A fun, suspenseful and thrilling sequel - this has all the things I love about sci-fi books: a good adventure, a tense plot, and high stakes. I really enjoy Claudia Gray as a writer, and I think with every book her writing continues to grow.

I requested this not realising at the time it was a sequel and I still have not managed to read the first book therefore I feel it is unfair to leave it hanging and will review when I eventually read the series.

"Always sacrifice. Always duty. Always resignation. For a planet at war, Noemi sometimes thinks, Genesis seems to have forgotten how to fight"

* * *
3 / 5

Defy the Worlds picks up from where Defy the Stars left off: Noemi Vidal returns to her world of Genesis, and rogue robot Abel has escaped the clutches of his creator Burton Mansfield and is on the run. They’ve said their heartfelt farewells, but the universe isn’t done with the two of them yet!

"The freedom to choose is the freedom to fail"

Noemi convinces the council to allow her to leave Genesis when a plague is weaponised against her people. She seeks a cure, but Mansfield wants his robot back and this is all some sort of evil dastardly plan to get Abel back, and Noemi is captured as bait. An epic chase ensues, complete with a starship voyage for the ultra rich, a creepy ass child, and the continuation of the romance that totally weirded me out in the first book.

Defy the Worlds is definitely more of an “Abel book”, which I found a shame since I definitely have a strong preference for Noemi as a character. But I definitely think some readers will love this focus on Abel: his growth beyond the robot that thoughtlessly obeyed his creator and his Directive One, his unceasing loyalty, and his pursuit of Noemi across the galaxies.

I loved the drama of the book and its scope. I loved the extravagance of everything, the craziness of the plots from ransoms to plagues to elaborate cons of rich people. But Defy the Worlds just didn’t wow me as much as Defy the Stars, and it is hard for me to put my finger on quite why. Part of it is just that I’m not a fan of the romance, and a love of the romance is, perhaps, required to appreciate the book when the action lulls.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of Defy the Worlds

Love Claudia Gray and loved this book. Fans of YA dystopian fiction will love this book and it is prefect for fans of the divergent universe. The writing, world building and characters are so compelling that you will not be able to put it down

Unevenly paced in parts perhaps with a few too many plot tangles but overall this is intelligent, action packed sci-fi with great characters. Essential for fans of first & set for more

A thrilling journey with Abel and Naomi- one that will leave you shocked, excited and questioning what's next. A thoroughly engaging tale, which was pleasure to read. This is a series I would recommend for young teens.

I adored the first book in the series; Defy the Stars and the wait for the second book felt like forever.
Excuse my vagueness but I don't want to give anything away for people who haven't read book one.
I love how this book is equally (possibly more) heavy with the sci-fi as book one but written in such a way that it is so easy to follow and understand.
Usually, I hate romance getting in the way of my sci-fi and action but I do make an exception for Abel. He is so precious, and I am unhealthily over emotionally invested in him.
For me this book was equally as strong as the first and the series as a whole is a solid YA (romantic) sci-fi!!

Defy the worlds

Yes hello again I have another space book to review yes hello.

Needless to say, don’t read this review if you haven’t read Defy the Stars, which I reviewed earlier here. I’ll keep this spoiler free for those who haven’t read it yet though.

Defy the Worlds follows on a while after the events of Defy the Stars. Noemi is back on genesis, Abel has flown away forever more (yeah right), even if he believes it’s the last time he’ll see her, we know that’s not true right?

Noemi is an outcast, she no longer belongs anywhere. Having left genesis she doesn’t fit in.

I was so excited that this installment has VIRUSES! I mean it was great news for me, but not so much for the characters. We’d been introduced to a couple of spacey illnesses in the last one but it was ramped up on this installment!

Structure

Much the same as defy the stars, defy the worlds is a dual POV told from Abel and Noemi POV, though this time they’re not in the same place. We learn more about how the different mechs came to be and more about their creator, Burton Mansfield, himself. Again, I don’t want to spoil so I won’t.

It’s fast paced and a literal race against time, with the goal posts constantly moving every time they get close to the finish line. We see some returning favourites too which made me super happy! The world building was just as good as the first and again I was drawn in and literally couldn’t put the book down!

Characters

Both characters are faced with some difficult choices in this novel, and some of the time they don’t quite have choices to make.

Seeing Abel without Noemi really shows his development as a person, even though he technically isn’t one. I really loved the way he changed, and also learning more about the limitations of his not human body.

