Defy The Stars
By Claudia Gray
Noemi is a young and fearless soldier of Genesis, a colony planet of a dying Earth. But the citizens of Genesis are rising up – they know that Earth’s settlers will only destroy this planet the way they destroyed their own. And so a terrible war has begun.
When Noemi meets Abel, one of Earth’s robotic mech warriors, she realizes that Abel himself may provide the key to Genesis’ salvation. Abel is bound by his programming to obey her – even though her plan could result in his destruction. But Abel is no ordinary mech. He’s a unique prototype, one with greater intelligence, skill and strength than any other. More than that, he has begun to develop emotions, a personality and even dreams. Noemi begins to realise that if Abel is less than human, he is more than a machine. If she destroys him, is it murder? And can a cold-blooded murder be redeemed by the protection of a world?
Stranded together in space, they go on a whirlwind adventure through Earth’s various colony worlds, alongside the countless Vagabonds who have given up planetary life altogether and sail forever between the stars. Each step brings them closer – both to each other and to the terrible decision Noemi will have to make about her world’s fate, and Abel’s.
Summary from Goodreads.
Defy The Stars was original described as ‘Interstellar meets Blade Runner’ when I first read the synopsis on Goodreads. Since both Interstellar and Blade Runner are some of my favourite movies, to say I went into Defy The Stars with very high hopes is an understatement. What I got felt like a watered-down version of Blade Runner with not much Interstellar.
Gray does create an well thought out system of planets, with each planet being very different from the other. All of these planets are connect by a series of wormholes called the loop. Each planet has its own personality that is brought-to-life by its atmosphere and what life it is capable of sustaining.
Whilst I did enjoy the space side of it, what little of it there was it was unable to counter very uninteresting characters and a very boring and predictable plot. Both Noemi and Abel seemed very flat. Neither of them seemed to grow in anyway (although Abel does have a very good excuse, he is a robot), which considering what they go through is quite sad. Also looking back on the plot, the decisions that are made seemed even more illogical than when I first read them. How the story evolves should lead to an intriguing race against time ended up becoming an anti-climatic stroll through the loop.
Do not go into Defy The Stars expecting a book version of either Interstellar or Blade Runner as you only only disappoint yourself.
3/5
Have you read Defy The Stars? Do you agree with my review? Let me know your opinion in the comments below!
Check it out on Goodreads here.
Purchase it on Amazon here.
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