Kait ✨
Written on Apr 21, 2016
Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king's army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince's guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can't prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.
The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she's sworn to protect?
- ISBN10 0545597633
- ISBN13 9780545597630
- Publish Date 7 January 2014
- Publish Status Active
- Publisher Scholastic
- Imprint Scholastic Press
- Format eBook
- Pages 336
- Language English
Reviews
violetpeanut
Written on Jan 9, 2016
World Building…or lack of it
The best fantasy has great world-building. It’s not enough to have interesting characters. You have to also have a great setting, back story and magic system that makes sense and draws the reader in and makes them believe in this fantastical world you’ve created. Defy gave me none of that. Initially, I was intrigued because one of the two main warring nations is set in a jungle. That’s new and different and I hoped that the people and supporting details would flesh that out a bit more. I was hoping for descriptions of the clothing, food and people who would live in an area like that. Aside from an encounter with a Jaguar and a few mentions of heat and humidity, this could have been set in any fantasy realm anywhere. The people felt very generic and there weren’t any customs to speak of. There wasn’t a whole lot in the way of description and nothing all that original.
There’s a Love Triangle…
There is a love triangle. It takes up most of the book. This is definitely romance heavy and fantasy light. I went into it knowing that there’s a love triangle so I can’t fault the book for that. However, I did not expect it to be the main focus of the story. Love triangles aren’t my favorite trope, but I’m willing to give them a chance and sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. This one didn’t offer anything new. Girl has feelings for two different boys. She decides on one and the other pines for her. There’s a whole lot of whining and lots and lots of Alexa being indecisive and lots of internal dialogue that was very repetitive.
Just…why?
There was just so much here that didn’t make sense:
King Hector is evil. Why? Is he a psychopath? Did something awful happen to him in his past?
The people believe sorcerers are evil. Why? Because King Hector told them so. Whaaat?? King Hector overthrew the previous king so any laws or “teachings” that he has imposed are new. Wouldn’t there be people that would still remember how things were? Alexa is of a younger generation, but wouldn’t her parents and still older citizens know the truth? Are there no historians or scholars in this society?
Random people are sorcerers. Why? Is it hereditary? Just how many types are there? Are there only women healers? What is the nature of this power. Where does it come from? There is absolutely no system to the magic at all.
Overall
Really disappointing. Seasoned veterans of the fantasy genre beware. This is probably not going to be to your liking. I can see this being a hit with teen or tween readers who have little to no other experience in the fantasy genre but I would not recommend to anyone else. Plot holes + little to no world-building + lots of telling, little showing + a love triangle = a weak fantasy and no interest in reading the rest of this series.
ladygrey
Written on Nov 20, 2014
Not that it's a bad book. Once you're about a third of the way through its fairly interesting. Before that, though, there's a lot of first person introspection where more character interaction and dialog would have been more interesting. And lots of repeated information - in case we didn't get it the first time. And lots of unanswered question, which would have been ok except the main character kept pointing them out and asking them over and over which made the whole thing annoying. But the action was good and the plot moved along and when the characters did interact it worked.
Then there's the immediate love triangle. Totally a Twilight love triangle with the boy who is her best friend and has always loved her and the shiny, fancy boy the best friend has to protect her from. There were a few decent lines in the midst of all this, but one romance would have been enough (especially since there really is only one romance and the other totally falls awkwardly flat).
Finally, there's my absolute favorite, "We both love each other and everything's worked out so I need to lie to you to drive you away because we can't be together." ugh.
The thing is, other than all that, it's not an awful book. After the first third I didn't set it aside for another book or feel like hurling it across the airplane. I'll probably read the second one. And the one thing I did like was that it was a little unexpected. Not, you know, the majority of the obvious things like Damien or Iker or anything. But I had Lisbet pegged as his mother and Eljin as his brother. Because those were also the obvious choices and everything else was that apparent.. There were a few times I thought I knew what was going on but when it was revealed it was just enough different to be satisfying. Which almost never happens.
