Title: Defy the Stars
Series: Constellation #1
Author: Claudia Gray
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
She’s a soldier.Noemi Vidal is seventeen years old and sworn to protect her planet, Genesis. She’s willing to risk anything—including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she’s a rebel.
He’s a machine.
Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel has advanced programming that’s begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he’s an abomination.
Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true.
What I Liked:
Claudia Gray is hands down one of the best at world-building (or is it space-exploring?) and storytelling. It’s almost unbelievable how quickly I was drawn towards the different worlds and their fights for survival against the domineering, dying Earth. I could almost touch the stars, meteors, black holes, and gates to enter different galaxies. The book became my own spaceship and it was a joy to ride alongside the main characters, Noemi and Abel.
The characters are indeed my favorite aspect of Defy the Stars and you are completely missing out if you haven’t met Noemi and Abel yet. This unlikely enemy duo made me laugh so hard and overall feel extremely happy while in their company. Noemi is a soldier set on protecting her planet from Earth while Abel is a mech with developing human emotions. They begin on different sides, but slowly begin to lean on each other in order to survive and protect what they love. In the end, their friendship and interactions are so pure and lovely that it hurt to say goodbye to them for the moment while I wait for the sequel to come out.
Oh, but I just have to fangirl over Abel for a second longer because who would have thought a robot could be so terribly cute and swoony? Definitely did not think it possible and I’m super curious to learn how Abel continues to develop as a mech with a human soul and how he continues to battle with his inner conflicts and the danger he represents to the rest of humanity. I just cannot imagine him staying safe for long and this hurts me so much!
Defy the Stars is exciting and heart-warming and I cannot wait to read more! There is a whole lot of universe to explore and my heart quickens at the thought of learning what Noemi and Abel will have to face next. One can only hope they come out of it unscathed! In other words, Defy the Stars is an unputdownable must read!
This sounds like such a great book! I'm definitely going to give it a try. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! <3
~ Zoe @ Stories on Stage