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?
I was fortunate enough to read Defy as an ARC before it's release date of Jan 7 and got straight into the book. I was able to finish the entire 341 pages within four hours and read it altogether. Yes, it was that good.
Let's get the good points of this book out the way first.
When I read the description I groaned out loud. I thought it was going to be just like Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and even though it did have that loose plot line of a woman disguised as a man and falling head over heels for someone she knew she couldn't have, it did stand up for itself in its own right and had steered its way out of the "cliche" section as they didn't fall in love very easily. The main character, Alexa, was a knight (hell yeah) and had to protect the Prince who she was hopelessly falling head over heels for, again, not so cliche.
What I liked the most however, is that the story isn't all "happy go lucky" with the right people fall in love with each other and everyone lives and the girl is accepted - their was none of that. It was a realistic story, well, as realistic as a historical fictional book can get with sorcerers and a woman being a man in disguise for three years without anyone realising. The girl realised that the relationship that she had with the prince wasn't going to work out and she needed to sort her own head out before going into a relationship.
I also liked how the story went straight to the point without giving info on the main character that we didn't need (which I despice) but added description and information about the characters later on in the story where it mattered most.
What I, however, absolutely detested about this book is that it felt the need to have a love triangle. It didnt need a love triangle. At all. I hate the fact that due to Stephanie Meyers and her overly hyped about book called Twilight (heard of it?), authors feel the need to add love triangles unnecessarily. It's annoying, as a reader, seeing two boys or two girls falling in love with the same person, and the person feeling sorry for themselves about having to decide between them. Surely there cannot be a more unpleasant situation than being in the middle of two beautiful men who both want you and are both head over heels for you *note the sarcasm*
The book, surprisingly, also had some grammatical errors. I know I know, I should just look over them and not notice them, but I cannot help it - it's simple petty mistakes! You don't want to, as a reader, stumble upon a few grammatical errors when you can just glide on through without any. Nonetheless, it was just small petty ones and can be easily fixed.
Another complaint that I have (sorry guys for my negativity) is that the book didn't have enough setting descriptions to, obviously, "set the scene." Even though I did like the fact that it went straight to the point, I would have liked description of where she was and where she is from but it just described the characters and carried on with the story. I think the story is aimed at the younger audiences and that's why the author may have not added description of the setting but still, its like Harry Potter without Hogwarts.
All in all I really did like this book, even if my review does sound a bit negative. I loved the whole concept of a girl being a knight and her saving the day but I felt there were a few plot holes. I will give this book 8/10. I feel the book could have been way better with a few corrections and detail though.
Have you guys read the book? Do you guys plan on reading the book?
Annie
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