Defy the Stars

The premise of this book alone should intrigue you. You have a human fighter pilot and a human-like mech working together to save the universe. I absolutely loved how Noemi and Abel's story unfolded. The progression of their relationship was extremely well done. They went from two people who had to work together due to programming to something much more. It was a really interesting dynamic between the two and I appreciated seeing a relationship grow between two unlikely characters. I also really appreciated that one of the two main characters was not entirely human (it reminded me of AIDAN from the Illuminae Files, if only he had a more prominent role).

That being said, the world was confusing at times. I'm not sure if there will be a map in the finished copy since I read an eARC, but I would have really liked to see something to show all the different planets that Noemi and Abel explore on their adventure through space. I think the book would have benefited from a bit more background on what was going on between Earth and Genesis. I got the overall big picture but I would have loved more specific details and knowledge about what happened in the past.

The ending of this book was also quite odd. There are definitely a few big questions that still need answered, but at the same time I feel like the story is complete. I'm really confused on how Claudia Gray is continuing with the next book after this. This is a planned duology so she obviously has more story to tell, I just do not see the need with how the arc of this book panned out.

Last thing I want to mention is how great so many of the secondary characters were in this book. Noemi and Abel met a lot of unique people on their adventure from many different backgrounds with different life stories. I loved getting to know these characters and how they impacted the story and helped our two main characters one their journey. I really hope we get to see more of them in the next book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC of the book

One spoiler comment, I feel like it was completely unnecessary "character development" to kill off Noemi's one and only friend at the beginning of the book. This death was constructed as the reason Noemi had the motivation to go through with working with a Mech to destroy the gate. I just did not like using the death of the only friend someone has as the driving force for their actions.

“The opposite of faith isn't doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty”.

This was an easy-going dystopian sci-fi in which once again, Earth has caused it's own destruction, and is trying to establish colonies on other habitable planets.
Now I call this easy-going not because the danger presented in the books was underwhelming to the book's universe, but because the explanations for the society/universe were offered up in easy to understand ways.

The once again part is me being exasperated with the fact that so many forms of media exist where humans have caused their own destruction by wrecking the planet, yet we as a species do not learn! Alright, rant over.

I enjoyed reading this book because I pulled an all nighter to finish it once I was halfway through. Even during the beginning, when the story was still forming, I was engaged enough to keep going.

Abel and Noemi were lovely characters. They both had their individual strengths and motivation to keep them going. I liked how none of them acted foolishly because this was a YA and people fall in love and are ready to die for the other person after being together for a span for weeks. I feel like I'm ranting too much.

Pros: Cool female lead who didn't change her personality or plans after meeting a boy, Abel's slow but steady sentience, traveling to other worlds, a whole planet full of smart people :D

The ending was my favorite part as I felt like it could've been a great stand-alone too. Noemi didn't try to do the mission instead of Abel, but went back to her planet to convince them the come up with another solution.
Abel actually went to another planet and started living on his own.

Cons: I can't find book 2 with this matching cover.

Beware: creepy old dudes with an agenda.

This book definitely was more of a random pick-up, as I know Claudia Gray mainly from her ventures into the Star Wars galaxy and I wasn't a fan of the one YA novel of hers that I did read. This however, was a pleasant surprise. Very enjoyable story, and anything that makes me not mind a romance is a-okay for me. (She IS pretty good at getting characters to start liking eachother, even if they start out from an inseemingly possible place).

If I had one gripe, it's more a nitpick about the audiobook version. The book switches POV between each chapter (so you alternate between Noemi and Abel), and each of them had their own voice actor. So it's just a little weird to have both actors have to do several other characters you were already used to from the other actor. (And Kasey Lee Huizinga's “male voices” all kinda sounded alike.) But this is of course, details!