Defiance was a bit addictive in a strange way. There were things I loved, and things I didn’t like so much. I’m a bit on the fence about it…but at the same time, I know I’ll continue on with this story because I want to know what happens next. I turned the pages easily since the action was there. The switching of different views between Logan and Rachel didn’t bother me. In fact, I think it helped me understand them both a bit better as characters as the story progressed. I didn’t particularly like Logan’s view sometimes though. He was always overanalyzing with best case-worst case scenarios, and this often annoyed me. When it came to the world building, I was slightly confused in the beginning. I had been led to believe this was a dystopian, a future earth, but I felt this was more of a fantasy instead. I don’t know why I thought it wasn’t fantasy in the first place. There wasn’t much background and I would have liked more insight into how some things happened. The detail and imagery were there. The writing was solid. But something was lacking that I can’t quite place my finger on. I also would have liked to know more about the customs of their world, which I felt was touched on so minimally, but that’s alright. Maybe I’m just being too picky here. What I really enjoyed was the integration of old and new. It seemed medieval at times, but mixed some interesting technology throughout. Oliver came across as a character that everyone could like--the grandfather type--and Rachel is a tough, and sometimes reckless, heroine. Hey, and she's redhead, so bonus points from me. I also loved the building tension of being confined within the walls of a city because of an underground dragon-like creature. And there’s tree people. I would have liked to learn so much more about things and people in this book, but I felt it was a little short. I couldn’t quite get interested in the romance--mostly because it started right from the beginning and seemed awkward through the entire story up until the end, but I can see where other readers will be swooning and rooting over this couple. Defiance is certainly an entertaining read. I know I’ll read the next. 3.5 stars.
