Thank you Bloomsbury USA Children's Books for sending me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
Two Second Review
★★★☆☆ // 3 s t a r s
In the most basic sense, Defy the Night is a fantasy novel with key plot points surrounding politics (court drama, mostly, but also sector-sector "infighting"/issues) and romance.
The Book
Trigger Warnings: death
Release Date: September 14th 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Genre(s): YA, Fantasy, Romance
Series?: yes, this is book #1
Page Count: 496
Premise:
The kingdom of Kandala is on the brink of disaster. Rifts between sectors have only worsened since a sickness began ravaging the land, and within the Royal Palace, the king holds a tenuous peace with a ruthless hand.
King Harristan was thrust into power after his parents' shocking assassination, leaving the younger Prince Corrick to take on the brutal role of the King's Justice. The brothers have learned to react mercilessly to any sign of rebellion—it's the only way to maintain order when the sickness can strike anywhere, and the only known cure, an elixir made from delicate Moonflower petals, is severely limited.
Out in the Wilds, apothecary apprentice Tessa Cade is tired of seeing her neighbors die, their suffering ignored by the unyielding royals. Every night, she and her best friend Wes risk their lives to steal Moonflower petals and distribute the elixir to those who need it most—but it's still not enough.
As rumors spread that the cure no longer works and sparks of rebellion begin to flare, a particularly cruel act from the King's Justice makes Tessa desperate enough to try the impossible: sneaking into the palace. But what she finds upon her arrival makes her wonder if it's even possible to fix Kandala without destroying it first.
Review
I know when I started this book I was expecting an average fantasy that would revolve around the outlaw aspect than anything remotely political. Most fantasy books' main character who happens to be royal usually hates their family/hates being royal. But, in Defy the Night, we get Corrick, the king's justice and also the king's brother; and they don't hate each other. They're actually pretty adorable (sibling relationship in books supremacy).
Defy the Night follows our female MC, Tessa Cade, a would-be apothecary, as she (along with her friend, Wes) distribute stolen Moonflower petals among the poor in order to help ward off a deadly sickness that has been ravaging the populace of the Kingdom of Kandala. From the second, Corrick's (the king's justice), point-of-view, we read through the political drama that is occurring regarding the sickness and the cure. However, after a brutal act committed by the king's justice, Tessa sneaks into the palace (to do what? she doesn't know), but uncovers things she definitely wasn't ready to find.
Okay, review time. The "big" plot twist. I mean, let's be real…Once people start reading this, they're gonna see it immediately. I actually thought for a moment we'd be tricked twice, double-fake-out type beat, but no. That's YA for you, I suppose. Kingdom of the Generic and Overused Tropes™.
The characters. All I have to say about them is: meh. We have Corrick, the morally gray prince and Tessa, the sympathetic commoner. We've met them before in about eight thousand other books, but I'm not totally faulting the author because I guess character traits run out at one point or other. I honestly might've liked this book about thirty times more if the gender roles were swapped, like I would love a girl to be the executioner of sorts and the guy to be the nice one. There are books like that, I'm not denying, but there also would have been a lot more problems that could've have been placed if Corrick had been a girl (misogyny basically). Anyway, I'm not here to rewrite the book, moving on.
The romance. Also, meh. Probably because it was so in-your-face the whole time and I kind of don't love romance that much. Also, because I kept comparing this to A Curse So Dark and Lonely which is honestly such an amazing book, that this just didn't live up in many different aspects.
What I loved about the book, however, was the politics. There's never enough political intrigue in fantasy (I think), it's always so one-note, and this really was like "lemme take that to the next level." That was probably the big reason why I didn't rate this a 2 instead of 3 stars. Also, this book was weirdly socially-relevant, and I know this wasn't written during COVID or based on it, but it totally crazy how we can actually relate to these fantasy worlds in one way or other. Imagine if the cure for COVID was a literal flower, like please.
❝ 'Lord, Tessa. Don't you understand? I'm not afraid for me. I'm afraid
for you.' ❞
In short, Defy the Night is a pretty intriguing fantasy novel that is much better when you think about the politics that are incorporated over the heaps of romance.
Tropes…
— confused enemies to lovers (more like one-sided hate to love)
— brothers (bc we don't get nearly enough family in books)
— rebels/outlaws
— kissing (enough that you don't have to search the word "kiss" before starting because you know it's coming soon enough)
Read…If You Liked…
The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson (the third book is fairly political if you're looking for that)
Kingdom of the Wicked Kerri Maniscalco (i'm not gonna fall in love with you, but i accidently did)
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim (siblings >>>)
Watch…If You Liked…
ADD DEFY THE NIGHT TO YOUR GOODREADS SHELF
random q to drop comments <3
What's a hyped up book that you think didn't live up?
(not that sorry to say, but Shatter Me takes the heat
for me…i honestly thought it was pretty darn bad)
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