Review | Defiance

Defiance by C.J. Redwine
Review by Dana
August 2012 by Balzer + Bray
403 pages
Amazon + Good Reads

"While the other girls in the walled city-state of Baalboden learn to sew and dance, Rachel Adams learns to track and hunt. While they bend like reeds to the will of their male Protectors, she uses hers for sparring practice.

When Rachel's father fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the city's brutal Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector: her father's apprentice, Logan—the boy she declared her love to and who turned her down two years before. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father's survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can't be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making."

-Good Reads

Defiance is an epic young adult novel that perfectly combines both Science Fiction and Fantasy but also it has tons of mystery and a little bit of romance. It takes place in a futuristic world that has been ravaged by this dragon like creature that the characters call The Cursed One. Both narrators live in Baalboden which is the dystopian aspect of the novel. Baalboden in my head looks like a medieval village but they have advanced technology maybe that isn't exactly what it is described as but how I see it. 

I had tweeted about reading Defiance and how I was so pissed off about how this society puts women down. I had tagged C.J Redwine and we then had a whole twitter conversation about sociology and how society would put women down in circumstances like this. In this would girls/women aren't allowed in town without being accompanied by a man. Which is so impacting to Logan and how he has lived his life after his mother passed away.   At the age of 16 girls get claimed by men for marriage. It is just crazy but C.J Redwine pulled it off so well. That as a reader whether you are a female or male you will be down right outraged by the life women have in Baalboden.

To me the best villain is a character that you love to hate. The Commander is such a horrible person and I wanted him to die the entire book. He had this hidden agenda that for the life of me I can't tell you what it was. He had so many secrets and I am pretty sure he will pop up in future books up to no good. He tortured Rachel and Logan physically, physiologically, and emotionally. I don't know how C.J Redwine can top The Commander in the villains department. Other than The Cursed One because seriously it is a FREAKING DRAGON!!!

I really loved Rachel and Logan. Though romance wise we didn't see all that much of it. They both had to make some difficult choices and over come various obstacles. I think the dual narration worked mainly for the dramatic irony of it. The reader would learn what one character learned as the other remained clueless. This happened quite a lot and added a lot anticipation waiting for the other character to get clued in.

I think Defiance is just the beginning to even more action to come. The was a rebellion and revolution but really just with Rachel and Logan. Now that they have to be leaders I think the adventure and heaviness of this story is just to come in Deception (Obviously with the title.) What I love most is that this story is something many people will enjoy. It is a cross genre type book and who doesn't love a great 

rebellion. I am dying for Deception which I think comes out very soon!

Have you read Defiance yet? Did you enjoy it? Are you wanting to read I?

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