Defy the Stars (Defy the Stars 1)

The is an epic story with rebels, space battles, prison breaks, and last-minute rescues. The themes include loyalty, love, environmental destruction, and what it means to be alive.
I was captivated by the story and the narration was excellent. I often listened late into the night because I couldn't put it down. Recommended to: Fans of The Lunar Chronicles.

Wow! This book really surprised me with how much I liked it! I recently have gotten interested in Star Wars and Star Trek, so I was super up for the space vibe that this book was about. I thought it was a unique plot and the addition of the robot sidekick was something that I found myself loving! The character development of the robot in the book (I know I am calling him the robot, but he has a name) was what blew this book out of the water for me in terms of emotion and interest.

Defy the Stars was an absolutely breathtaking book. It covered so many points about twisted societies and the world today, and it sparks so much thought about what could be. The characters’ depth and growth was astonishing, and their adventure was the most incredible and entertaining journey I’ve ever taken. This book will make you cry, laugh, and consider so much more than what you can simply see. I absolutely recommend this book, and I can’t wait to read more!

I very much enjoyed this book. It would appeal to fans of the Starbound series. This is the first book I've read from this author and she is my new obsession. The science aspect is not sacrificed for cheesy YA romance. One thing I can say that I really appreciated from this book was how the author handled the subject of religion and faith without being dismissive or offensive. The main character struggles with her faith in a way that (as a person of faith myself) can understand and relate to. It was very refreshing to see.

Overall Assessment:
Defy the Stars is a great read that’s full of action, suspense, and love (both romantic and love of humanity).
The book’s opening line draws you in immediately:
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"In three weeks, Neomi Vidal will die–here, in this very place. Today is just practice."
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Right away we learn that Noemi is training on a (literal) suicide mission to help save her planet (Genesis) from an Earth 300 years in the future. Earth has depleted the resources available to it and has started to colonize other planets. Genesis attempted to break away from Earth about 30 years prior to the beginning of Defy the Stars, but Earth has recently redoubled it’s effort to reclaim their planetary salvation. The people of Genesis resist, because they know that Earth will ruin Genesis like they did their own planet.

When a training exercise goes awry, Noemi ends up on an abandoned Earth ship from 30 years ago with a snarky advanced AI (Abel) who is bound to obey her by an unexpected oversight to his programming . Noemi finds that Abel may hold the secret to saving her planet, thus propelling them on an adventure through wormholes, other planets, and finally: Earth.

It took me a couple chapters to get into it, but once the action starts it’s pretty much non-stop. I really enjoyed the book, save for the last little bit (read more about that below).

What I liked:
– Noemi was strong, independent, and skilled. She also knew when to forgo her pride and let someone else take over when needed. This is a big bonus for me in a character, as I find arrogant characters insufferable (*cough* Aelin Ashryver Galathynius *cough*).
– I loved being able to see into Abel’s mind. His revelations at his own transformation were really interesting to read. His growing sense of humor made me chuckle more than once. Abel was hands down my favorite character in this book.
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"At some point Abel will have to analyze whether he has developed the capacity for passive aggression.”
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^^I’m a queen of passive aggression, so this made me LOL.^^
– Okay, so this one is kind of silly, but I really liked having names in a YA sci-fi that I could actually pronounce. There were a couple names that were more unique, but nothing like some of the high fantasy or dystopian names you see.

What I didn’t like:
– So I got ahead of myself and wrote out this section before I saw that this will be at least a duology….but I’m going to leave it to show how strongly I felt after finishing it, lol. In reality, there were no real cliffhangers (which I don’t mind, as long as I know they will eventually be resolved), but rather a lack of closure.
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The ending. I know a lot of people will really like it, but I hated it. Most of the book was great, but I realized at about 95% completion that there was not enough time to end it in a way I liked. The lack of closure ended on a sour note for me, but the rest of the book was really good. I still recommend it, but cautiously. If you don’t mind an ending where the story isn’t wrapped up all neat and pretty you should definitely read this book. I however, prefer the “wrapped up neat and pretty” kinds.
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– lol see? strong feelings about it.
– The only other thing that somewhat brought the rating down was the use of a few predictable tropes, but these are found so often in YA and sci-fi that they can be easily looked past.

Final Thoughts:
– Honestly, I probably would have rated it 3.5/5 stars if it was a standalone. I’m glad it’s not though so I happily give it 4/5 stars.

