Defy the Worlds (Constellation #2) by Claudia Gray (Review)

    The second installment in the Constellation series, Defy the Worlds takes off where Defy the Stars left off. Noemi is alone, even thought she is on her home planet again, without Able she feels utterly abandoned. When an attack is launched against her home once again, she must return back into outer-space with a slight hope in saving her people. All the while, Able is uncovering a mystery that could change the entire universe and pose a problem for everybody within it. Once their paths re-converge, things are not simple and they will now have to fight to have even a moment of peace and quite... and to survive.
      In my opinion, Defy the Worlds was not great. I really loved Defy the Stars, but this story was not really on the same level. It had less romance, less personal development in the characters, less fascinating planet hopping, less fascinating dialogue and less world building. It was generally darker, more drawn out, and tragically... it was boring. I know this happens sometimes with middle filler novels, but it is always super disappointing when it happens. On the flip side, the narrative voice of the author was about the same, so I found no problem with that, as well as the fact that this novel did have some stakes and twists to it, making it bearable, just not enjoyable. Overall, Defy the Worlds were "meh", and I give it the rating of TWO AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE!

*Advanced Readers Copy Review*

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray (Review)

    Deep into the future, Defy the Stars throws us into a universe where Earth is at it's end. Our pollution has killed our planet and we need to take over another to make a new home for ourselves, but that world, Genesis, has human inhabitants on it already that will fight to prevent people from Earth from ruining a second planet. Noemi is a soldier for Genesis, and when she finds a super advanced mech named Abel, from Earth, she hatches a plan to stop the war even though it will probably kill Abel and herself. 

      I found Defy the Stars to be very emotionally engaging and well developed. Noemi and Abel were not shallow characters and their romance was subtle, but that just made it feel even more real. Both Noemi and Abel are incredibly selfless characters and they both approach life in a deterministic manner. The story was strong plot wise, but it was fairly weak at making the readers care for the cause of Genesis and therefore the cause of the main character of the story, Noemi. What readers are led to care for is the relationship between Noemi and Abel. Abel was such a well rounded and developed character, he made the story just infinitely better. There were many distinct moments in the novel that showed growth on a large proportion for Abel's character. Overall, I really enjoyed Defy the Stars and give it the rating of FOUR AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE!!!

*Advanced Readers Copy Review*