A lush and gorgeously written debut, packed with action, intrigue, and a thrilling love triangle.

Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king’s army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince’s guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can’t prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.

The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she’s sworn to protect?

Defy could have been so much more than it was.

At several points, I considered DNFing this. However, since it was a review copy, I felt I had to give it a fair chance and finished it. I really shouldn’t have bothered, because at no point does the story improve past what it was.

The biggest thing is that it’s just not written well. The writing, world-building, characterization, plot… it’s all very juvenile. Take for instance the villain — you’ll know he’s the villain because he’s not very friendly, dresses in black, and he has greasy hair! (Because greasy hair was such an unusual thing in a medieval country, right?) All the good people are beautiful and kind.

It’s basic. It feels like the rough draft of another novel that was never given any other layers to help give it depth and complexity. I knew where the story was going before we were halfway in, and I was right.

The romance was laughable because both interests sounded exactly the same. If there were no name tags telling me who said what, I quickly got confused because their voices were pretty much identical. Alexa was a sorry excuse for a heroine, and yet I feel as if the writer desperately wanted me to think she was so cool and awesome. This transparency just made me cringe.

The pacing needed tightening, and frankly a major character death could have been done away with entirely. We barely knew the character before they die, so it doesn’t really effect the reader. It just made it feel like the writer had no use for him past giving Alexa some angst that she could conveniently get over when the plot needed to continue.

Also. The breeding houses. The King has a bunch of houses where fertile women are taken and raped so they can birth more soldiers for the empire. First off… why? That’s not a very good idea. It’s going to be at least ten years before those kids can be of any use to any army.

Second of all, I am so tired of fantasy relying on the same gender roles for their worlds. We get it. Women are marginalized and it sucks to be us and we’re so easy to make into victims because our society encourages it. Maybe you could put some thought into how your fantasy world can break away from that, seeing as how, I dunno, it’s a fantasy?

The ending was mind numbingly boring, and the resolution rushed and lacking any depth. I won’t be looking for the next book in the series.