Defy the Sun - A World-Building Phenomenon
*This Review Contains Spoilers*
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Three out of Five Stars
*Disclaimer: Back in October, I received the Advanced Readers Edition from Fleck. She told me some of the content within the story was going to be edited. Therefore, if anything within my review sounds off, it simply has to do I read an Advanced Reader Edition.*
Defy the Sun is the second and final book in the duology called the Offering Series. If you have not read my previous review, I highly recommend reading the summary because the duology picks up right where the first novel, Beware the Night, ends.
After the fight at the end of the first novel, Veda is imprisoned and Nico is taken to the lower by Doiran in order to convince him to join the Night. Eventually, Veda escapes prison with the help of a prison guard and Nico simultaneously apologizes to the High Regent in order to find Veda and discover more secrets he could possibly use to have members join the Night instead of the Imperi.
After quite a while, Nico finds out most of the Offerings occurring are executions the High Regent is trying to hide in order not to appear as a cruel and oppressive ruler. Veda's father, the Sindaco, creates a weapon that causes a volcano on Bellona to erupt. Veda, who has been in contact with Nico, leads the entire Night onto the island in order to save them. Nico and Veda then meet up and reveal the truth and the island of Bellona is at peace once again.
Reading this entire series would have taken less than a week if I had not taken a break. I felt Beware the Night and Defy the Sun could have been only one novel. They are both about three hundred pages long, so there is not a reason why they could not be merged together.
Also, in this book, I feel the characters were still very bland. They do not seem to have any overall growth. Correct, they lost people along the way, but none of the "round" characters, I should say, did not gain anything mentally. Some of the characters I did not feel needed to be included in the story. For example, Imi and Salazar did not need to be added to the story. I only felt they were just there and not making an overall impact on the plot of the story.
I feel I should also address the Dorian, Nico, and Veda love triangle. For the entire time, I knew Veda was going to choose Nico simply because it was predictable. She's known him longer and Dorian, at the time, had worked with her and father. In most dystopian novels, most of which I feel need to cut off on the love triangle, I wish characters of the opposite gender would just be friends. In real life, people do not go around creating love triangles.
The last complaint I have is how predictable this book was. Beware the Night included twists and turns in every chapter. Veda is going to lead a revolution? Poppy is going to die? The Sindaco is Veda's father! I feel unpredictable events that do not create any plot work to make a fun, interesting book. Not that Defy the Sun was not interesting, I feel it needed to be more unpredictable.
Although I have my fair share of complaints, the world-building in this novel was still phenomenal. I still continue to love how this made-up world works and how the characters interact with each other. It's understandable that does not compare to the complaints I had. However, these two huge assets to the story are what made we still enjoy it.
I rated this book three stars because it was simply an average book. Also, Beware the Night was better, so I felt this novel deserved a lower rating.
- Read More Book Reviews and Follow my Goodreads Account: Maggie Rhoads -
- Read More Book Reviews and Follow my Goodreads Account: Maggie Rhoads -
Three out of Five Stars
*Disclaimer: Back in October, I received the Advanced Readers Edition from Fleck. She told me some of the content within the story was going to be edited. Therefore, if anything within my review sounds off, it simply has to do I read an Advanced Reader Edition.*
Defy the Sun is the second and final book in the duology called the Offering Series. If you have not read my previous review, I highly recommend reading the summary because the duology picks up right where the first novel, Beware the Night, ends.
After the fight at the end of the first novel, Veda is imprisoned and Nico is taken to the lower by Doiran in order to convince him to join the Night. Eventually, Veda escapes prison with the help of a prison guard and Nico simultaneously apologizes to the High Regent in order to find Veda and discover more secrets he could possibly use to have members join the Night instead of the Imperi.
After quite a while, Nico finds out most of the Offerings occurring are executions the High Regent is trying to hide in order not to appear as a cruel and oppressive ruler. Veda's father, the Sindaco, creates a weapon that causes a volcano on Bellona to erupt. Veda, who has been in contact with Nico, leads the entire Night onto the island in order to save them. Nico and Veda then meet up and reveal the truth and the island of Bellona is at peace once again.
Reading this entire series would have taken less than a week if I had not taken a break. I felt Beware the Night and Defy the Sun could have been only one novel. They are both about three hundred pages long, so there is not a reason why they could not be merged together.
Also, in this book, I feel the characters were still very bland. They do not seem to have any overall growth. Correct, they lost people along the way, but none of the "round" characters, I should say, did not gain anything mentally. Some of the characters I did not feel needed to be included in the story. For example, Imi and Salazar did not need to be added to the story. I only felt they were just there and not making an overall impact on the plot of the story.
I feel I should also address the Dorian, Nico, and Veda love triangle. For the entire time, I knew Veda was going to choose Nico simply because it was predictable. She's known him longer and Dorian, at the time, had worked with her and father. In most dystopian novels, most of which I feel need to cut off on the love triangle, I wish characters of the opposite gender would just be friends. In real life, people do not go around creating love triangles.
The last complaint I have is how predictable this book was. Beware the Night included twists and turns in every chapter. Veda is going to lead a revolution? Poppy is going to die? The Sindaco is Veda's father! I feel unpredictable events that do not create any plot work to make a fun, interesting book. Not that Defy the Sun was not interesting, I feel it needed to be more unpredictable.
Although I have my fair share of complaints, the world-building in this novel was still phenomenal. I still continue to love how this made-up world works and how the characters interact with each other. It's understandable that does not compare to the complaints I had. However, these two huge assets to the story are what made we still enjoy it.
I rated this book three stars because it was simply an average book. Also, Beware the Night was better, so I felt this novel deserved a lower rating.
- Read More Book Reviews and Follow my Goodreads Account: Maggie Rhoads -
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