Reread: I can usually tell how much I liked a book by how much I remember about it. This one, I remembered bits and pieces, the bit of context around a few quotes I saved but really... there’s was A LOT I didn’t remember. Especially the ending, which says quite a bit.
tweetybugshouse
Written on Jan 17, 2014
I rated the story as a 3 as it did not keep me hanging on the edge of my seat, the love triangle was intriguing and good aspect of the story. I think one thing that did hurt it is everyone was expecting mulan and when they did not quite get that they immeditaley walked away. Sometimes expecting something and getting a totally different thing can be good. The series has potentional and since it a debut novel i am willing to see where the rest of the series goes.
Sam@WLABB
Written on Jan 14, 2014
1. I always love reading books with strong female characters
2. Alexa had to have strength in same many areas of her life, you were proud, but broken-hearted all at the same time.
3. My emotions were all over the place. I had too, many, feelings.
4. I cannot wait for book 2!!!
inlibrisveritas
Written on Jan 8, 2014
When it comes to high fantasy I expect world-building, and I’m incredibly fond of extreme detail. However this is where Defy began to worry me, the world building is minimal. I really loved that it was set in a more tropical place where there is humidity and rain forests, instead of the typical temperate areas I usually read about, but I didn’t feel the immersion that I’m use to in novels like this. We don’t get a lot of details about the world of Antion or Belvon that would have cemented these places are ‘real’ in my mind. I do see this as being a great beginner’s high fantasy novel though, where someone who isn’t use to the immense details can wet their palette without drowning.
The pacing is quick and I found it easy to blow through pages in a couple of sittings. The over all plot was quiet enjoyable and I really liked the gender-bending aspect of it, I do wish that it had lasted a bit longer though. It’s not something I’ve seen in a lot of books and it makes for a really tense moments while you’re hoping the character’s acting ability holds out. The summary does tout a ‘thrilling love triangle’ but I honestly didn’t find it to be all that thrilling or that much of a triangle. It’s obvious where the true chemistry lies so I found much of the back and forth on Alex’s part to be highly unnecessary. In fact the relationship takes up a good portion of the book and while I didn’t really mind, it also didn’t really help further the story. I would have loved to see more of the training and instead of being told how hard it was, I would have love to see the actual struggle. There were moments where discretion was key but there honestly felt like there was no danger. Of course there are also some really great bits that I wasn’t expecting like the direction of the plot, how self-reliant Alex was, and the initial gender bending moments.
Alex is a mostly independent girl in the guise of a man on the Prince’s Guard. She’s an incredibly skilled fighter and the best guard on duty. However I didn’t really find her to be very strong minded, which is even pointed out by her brother early on…she’s the fighter, he’s the brains. Which is fine, not everyone can have a strong will…but it felt odd for her to crumple so easily when her whole life has been founded on being a guard in an army. I wasn’t fond of how once her secret was out she seemed to change, despite the fact that she didn’t want anyone to treat her differently. This also applies to the two male leads Rylan and Damian, who up until that point had treated her like they would treat any male friend. They knew ‘he’ was strong and capable, but as soon as she became common knowledge suddenly there was a lot of need to protect her. Despite all of that I did like her friendship with Rylan before it became kind of muddled, and for the most part Damian’s relationship with her was satisfying. I do wish the gender bending had played more of a role in their relationships to be honest, there was no negative tension or surprise really.
Overall Defy holds a lot of potential but fell a bit short for me. While I enjoyed the overall story and premise I felt that certain key elements were not fleshed out enough for it to truly pull me in. I do think this would be great for those who want to ease into the genre without having to worry about new vocabulary or pages of characters to remember.
Mackenzie
Written on Jan 6, 2014
When this book first popped up on my radar, I was psyched. A girl masquerading as a boy to serve in the army? It's reminiscent of Alanna from the Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce! How can that not be fantastic. Well...this book found the way.
Writing this review is hard. I have such mixed emotions about it that this is my 4th review of it. The book started and ended strong. Although the plot was rather simplistic, it was good and I was intrigued. However, this simple plot coupled with a not-so-great romance and repetitiveness for a good 50% of the book led to disappointment.
Before I really delve into my breakdown of this book, I want to say this: I didn't hate the book, but nor did I love it. When I first started reading I was engaged. The middle dragged but was redeemed towards the end. When I first finished it, I only disliked the romance. However, as I stewed over this book, I realized it was lackluster.