Noemi is ostracised by her people and surrounded by death. She has the fate of her whole planet on her shoulders and the strain shows, which I really enjoyed. She has a lot to contend with and doesn’t always make the right choices.

5 Stars!

I really liked the first book in this series and as a follow on Defy the Worlds didn’t disappoint.
Filled with action, mechanics, politics and romance I really like where the narrative needed up. It was also nice to see all the old characters come back into this one as well as Niomi thinking through her feelings for Abel. That ending was good as well and makes me want the next book like NOW!

As a sequel to Defy the Stars, Defy the Worlds does not disappoint. It has more of everything I loved about the first book including wonderful character development, gripping action, and layered discussions about morality and humanity. It also may have ripped my heart to shreds.

The book opens with Noemi and Abel on separate planets. Noemi is trying to get back to her life, and defend her planet, but now she is facing the backlash of her actions in the first book. Nobody trusts her because of her time spent with Abel, an artificial intelligence, viewed as nothing more than an object to the people of Genesis, who are against such technology.  If I was worried about having forgotten too much to read this, I shouldn't have been. It all came rushing back as I read the first few chapters, and I was soon just as invested as I was when I finished the first book last year.

I adore the two main characters, and the relationship that they have. I really like that they don't always see eye to eye due to their very different backgrounds, but they listen to and try to understand where each other is coming from. Their interactions are some of the most interesting, and touching that I've read, I just love them so much. 

Much like in the first book, the stakes are high, and I found this kept me gripped for the whole book. The pacing is fast, with so much going on, without feeling rushed, and there is still time woven in for those amazing character moments. This book never felt predictable, with regular plot twists keeping me on the edge of my seat the entire time. 

The world was really well-developed in the first book, and that only continues in this instalment, with interesting discussion surrounding religion, science as well as morality, and what it right. These moments were among my favourite, partially because they really made the world feel real to me, and partially because they were so interesting, with some arguments not having a clear right solution. 

Overall I loved this book, it more than lived up to the first book, which I also loved, and made me equally excited and desperate for the third book, which I know must be in the works because this book ended on a cliffhanger. There's no sign of second book slump here, I can't recommend it enough!

I would firstly like to thank Reader's First, Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

This book is the second installment following on from 'Defy the Stars'. When a deadly plague arrives on Genesis, Noemi gets her chance to fly through the stars again: if only she wasn't heading right into a trap. Half a galaxy away, Abel knows he must save Noemi, even if it means risking his own life. Together they will discover a secret that could save Genesis and Earth... or destroy them all.

I absolutely loved the first book so I was so excited to read this one and I was not disappointed. Even though there was a few technical/science aspects to the book that I didn't fully understand, this in no way stopped me from enjoying the book. I practically read the whole thing in one seating and found it immensely difficult to put it down! The fact that it's very different to anything that I normally read, adds to the enjoyment.

The story jumps to straight into the action and the suspenseful atmosphere that immediately grips you in. Even though the story starts off with Noemi and Abel being apart, we read the story from both perspectives and both are equally as compelling and amazingly written. Both of the characters are loveable and you can feel the need that they have to be with each other coming off the pages - as well as the hope that I had as a reader that they will soon be reunited. Their chemistry and story are flawless.

This book delivers the perfect balance of romance, sci-fi, a strong female lead, robots, action, travel, friendship, and heroism. Very much looking forward to the next book!

I feel like the first book in this planned trilogy, Defy the Stars, is so under-rated. If you didn't like Gray's Evernight series don't let that put you off these books. They are diverse, action packed reads with root worthy characters.

I'm going to be honest and admit that it took me a second to get back into the world. The reason why is because I wasn't expecting the two main characters, Abel and Noemi, to be spending the first half of the book apart. What made book one so interesting was Noemi and Abel's adventure together. However, I was determined not to DNF it because I loved book one so much, and in the end I'm so glad I did. My initial struggle to get back into the world didn't last too long, after about 5% Noemi and Abel's separate story arcs took off. I got sucked right back in, and was eagerly waiting for them to reunite. As with the first book there's diversity, religion, and philosophical pondering which I enjoyed.

The relationship between Abel and Noemi is literally the definition of a slow burn romance. There's no rush to say the L world, instead Gray's takes time exploring their feelings for one another. I always prefer when there's a build up of tension, and hints of thing to come in book one of a series. Then in book 2 you see it come to fruition like yesss!

The ending was shocking! I didn't see it coming and it makes me wonder what direction the conclusion will take.

