Ultron from the Avengers movies - whereas Gray's story contains a Mech who grows beyond his original potential, who's fun when he's unaware he's said something as human as its unusual (i.e. his talk about prostitution to earn money that is effectively rejected), and who isn't creepy, but rather looking for acceptance and respect for what he is. I quite like Gray's take on this kind of character, it's different and definitely not like Aidan of Illuminae, but still interesting!
Overall I can't wait to finish this trilogy. I should have done what I did with the firebird books - bought them all and then read Defy the Stars, rather than read it first and order the others!
So, first off, I want to say I originally started reading this in 2017 when it came out, but I put it down after 83 pages with the intention to eventually read it. I did it because I didn't think I liked Noemi's reactions in the beginning, nor the unusual mesh of Abel's mind. However, I take it all back. I most definitely should have given this more of a chance in the first place, but I also suppose I didn't want to enjoy it back then. It seems like now was the perfect time and I definitely wasted half a day finishing it off today.
My favourite series by Claudia Gray is her Firebird trilogy. And I originally began reading Defy the Stars before I fell in love with the Firebird books. In comparison, Defy the Stars felt so pale! But now, I take it all back.
Defy the Stars takes a while to warm up to both story and characters. Noemi is a strong character but very set in her beliefs and choices in life, and none of this is compromised when it comes to Abel - a sentient Mech. Abel on the other hand is supposed to be an intelligent Mech, however, he has spent years alone, abandoned by his maker on a spacecraft. In that time, he has developed from a programmed intelligent Mech to something more sentient. When they first meet, its under strenuous circumstances, but over time, throughout their entire space journey, Noemi discovers she can't simply sacrifice him, not when he is more human than machine, and in turn, Abel learns that he is more than the machine that he is - a fact that he knows but years of isolation had made him strange, until he begins interacting with Noemi.
The main plot of this story involves Noemi, in her official officer capacity, determined to fulfil a mission given to her. She does disobey an order and boards an abandoned ship where she encounters Abel, and in the process loses a dear friend. It's from here where the story begins.
This is a run and jump kind of journey story. There's a time limit and tentative trust, as well as near deaths of Mech, imprisonment, orders to kill, and declarations of feelings that are more human than machine. Once I got into the story, everything just took over. I became interested in their journey, interested in Noemi's growing respect for Abel, and in turn, Abel's emotional development. I also really like the conversations of religion without being preachy (which I found occurred in the last book I read). Gray handles it really well with Noemi.
The world is great. It's not detailed but there's enough detail to give the worldbuilding substance and variety. And I love it. It feels as foreign as it is familiar, which by the way, I forgot to mention is that the world is set in the distant future where humans have moved offworld onto other planets, there are jump gates, spaceships, and an abundance of Mechs. Earth is a villain in this, polluted, desecrated, and as many Mechs as there are humans. Genesis where Noemi hails from, is the opposite - not polluted and has very little interest in Mechs.
I've heard other reviews comparing Noemi and Abel to Kady and Aidan from the much loved Illuminae Files books, and I can say, as a fan of Aidan from that series, as much as Gemina is my favourite of the three Illuminae books, Noemi and Abel are nothing like them. Far from it. Yes, there is a human, yes there is a Mech/AI, yes there are jump gates and space worlds. But Illuminae tilts more towards a friendly respect between human and AI - a super creepy and fun in his own way AI who has evolved in a slightly creepy but odd way, he kind of reminds me of a more fun version of Ultron from the Avengers movies - whereas Gray's story contains a Mech who grows beyond his original potential, who's fun when he's unaware he's said something as human as its unusual (i.e. his talk about prostitution to earn money that is effectively rejected), and who isn't creepy, but rather looking for acceptance and respect for what he is. I quite like Gray's take on this kind of character, it's different and definitely not like Aidan of Illuminae, but still interesting!
Overall I can't wait to finish this trilogy. I should have done what I did with the firebird books - bought them all and then read Defy the Stars, rather than read it first and order the others!