Review Detail

Defiance is a book that doesn't waste two or three chapters slowly introducing you to the characters, setting, and plot-to-come. From the very beginning, we're right in the middle of all the action.

Even though, from the cover, it kind of looks like this book is set in the Middle Ages (does the girl on the front cover remind anyone of the main character off Brave?), but it's actually not. In fact, it's set in the future, where nearly everything is destroyed and the remains of humanity live in one city, because of these creatures called The Cursed One (and no, just because it says "One" does not mean there is only one creature).

Usually in dystopian novels where the world is destroyed, the destruction is entirely humanity's fault (from Global Warming or something like that). This is not the case here. Okay, sure, it was human drilling that woke the creatures up, but it wasn't really their fault that these creatures are pure evil.

Rachel was really strong and independent at the beginning, which I really liked. However (SPOILER ALERT) after Oliver died, (END OF SPOILER) Rachel started to depend on Logan a lot more, which bugged me a bit (I always love a good kick-ass heroine, so when said heroine is not so strong and awesome halfway through the book, it annoys me a little bit)

The romance in this book was great. Sometimes their relationship can get a little bit strained, and their banter was funny. Logan, who is not really a people person, sometimes misses the mark with Rachel, and it's really funny (like complimenting her while telling her she shouldn't really logically need a compliment :D)

This is quite a refreshing different take of dystopia, with a well-thought out plot and great characters.