Defy the Stars (Defy the Stars #1) By Claudia Gray [Review]

RELEASE DATE:  April 4th 2017
AUTHORS: Claudia Gray
GENRE: Young-Adult, Sci-Fi, Dystopia, Adventure.
PUBLISHER: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 
SUMMARY: 

Noemi Vidal is a teen soldier from the planet Genesis, once a colony of Earth that’s now at war for its independence. The humans of Genesis have fought Earth’s robotic “mech” armies for decades with no end in sight.

After a surprise attack, Noemi finds herself stranded in space on an abandoned ship where she meets Abel, the most sophisticated mech prototype ever made. One who should be her enemy. But Abel’s programming forces him to obey Noemi as his commander, which means he has to help her save Genesis–even though her plan to win the war will kill him.

Together they embark on a daring voyage through the galaxy. Before long, Noemi begins to realize Abel may be more than a machine, and, for his part, Abel’s devotion to Noemi is no longer just a matter of programming.

Actually this is my first book from Claudia Gray but I had put pretty high expectations on it mostly because of its intriguing premise and also because of the hype cause I’ve heard pretty great things about Claudia’s Firebird Trilogy. I totally fell in love with that beautiful cover, it looks simply stunning. So, did it completely meet my expectations? unfortunately, no, it has partly met my expectations but not completely. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it and I loved it’s intriguing concept which also kinda reminded me of  my favorite YA sci-fi reads Illuminae and starflight.  The main Characters Noemi and Abel are amazing in this book and I quite enjoyed their exciting journey together across the galaxy.

Noemi Vidal is a seventeen year old soldier from planet Genesis, a place filled with pure greenery, free of machines and unpolluted air unlike Planet Earth whose atmosphere is filled with nothing but trash and polluted air. With earth’s time running out, the people of earth became very desperate and they try to relocate to Genesis but when the people of  Genesis is totally against it, they try to take control of it by using force such as building a powerful human like Mech army to fight against them. After three decades of war between them, the people of Genesis is losing hope so they come up with a suicide mission called Massada Run which can buy them some time.  Noemi volunteers in the mission because she’s an orphan and she has no family to return to. When her friend gets attacked by a mech, she notices an old abandoned enemy ship and gets aboard on it. Later she comes to know that it isn’t completely abandoned at all and then she meets a powerful mech named Abel who is programmed in a way that makes him to obey Noemi as his commander, which means he has to help her save Genesis–even though her plan to win the war will kill him. With each time they spend together Noemi notices something different about Abel whose actions almost seemed like human which is pretty much impossible for a mech but she don’t want to jeopardize her mission – her last hope for saving her people.

I loved Noemi and Abel! Noemi is a kickass female soldier, she is tough, selfless, fearless and very stubborn. She’s also very loyal towards her people and wouldn’t even hesitate to sacrifice her life if it would save her loved ones. Abel aka Model One A is really a fascinating character. Being the most powerful and intelligent Mech in the world, he’s quite confident of his skills. Though he’s mostly robotic in nature sometimes he does act a bit sarcastic towards Noemi which I always enjoyed. Abel kinda reminded me of AIDAN from Illuminae but AIDAN would always be my favorite AI even though he doesn’t have a hot bod like Abel. I liked the slow building relationship between Noemi and Abel. Though they don’t trust each other much at the beginning,  they eventually start to depend on each other and they make a good team but I was a teeny tiny bit disappointed that there is not much romance until the end because what Noemi and Abel mostly feel towards each other is respect but eventually it slowly turns into like and then love. I loved their first kiss filled with lots of emotion at the end which is definitely one of my favorite parts in this book. I also enjoyed their banters and it was always fun to watch whenever Abel tries to showoff his skills to Noami. As for the sidekicks or secondary characters, except for Virginia sadly no one intrigued me much but the others aren’t bad either and I will definitely look forward to know more about them. There is also a mention of a famous celebrity named Han Zhi, the hottest guy alive in the galaxy. He doesn’t make a full appearance in this book but I really hope we finally meet him in the next book.

Honestly, the plot is pretty amazing but I hated the slow start filled with lots of scientific info dump that bored me to sleep and this isn’t really my first sci-fi book. However, when the plot takes an interesting turn, I became active once again and from then on, I was hooked to the plot till the end. I loved the action and the space adventures across the galaxy. The romance was a bit disappointing though because there’s barely any romance in it but after that emotional scene at the end, I would love to see how it develops further. The world building is simply fantastic. I absolutely enjoyed exploring different planets and learning their politics, and cultures. My favorite is definitely Planet Kismet, it is somewhat exotic holiday spot in the entire galaxy filled with lots of fun, entertainment and luxury. I really can’t wait to explore more of this world. The book was told in third person dual POV and I loved the captivating writing style of the author, It was quite descriptive and vivid. 

Overall, it was a great read! Despite my issues, this book is a must read for all the YA sci-fi lovers. Though the book ended with no cliffhangers, I would definitely look forward to its sequel.

Recommend it?

Defy the Stars is an action packed and adventurous YA sci-fi read. Although it didn’t completely blew my mind away, I highly recommend this book to everyone especially to the one’s who loved Illuminae and starflight. 

MY RATING:  [3.5/5 Stars]

So, What do you think of this book? Please Feel Free To Comment Below. ❤

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