Science fiction has been one of my favorite genres going back to my middle school years. I am a little hesitant to read science fiction because sometimes I have issues with the ships or the language or I just didn’t like the storyline. So, needless to say, I have started a lot of science fiction books and have DNF’d them. So I was happy to see Defy the Stars written as a YA science fiction book. I figured that there would too much teenage drama going on and that would distract me from any shortcomings.

Well, I was wrong. Not only was Defy the Stars a great science fiction book but the young adult sections of the book (well it was the whole book) was fantastic. Again, it isn’t often that you get a book that combines the two perfectly. This book did.

I really enjoyed that Earth was the bad guy in this book. It was a different and welcome change from Earth always being the good guy/underdog. Instead, in this book, Earth is evil. Earth is the instigator and Earth will not let go of the other planets under its control. It was a very refreshing change and I loved it!!

Noemi grew on me during the book. I can understand why she was so angry. Losing her family, being raised by a family that resented her and then being a child soldier in a war that shouldn’t have been going on for as long as it was. She was stressed out. She was trying to keep her best friend, Esther, alive and she was trying to not think about the suicide run on the gate that connected her solar system to others in her area. So she was a little testy and I was surprised that she didn’t have a breakdown when Esther died or when she realized that she was Abel’s commander. But, by the end of the book, she grew so much and changed so much that I actually liked her.

Abel came across, to me, as what a mech should act like. He analyzed everything, he really didn’t understand human emotion and he said some pretty weird things. But, he would protect Noemi with his life because she was his commander. By the end of the book, though, he was his own person and he made his own choices….even when faced with direct orders. He truly became his own master by the end of the book.

This will be the only time that I will say that I didn’t think that the romance element of the book wasn’t needed. There was so much going on that I think it was silly to have included it. Especially since Noemi was so prejudiced against mechs. While it was something I saw coming, I really wish that the book didn’t go there. It really didn’t add anything to the storyline.

The end of the book was very bittersweet. I am glad to see that everything turned out well for Abel and Noemi. I can’t wait to see what book 2 will bring!!

I've definitely enjoyed Claudia Gray's previous stories and liked this one as well. I'm in kind of a scifi mode lately and this story hit the spot with plenty of scifi action, space travel, war and friendship. Noemi is a soldier in the army of the planet Genesis while Abel is the most "sophisticated mech prototype ever made" and they're both stranded on an abandoned space ship light years from help. The dynamics between the two characters is amazing, especially as Abel is actually able to "feel" and, because of that is more "alive" than he was originally built to be. He's developed into his own entity. Noemi also is a great character, one who was abandoned as a child and used as cannon fodder in a war. It's fascinating to see the two of them come into their own and learn to work together. Highly readable.

(I received an advance copy of this book for free. Thanks to Bonnier Zaffre and NetGalley.)

“These are the ships of the enemy, the planet determined to conquer Genesis and take their lands and resources for its own forever: Earth.”

This was a YA sci-fi story, about a girl whose planet was being taken over by the people of Earth.

Noemi was quite a brave girl, and she wasn’t afraid to do what needed to be done for the greater good, even if it meant sacrificing her own life to save her planet.

The storyline in this was about Noemi discovering an old ship with an old ‘mech’ (a robotic warrior) on it, and then going on a journey around the galaxy in an effort to save Genesis from the people of Earth. The pace in this was quite slow, and I did find myself putting this book down a lot though. I also didn’t really feel the romance, even though Noemi found Abel to be more than a robot.

The ending to this was left fairly open.

6.25 out of 10

Well, this book defied my expectations... in that there was no discernable purpose for its existence. Half of the plot revolves around the search for various mcguffins the main characters need for, um, a revolution I think? Something like that. The rest of the plot was the characters getting in trouble and meeting revolutionaries on other worlds. Okay, so there is a rebellion against Earth. But why? I dunno. Global warming, maybe? It's never clearly explained.

Character development was also odd. On the one hand we have girl willing to sacrifice herself for her beliefs but those reasons are never clearly explained along with her discomfort whenever her adoptive family is mentioned. The other character is a robot boy snowflake extraordinaire who maybe possibly has a soul thus defying his creators own expectations. Neither is clearly drawn. I was left with blank canvases when I tried picturing them again after finishing the book. Inevitably there is romance of some sort but even that gets lost in all the expository nothingness that fills most of the 500ish pages.

