Review: DEFY by Sara B. Larson

3.61 STARS from 758 GoodReaders

DEFY is the first book in a new series from Sara Larson and Scholastic. It combines some heart-throb elements (think love triangle) in a good old fashioned girl-disguised-as-boy story.

BACKSTORY

In this world twins Alexa and Marcel live with their parents in a small inconsequential village, until the night it's attacked and their parents are murdered. The destruction of every they they know leaves them with a horrible decision. Do they run away, or do they become twin boys who lie about their ages and enter the military.

With the whack of a knife Alexa becomes Alex, and with the passing of a few years they soon become part of an elite group that is assigned to protect the prince.   

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The setting is one of the things that author Sara Larson does very well.  There's suitably complicated politics in a conflict between kingdoms where magic is not always universally appreciated.  The wordsmithing is also good.  The author describes things well and does a good job of setting the mood.  The story also progresses logically. 

However, the story is slow in parts, and the obvious love triangle that is developing harms the story immensely since it's become such a hackneyed theme among YA authors. 

WARNING!!
One of the reasons that Alexa becomes Alex is because young girls --as young as 5 years of age-- are captured by the King's soldiers and brought to breeding houses where there they are raped until they become pregnant. Their children are subsequently taken away from them to become soldiers, or the next generation of breeders.  And this is not a fact that is glossed over.

Pam~


DEFY
(Defy #1)
Scholastic Press 
by Sara B. Larson

Reading Information:
Word Count: 86,511
Page Count: 336
Accelerated Reader: 5.6 / points: 13.0
AR quiz: 164206
Lexile: 790L
--sample pages and reviews available


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