Look, this book had potential. It had all the ingredients there to make it an epic fantasy. But, it’s almost as if, instead of using the regular ingredients the recipe called for, this book consisted of the knock-off cheaper brands.
See, oftentimes, the knock-offs are okay, but they are usually coupled with the real deal so that you save money, but get all/most of the flavor. Same goes for a book. Even if some of the ingredients aren't the "best" ingredients, it doesn't necessarily take away from the final product. I can like a book with a sweeping and engaging plot and world, even if I’m not wholly in love with the characters just as I can take a more simple, mediocre plot line if the characters are fleshed out and real. But, with all of them together? Not so much.
You see, I went into this book thinking I wasn’t going to love the romance (though hoping I’d be the odd ball out) because of all the negative reviews. However, I thought this would be a sweeping epic fantasy. Unfortunatley, not only was I not 100% on board with the romance, the plot wasn’t super exciting either. This book is more of a romance book rather than a fantasy book.
The more I write this review, the more I realize how jumbled my thoughts actually are. So, in hopes of clarifying, I've broken down the two things that created a lackluster performance.
1. The romance:
- How Alexa reacts: In the beginning of the book, Alex is a strong character, She’s fierce and determined, characteristics I can admire. I was rooting for her. But come to 2nd and 3rd quarters of the book, and it’s completely different. She can’t hide her emotions, she cries to much, and if she blushed one more time I was going to smack her upside the head. Once you get about 30% of the way through the book, the next 50% is repetitive thoughts of her saying she thinks Damian is a jerk but his eyes tell a different story while also worrying about Rylan’s feelings for her.
- For one, shouldn’t Alexa be used to suppressing her emotions and putting on a mask of indifference by now? She’s been surrounded by men for 3 years! Even if she may not have been romantically interested in them, she had to at least thought one of them was hot. And because of this she learned to not let it show. Therefore, she should be able to hide her emotions better when Damian is around instead of blushing and crying and all that. Grant it, she does hide it to an extent, but she definitely lets down her guard more than her character at the beginning would suggest.
- She’s a soldier for crying out loud. Duty and country first. She would say this all the time, yet she kept thinking more about Damian and trying to figure him out than strategizing about how to get them out of their situations.
- Rylan was pointless. Or so I thought. Rylan was not a fleshed out character and was your stock friendzoned guy. He was really there just to add a bit of tension because Alex didn’t want to hurt his feelings. However, it was clear from the beginning who she chose. So, as I said, pointless…until the end. Let me say this: this book could’ve been a standalone, wrapped up nicely with a conclusive ending (honestly I have no idea where the plot is going after this). So…even though Damian wanted to marry her, now she decides to put duty first? Oh, real convenient. Guess you just laid the foundation for book 2.
- One good thing – I actually kind of liked Damian. Look, he was kind of a jerk, but at least he had good reasoning. At least I can understand why. Honestly, he was probably the most fleshed out of all the characters.
The Plot:
- Honestly, the plot was somewhat engaging and interesting. What is lacked was the emotional connection. Meaning, I should've been gasping, crying, laughing, or something while reading. Instead I was just sitting there enjoying it, but not engaged by it.
- I felt as if things were solved too easily.
- Lackluster world building. Often time this isn't a huge issue with me, but it became more noticeable because there was no other aspect of this book that could distract me from it. I literally know next to nothing about this world besides the fact that there are three countries, two are at war, one is a jungle and the other is barren. Um. Okay?
Oddly enough though, for all my complaining, I did enjoy it. Was it a phenomenal book that swept me off my feet? No. Was it at least interesting and worth reading? Yes. I think people who prefer romance and like a light fantasy or are new to the fantasy world would enjoy this.
Overall:
I know this review is a bit of a contradiction (and repetative). When I look back at my review, I feel like all I did was talk about how bad it was. But honestly? I enjoyed it. I wasn't swept away by it, but I didn't want to throw it out the window either. I think if the plot was more complex, the worldbuilding explored more, and the characters fleshed out a bit more, it could've been amazing. As it was though, it was simply "alright". As I said, I think romance lovers and fantasy newbies would enjoy this book. For high/epic fantasy fans out there, I'd say skip it. You'll find your fantasy fix elsewhere.
jnikkir
Written on Nov 15, 2013