Alexa, who has survived by pretending to be a boy called Alex, serves an evil king by being one of the primary guards for his son. Prince Damian comes across as an attention-deficient fop, but under that is a facade equally different like Alexa's. When her twin brother is killed and she and the prince captured by those fighting the king, it's the beginning of a wild adventure that ends up better for the kingdom, but heartbreaking for Alexa. I'm eager to read the other two books in this series. ( )

This started off okay. I felt like the brother and sister main characters were believable and were characters that I could really get interested in. Then, very quickly, it went downhill fast and got very, very icky and dumb. Romance is not my favorite type of story, but there are plenty of romantic stories among books that i have completely loved. In this case, character development came to a complete halt and it was all gooey descriptions of chocolate brown eyes and blah blah blah. ( )

*Disclaimer: I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are mine and 100% genuine.
Rating: 2.5 stars
When I first heard of and saw Defy, I thought "Whoa, a high fantasy, sword-fighting, cross dressing heroine?! You can't go wrong with that, right?" Well, apparently you can. Defy seemed like an extremely promising novel and I was really into it until about 75% of the way through. It started out strong, with the background of Alexa and her brother and how/why they are part of Prince Damian's guards and why she is pretending to be a boy (which I found to be very Mulan-ish).

Characters: I surprisingly enjoyed Marcel's character in the few chapters that we met him. His relationship with Alexa was one of the things I liked in the story. Alexa herself on the other hand, was a character that I did not understand. In the beginning, I saw her as this strong, sword fighting champion but then things turned for the worse. All of a sudden, the character that I actually liked became this sappy, love-struck girl, while mind you, still pretending to be a boy. See the problem? Her being on cloud nine wasn't the thing that bothered me, it was the love triangle.

Love Triangle: I knew there was going to be a love triangle from the description, and I was a little afraid to read this because of that. Now, don't get me wrong. I happen to like love triangles as long as they're done right. This one, however, was disappointingly not. Even though I wasn't expecting "a thrilling love triangle" I was hoping for it to be at least decent. One of the main reasons I didn't care for this love triangle was because of the love interests. I felt as if Rylan didn't play a huge part in the book at all, and I just didn't know how I felt about Damian. He was so moody and secretive I just couldn't take it. It took me until the last few chapters of the novel to decide that I thought he was decent. Just decent.

The Plot: The plot genuinely had a huge potential, because it's not everyday you read a high fantasy novel with a masquerading main character. But it needed more. It was too love based and not enough action. I would've loved to see more scenes involving sorceress magic and fighting. Also this takes time in the olden days, but I forgot about this (even though they use swords) because of the dialect. The way the characters talked and the setting made it seem pretty modern. Only sometimes throughout the novel would I actually remember that it was a different era. There was a couple of revelations near the end of the novel that really surprised me but other than that the plot was pretty basic to be honest.

Overall, this book had an extremely high potential to be amazing, but it was simply a "meh" novel in my opinion. Perhaps it simply wasn't my cup of tea but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I'm debating whether or not the next book is worth reading, but we'll have to see.

My Favorite Quote:

“True beauty is what lies inside of us, not what the world sees. A beautiful shell that houses a vile soul becomes sullied over time. But an outer shell, imperfect as it may be, that houses a beautiful, shines with that beauty, radiating it for all who have eyes to see.”


Would I recommend Defy? Maybe. I would definitely warn about the love triangle though.
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When Alexa's mother and father are killed by an evil sorcerer, to avoid being used as a breeder (yep, that's a thing), she cuts her hair off and poses as a boy, and she and her twin brother, Marcel, join the king's army. Because her father has been teaching her to wield a sword for years, she is better than most, and is appointed to the elite prince's guard. For three years Alexa has gone by Alex and has pretended to be a boy, but she's 17 now and is finding that fact harder and harder to conceal, and events are about to make that even more difficult..

I have mixed feelings about this book because I liked Alexa alright, but when her gender is revealed, her actions are harder to understand, I don't want to give anything away, but it's this fact that makes the love triangle that follows harder to connect to. I just didn't feel the heat. The plot was enjoyable, and I loved the action scenes, it was just the romance I didn't engage with.

