Review: Defy

Defy

Sara B. Larson
336 pages
Scholastic

From Goodreads:

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? 

There were a stream of feminist novels in the mid-2010s that featured a particular kind of kick-ass heroine (see also: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo). She had something important to fight for and she was not afraid to go after it full steam ahead. Undoubtedly, there were also romantic entanglements or triangles, but that still didn't stop her from kicking some enemy ass. Defy is one of those novels and on the one hand, I'm sad that it took me five years to read it, but on the other hand, this is exactly the kind of book I need in my life right now.

Alexa is an amazing character; she's tough and everyone around her knows it, but she's also hiding herself as a boy because of a severely misogynistic ruler. But is there anything more feminist than a woman-kicking-ass-while-hiding-as-a-male's secret being revealed and then her continuing to kick ass as a female? I love it. The only thing that bothered me about Alexa's transformation, so to speak, is that she and everyone else around her shed tears much more frequently towards the end of the novel than in the beginning, when the guard was entirely stoic and hid all emotion. There's nothing wrong with anyone having a good cry, but what made everyone change?

This book has all the aspects of a good fantasy, including magic, healers, sorcerer's, a good kidnapping, and of course, fierce battle. There was also a love triangle between Alexa, Prince Damian, and another guard, Rylan. It was a pretty one sided triangle for most of the book but it certainly opened up at the end! Yikes!

I love that the book didn't end with an earth-shattering cliff-hanger, but I am still inspired to continue on with the series. In the beginning of the novel there were dozens of women and girls being abused by the king and while they were mentioned throughout the novel, their tragedy was never wrapped up and I need to know how they're doing.

Overall, I really loved this book and if you loved the series I mentioned above, or Graceling by Kristin Cashore or A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, I think you'll love this series as well.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing my review copy (in 2014, oops!). The opinions in this review are all my own.