A review by emmirosereads
Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I have enjoyed every book I've read by Brigid Kemmerer yet I was still surprised by how much I enjoyed this one! It felt very classic YA but not in a negative way. It was familiar and felt nostalgic while being fresh and still taking me by surprise. 

Seeing the author's improvements from her first fantasy series was amazing. There was a lot more worldbuilding in this and I loved seeing that. I also adored our characters and seeing their relationships throughout the book. While Tessa got on my nerves ever so slightly, she grew on me throughout the book and I loved seeing her relationship with Corrick and how that developed. I also adored seeing the sibling relationship between Corrick and his brother. It made me very emotional. I was not expecting to tab and annotate this book but I ended up doing so and it was a lovely experience. 

I can't believe I didn't think about the ties and similarities to Robin Hood until the author mentioned it in her acknowledgments. I've always loved those themes and I loved seeing how they were done in this story. The concept that not everything is so black and white and the moral greyness of people's actions and the characters throughout this whole book. 

I think my only real complaint with this book was that the ending felt a little flat and anticlimactic but also I'm not gonna put too much weight on that since it's the first of a trilogy. 
As I mentioned before I loved this and cannot wait to read the rest of the series and see where it goes!