In short, this book is a mini doorstop. It's often aimless, lacks clear reason for existing, and occasionally ends up being a meditation on human existence. Let's just not with this one.

Defy the Stars was excellent! I loved seeing the changes Abel went through. The world was creative, and I really liked how "the bad guys" weren't just some evil organization, but that you could see everyone's point (and no easy solution). Plus SPACE! I highly recommend if you like YA sci-fi!

Overall Assessment:
Defy the Stars is a great read that’s full of action, suspense, and love (both romantic and love of humanity).
The book’s opening line draws you in immediately:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In three weeks, Neomi Vidal will die–here, in this very place. Today is just practice."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Right away we learn that Noemi is training on a (literal) suicide mission to help save her planet (Genesis) from an Earth 300 years in the future. Earth has depleted the resources available to it and has started to colonize other planets. Genesis attempted to break away from Earth about 30 years prior to the beginning of Defy the Stars, but Earth has recently redoubled it’s effort to reclaim their planetary salvation. The people of Genesis resist, because they know that Earth will ruin Genesis like they did their own planet.

When a training exercise goes awry, Noemi ends up on an abandoned Earth ship from 30 years ago with a snarky advanced AI (Abel) who is bound to obey her by an unexpected oversight to his programming . Noemi finds that Abel may hold the secret to saving her planet, thus propelling them on an adventure through wormholes, other planets, and finally: Earth.

It took me a couple chapters to get into it, but once the action starts it’s pretty much non-stop. I really enjoyed the book, save for the last little bit (read more about that below).

What I liked:
– Noemi was strong, independent, and skilled. She also knew when to forgo her pride and let someone else take over when needed. This is a big bonus for me in a character, as I find arrogant characters insufferable (*cough* Aelin Ashryver Galathynius *cough*).
– I loved being able to see into Abel’s mind. His revelations at his own transformation were really interesting to read. His growing sense of humor made me chuckle more than once. Abel was hands down my favorite character in this book.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"At some point Abel will have to analyze whether he has developed the capacity for passive aggression.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
^^I’m a queen of passive aggression, so this made me LOL.^^
– Okay, so this one is kind of silly, but I really liked having names in a YA sci-fi that I could actually pronounce. There were a couple names that were more unique, but nothing like some of the high fantasy or dystopian names you see.

What I didn’t like:
– So I got ahead of myself and wrote out this section before I saw that this will be at least a duology….but I’m going to leave it to show how strongly I felt after finishing it, lol. In reality, there were no real cliffhangers (which I don’t mind, as long as I know they will eventually be resolved), but rather a lack of closure.
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The ending. I know a lot of people will really like it, but I hated it. Most of the book was great, but I realized at about 95% completion that there was not enough time to end it in a way I liked. The lack of closure ended on a sour note for me, but the rest of the book was really good. I still recommend it, but cautiously. If you don’t mind an ending where the story isn’t wrapped up all neat and pretty you should definitely read this book. I however, prefer the “wrapped up neat and pretty” kinds.
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– lol see? strong feelings about it.
– The only other thing that somewhat brought the rating down was the use of a few predictable tropes, but these are found so often in YA and sci-fi that they can be easily looked past.

Final Thoughts:
– Honestly, I probably would have rated it 3.5/5 stars if it was a standalone. I’m glad it’s not though so I happily give it 4/5 stars.

Science fiction has been one of my favorite genres going back to my middle school years. I am a little hesitant to read science fiction because sometimes I have issues with the ships or the language or I just didn’t like the storyline. So, needless to say, I have started a lot of science fiction books and have DNF’d them. So I was happy to see Defy the Stars written as a YA science fiction book. I figured that there would too much teenage drama going on and that would distract me from any shortcomings.

Well, I was wrong. Not only was Defy the Stars a great science fiction book but the young adult sections of the book (well it was the whole book) was fantastic. Again, it isn’t often that you get a book that combines the two perfectly. This book did.

I really enjoyed that Earth was the bad guy in this book. It was a different and welcome change from Earth always being the good guy/underdog. Instead, in this book, Earth is evil. Earth is the instigator and Earth will not let go of the other planets under its control. It was a very refreshing change and I loved it!!

