Defy (Defy, #1)

by Sara B. Larson

[violetpeanut]

I was in the mood to be swept away into a new and exciting fantasy world so after reading lots of positive reviews, I decided to load this on to my Kindle and get to reading. Boy was I disappointed. I was expecting a strong heroine and an exciting plot and instead I got weak world-building, a whiny main character and a really annoying love triangle.

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.