Because I liked more about the book than I didn't, I'm giving this book a 3.5/5 star rating, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

3.5/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, Scholastic Press, and Sara B. Larson for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. ( )

This review can also be found on my blog Love at First Write

I just want to start off profusely thanking Sara Larson and Scholastic for an ARC copy of Defy! I loved this book and it’s characters and have definitely become a fan :) I can’t wait until it comes out and I’ll have people to talk about it with haha. But for now I’ll have to settle for a review.

Defy is about Alexa Hollen, a girl disguised as a guy to serve in the king’s army. Her parents were killed when she and her twin brother, Marcel, were 14. Male orphans are forced into the army, and female orphans are forced into the breeding house where once they hit puberty they are raped to breed more men for the army. To save herself from that fate she and Marcel become twin ‘brothers’ and she now goes by the name Alex. She is pretty badass and unbeatable in a sword fight, which earns her a spot on the elite prince’s guard. How she manages to do all of that without revealing her secret, I have no idea. However, she’s no match for a sorcerer that abducts the prince, herself, and her fellow guard Rylan. Being in close quarters soon makes it obvious that she isn’t a guy, but fortunately for the reader, unfortunately for the characters, everyone has their share of secrets as tensions rise! Now Alex/a must trust the very people who might break her heart in order to stop a war and save the kingdom from an even deadlier enemy.

So as mentioned above, I LOOOOVVVVVED this book. I didn’t read it in one sitting (time not permitting), but I wished I had. I did, however, finish it in less than 24 hours since it showed up at my house though, so that must count for something. This book was so beautifully written that I found it hard to believe that Larson was a debut author! For me, the mark of a good author is A) me wanting to quote parts, scenes, or something a character says (Check!) and B) developing the characters to the point where the reader can just KNOW who is talking without it necessarily being specified (Check!). Alexa’s brother, Marcel was easily one of my favorite characters in the book. Even though he wasn’t in it long, he was so intellectual and caring, always protecting his sister even when she didn’t know it. This book’s Love Triangle consists of Rylan, her long-time friend and crush, the sweet, caring, concerned, brotherly type, and then there’s Damian, the lazy spoiled brat who isn’t all that he seems. In fact, it turns out that Damian is actually a great guy in his own right and god did I ship Damian and Alexa together
Most importantly, Alexa was a well-built character that is respectable and a great role model. Despite all she goes through, she learns about love and sacrifice, but most importantly she learns about how to be herself. With great side characters to back her up, she manages to make it through the intense plot twists in this splendid face-paced novel. Another enjoyable aspect of the novel was the setting in the rainforest. I found the concept and it’s affects on the characters intriguing and refreshing.

I just have a couple things I’d like to say about what I didn’t like about the book, because there was a couple. There were plenty of unexplained parts that would’ve really added to the book if they had been addressed/ addressed in detail. Such as how some people caught on to the fact that she was a girl. Never explained, they just know! Also, how the heck did she possibly keep her secret, especially whenever it was her time of the month…. I think that would make her gender quite obvious. How Hector became king in the first place, building up the land and countries’ history would’ve been nice too. I felt like the reader didn’t know anything at all until the end of the book, which doesn’t work with huge chunks of information. Lastly, I wish that the whole ‘sorcerer’ thing had been better clarified, especially since it seems to be more complex than other author’s versions of sorcery and magic. There are clearly different kinds of sorcerer’s and I feel like the reader should have been enlightened, especially considering the number of characters who are sorcerers. Actually, I lied; I have two more last things to nit pick about, though they have nothing to do with things not being explained. At the beginning of the book there were so many names all at once that it’s hard to keep track of who’s who in the palace. And also why was Tanoori added to the book? She didn’t detract from the book of course, but she didn’t seem to add anything to it either.

All in all, this book is completely worth reading, despite it’s little irks, and I can’t wait till book 2 (which will hopefully answer some of my questions). I think it will definitely get good reception and that fans of Graceling and Iron Fey would enjoy this novel. Either way I’m definitely looking forward to getting my hands on more of Sara B. Larson’s works in the future and watching her grow as an author :)
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