BOOK REVIEW: DEFIANCE by C.J. REDWINE
DEFIANCE will hold a special place in my heart since it was the first thing I ever bought on my NOOK Color (and, realizing that I am a MAC girl at heart, it is saying something that I even GOT a NOOK . . .).
Aside from being my first purchase, however, it is a brilliant example of how to create fabulous chemistry between characters. Told in alternating 1st person POVs by heroine Rachel Adams and her assigned protector, Logan McEntire, DEFIANCE epitomizes the truth of young love that is rarely achieved in YA fiction.
In Logan and Rachel’s world, a creature known as the Cursed One, trolls under the ground. Dragon-like and spewing fire, it burns to death anyone who wanders into the barren expanse outside the city walls, known as the Wasteland. Leaving her city of Baalboden is basically suicide – but Rachel doesn’t care, because she is sure her father isn’t dead.
When her missing father (a courier for the Commander who brutally rules and protects Baalboden), is declared dead per the law, Rachel is assigned a protector in the form of her father’s young apprentice, Logan. All women must be protected by a man and are not allowed to go anywhere without their protector. When they come of age, they can be “taken” by another man at the “claiming.”
Angry that she is now under the guardianship of a boy who she had declared her love for only a few years before (and was shot down in flames) Rachel decides to breech the wall and search for her father. When Logan finds out, he decides to help her – and nearly dies in the process.
The Commander, learning of their attempted escape into the Wasteland, tells both they will not be killed for their treason if they can locate the package Rachel’s father was carrying. Twists, turns and betrayals ensue thanks to the Commander and Rachel is placed in the Claiming prematurely. Logan pledges to “claim” her, but it all goes to hell when the Commander finds out what they are planning. Trying to protect her, Logan gets flung in prison and Rachel is forced to enter the Wasteland without him. Assigned one of the Commander’s “guards” to accompany her, Logan finds out that her companion will kill her when they locate the package. Knowing her life is on the line, Logan makes a break for it . . .
While I did enjoy the storyline, it wasn’t what made this book so brilliant in my opinion. For me, it is this deep, painful affection that Rachel and Logan develop for one another and how Redwine is able to weave their povs seamlessly together. She relays a dark, brutal world in vivid prose and pulls no punches on the Commander’s brutality . . . or that of Rachel’s. Worth the read for Logan and Rachel’s relationship alone, DEFIANCE is a fabulous story and worth every penny.
And yes . . . I smell a series ;)
Cape Cod Scribe 
Fantastic review! It sounds like a very interesting book. I am definitely adding it to my Christmas vacation reading list.
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Thanks! You will love it! There are other reviews on here as well. THRONE OF GLASS was awesome!
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