Noemi grew on me during the book. I can understand why she was so angry. Losing her family, being raised by a family that resented her and then being a child soldier in a war that shouldn’t have been going on for as long as it was. She was stressed out. She was trying to keep her best friend, Esther, alive and she was trying to not think about the suicide run on the gate that connected her solar system to others in her area. So she was a little testy and I was surprised that she didn’t have a breakdown when Esther died or when she realized that she was Abel’s commander. But, by the end of the book, she grew so much and changed so much that I actually liked her.

Abel came across, to me, as what a mech should act like. He analyzed everything, he really didn’t understand human emotion and he said some pretty weird things. But, he would protect Noemi with his life because she was his commander. By the end of the book, though, he was his own person and he made his own choices….even when faced with direct orders. He truly became his own master by the end of the book.

This will be the only time that I will say that I didn’t think that the romance element of the book wasn’t needed. There was so much going on that I think it was silly to have included it. Especially since Noemi was so prejudiced against mechs. While it was something I saw coming, I really wish that the book didn’t go there. It really didn’t add anything to the storyline.

The end of the book was very bittersweet. I am glad to see that everything turned out well for Abel and Noemi. I can’t wait to see what book 2 will bring!!

I've definitely enjoyed Claudia Gray's previous stories and liked this one as well. I'm in kind of a scifi mode lately and this story hit the spot with plenty of scifi action, space travel, war and friendship. Noemi is a soldier in the army of the planet Genesis while Abel is the most "sophisticated mech prototype ever made" and they're both stranded on an abandoned space ship light years from help. The dynamics between the two characters is amazing, especially as Abel is actually able to "feel" and, because of that is more "alive" than he was originally built to be. He's developed into his own entity. Noemi also is a great character, one who was abandoned as a child and used as cannon fodder in a war. It's fascinating to see the two of them come into their own and learn to work together. Highly readable.

(I received an advance copy of this book for free. Thanks to Bonnier Zaffre and NetGalley.)

“These are the ships of the enemy, the planet determined to conquer Genesis and take their lands and resources for its own forever: Earth.”

This was a YA sci-fi story, about a girl whose planet was being taken over by the people of Earth.

Noemi was quite a brave girl, and she wasn’t afraid to do what needed to be done for the greater good, even if it meant sacrificing her own life to save her planet.

The storyline in this was about Noemi discovering an old ship with an old ‘mech’ (a robotic warrior) on it, and then going on a journey around the galaxy in an effort to save Genesis from the people of Earth. The pace in this was quite slow, and I did find myself putting this book down a lot though. I also didn’t really feel the romance, even though Noemi found Abel to be more than a robot.

The ending to this was left fairly open.

6.25 out of 10

Well, this book defied my expectations... in that there was no discernable purpose for its existence. Half of the plot revolves around the search for various mcguffins the main characters need for, um, a revolution I think? Something like that. The rest of the plot was the characters getting in trouble and meeting revolutionaries on other worlds. Okay, so there is a rebellion against Earth. But why? I dunno. Global warming, maybe? It's never clearly explained.

Character development was also odd. On the one hand we have girl willing to sacrifice herself for her beliefs but those reasons are never clearly explained along with her discomfort whenever her adoptive family is mentioned. The other character is a robot boy snowflake extraordinaire who maybe possibly has a soul thus defying his creators own expectations. Neither is clearly drawn. I was left with blank canvases when I tried picturing them again after finishing the book. Inevitably there is romance of some sort but even that gets lost in all the expository nothingness that fills most of the 500ish pages.

In short, this book is a mini doorstop. It's often aimless, lacks clear reason for existing, and occasionally ends up being a meditation on human existence. Let's just not with this one.

Started reading the free sample, got to the mass prayer scene and figured it'd be hard for me to sympathize with the protagonist's side, but whatever, I was promised sentient machines, read on.

Next came "plasma bolts flying through the air of space" and I realized there would be little consistency in physics, too.

After I got to the unimaginative android I went to check out the reviews. Found way too many of "I got a free copy in exchange for my honest review" kinds of thing, so I noped right out.

Yay for free sample!

Defy the Stars was excellent! I loved seeing the changes Abel went through. The world was creative, and I really liked how "the bad guys" weren't just some evil organization, but that you could see everyone's point (and no easy solution). Plus SPACE! I highly recommend if you like YA sci-fi!