MY RATING: ★★★★★/ 5
This was a very refreshing read for me! I got into a pretty bad reading slump while traveling and I couldn’t enjoy my books as much. But now that I’m back to Montreal and I finally finished this novel, I wonder if I’d appreciate this book more while traveling :O
It is set in a distant future where humans are living on different planets, Earth seems to be depicted as a big villain here while they are in conflict with Genesis, another planet.
Our main character, Noemi, a soldier from Genesis is sent off on a mission intergalactic and she meets her new nemesis Abel while trying to take control of a deserted ship.
Why a 5 stars? While I enjoyed the world-building but it didn’t impress me much since I’ve read a few sci-fi YA and they all look the same. What stands out for me was the main characters. Unlike other romance, this one had a very slow buildup from the beginning and you get to see their feelings developing for each other delicately. For the first time in a reallly long time, I’m giving all the 5 stars for the characters. Noemi has the bad-ass attitude that you can also relate to while Abel, well, he’s a phenomenon on his own and I’ll let you discover him by yourself (wink wink). Spoiler: ARGHUM HE’S LIKE AIDAN * COUGH COUGH* from Illuminae series (a most advanced mech aka android).
I’ve loved Abel character development and how he deals with all the feelings for his creator was the central point of the novel, learning to trust humans or learning to ”be” humans. While Noemi is forced to live all her life orphaned, thinking she’s expendable. The duo has to make sense with all their inner demons trying to snatch them apart;
Adding to that, the pacing was fast and the actions completed the plot very well. Some people might complain about the science information in the beginning but if you got through Illuminae, Defy The Stars is pretty the same thing. You get to enjoy the science side while having an amazing story backing it up.
Have you read it ? 🙂 Will you read it after this review 😉 ?
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I’m definitely going to be giving the book a shot thanks to this review! The characters seem so wonderful that I don’t think I could possibly pass this up!
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YAYYY TRANG IM SO HAPPY YOU LOVED THIS ONE ❤ I think Defy the Stars is so underrated! I adored the characters as well, their adventure, and the superrrr slow burn romance. Abel was so adorable, and his and Noemi's character developments were fantabulous to see. I can't wait for the sequel!!
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Omg this book is on my TBR and it’s been on there forever! I want time to read this one ASAP once I’m done reading for review…it’s one I’m DYING TO READ!!
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This has been on my TBR so long and now after this review, I got the motivation to read it.I loved the author’s A Thousand pieces of you, so I am looking forward to this one.
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This one’s on my TBR and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many good reviews I’ve seen. Really glad you enjoyed it too 😀 Hopefully I can get to it soon. Great review!
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All of the stars for the characters?! I’m in for sure! I read a couple of positive reviews for this book already, but didn’t put it on my TBR right away, now I think I will. I’m eager to get to know these badass characters now 😀 Thank you so much for this review 🙂
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Great review for this book Trang, and oh I’m so glad it was the book to help you our of your reading slump as well! 😀
I read Defy the Stars when it was released and I loved it as well. I definitely agree with you on the characters because the development was amazing. Everything Noemi and Abel went through was so well-written you could see how they changed from the beginning of the story until the end. I can’t wait for the second book now! 😀
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I had forgotten about this one, but you have renewed my interest! I may have to look into snagging a copy soon 🙂
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This is in my TBR, and I’m looking forward to reading it!
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Yes yes yes yes yesssssssssssssss I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I loved Abel so much!
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I totally agree with your review! I loved the characters! They’re so amazing! I enjoyed the story but I didn’t love it because of few issues. Still, I can’t wait to read the next book! Great Review! 🙂
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Oh, this sounds like such a fun book! I wasn’t the biggest fan of Claudia Gray’s other series, but I’m such a character-driven reader that if this has great characters, I might check it out. Wonderful review. 🙂
~ Aimal @ Bookshelves & Paperbacks
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Well I’m sort of in love with this cover. But I don’t read a lot of science fiction or fantasy, is it still a book you would recommend for me?
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I agree, there was some great character development. I described this book to some people and they were all like, “but how could you care that much about a robot? It’s just a robot.”
I think that’s testament to how good the characterization is.
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You sold me at “like AIDAN”! Anything like Aidan and I’m there!! Awesome review!! Glad this book got you out of your reading slump 😀
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