If you know me, you know that I have been a fan of Claudia Gray since I read her Evernight series back in my tween years, and so, I was understandably super excited when I got sent a copy of her latest novel, Defy the Worlds. This book is the sequel to her science-fiction novel, Defy the Stars, and I am happy to report that – just like always – Gray did not disappoint.

Continuing on with the aftermath of the first book in the series, Defy the Worlds, explores the story in a new, exciting way, yet still retains the persistent threat that we were introduced to in the first novel. Overall, I think that this was done in a fantastic manner – not only was the progression of the story completely logical given what we had already read, but Gray also put a fresh spin on things. The new conflict that arises at the very beginning of the story, however, remains my favorite – I think that Gray escalated things fantastically, and no spoilers, but things get intense.

THAT ENDING AS WELL – no spoilers, but I was taken completely by surprise.

The characters are also developed nicely in this story, and personally, I felt like it was all dealt with in a very logical way. A big pet-peeve of mine is when the author has the characters do something completely illogical to their nature in order to create tension, but I am happy to report that this was not the case at all. Both Abel and Noemi acted in ways I felt made sense to their personalities, at the same time, there is no way you could categorize them as stagnant or one-dimensional characters. They both had super strong and dynamic character arcs. And now sorry as this is a tiny bit of a SPOILER so you have been warned, but I really loved how Abel’s Directive One came back into play.

Overall, the second book in this series was phenomenal, I cannot recommend it enough, Gray is a writer in her prime… yeah, I loved it!

I read Defy the Worlds fairly close to the first book, Defy the Stars, and I think that was a good decision. This way it was easier to remember the differing planets. I am a little conflicted on this book. There isn’t anything that I particularly disliked and I can pinpoint exactly what I do like but I am still left with a small feeling of being dissatisfied.

The book starts us off about six months after the ending of Defy the Stars. Abel is trying to continue on with life as a vagabond with his ship now called Persephone while Noemi is struggling to settle back into her life at Genesis as her fellow cadets shun her. Then Genesis is under attack and hit by a modified version of Cobweb. Noemi is send out to Earth to surrender and heads straight into a trap. This is the start of a chase for Abel to get Noemi back to safety.

The start of this book is rather on the slow slide. Abel going after Noemi and Noemi in captivity show a lot of inner monologue and leave room for little action on both accounts. It isn’t until Abel catches up with the group that some speed starts to hit the story, well around the 50% mark, and I found it hard to put the book down. There is more interaction between characters coming into the series at this point that matter. There is also quite a bit more action that comes into the plot, a plot that has then moved beyond just Noemi and Abel.
I wasn’t sure where the title Defy the Worlds was coming in at first but it started showing in the second half of the book where a rebellion is mounting towards Earth by more than just Remedy and Genesis. I did think getting everyone aboard with the plan was a little too easy and some things perhaps weren’t thought that well through. But they were little bits.

Romance wise I was quite pleased with this book. It builds on from the first book where Abel basically confessed his love for Noemi who at that point did not feel the same way. But as time has passed and they miss each other, and then find each other once more there are clearly more feelings there coming from Noemi too. This isn’t jumped into the I love you too but more of the I am open to this. And yes there are some smooches. I feel that it was very in line with how things were developed in the first book and it didn’t take away from the overall story line. Their reunion doesn’t entirely go without a hitch either as there are a few things they disagree with one another with, even morality wise. But they talk these things out and it doesn’t get away of what they have to do. No big drama. Such a breath of fresh air in that regard.

I think what bothers me about this book is that I had the expectation that this was going to be a duology. But as we hit the last 30% of the book it was clear that there was still too much to wrap up for this to be the end. There is going to be at least one more book. That cliffhanger confirmed it. And speaking of that cliffhanger, I think I am also hesitant about the direction this cliffhanger is taking us. It didn’t entirely feel as Abel and I’m not sure how to feel about that.

Special mention to Virginia who is a beam of light that shines throughout these books.

Rating: 2.5 stars

My thoughts:
I have to say I was a little bit disappointed by this book. I loved Defy the Stars, which may have set me up with very high expectations for the sequel. The plot line was definitely great - it's an exciting story that's impossible to predict. The writing is also really wonderful, and you can almost imagine you're there with the characters.

My real problems were with the worldbuilding and the characters. The worldbuilding in book 1 is imcredible - five different worlds, all with unique characteristics and cultures and people, and an incredibly detailed system of traveling between them (the Loop). That was one of my favourite aspects of Defy the Stars, and there just wasn't that much of it in Defy the Worlds. We barely see any of the planets in the Loop except for Genesis, and it's not a detailed look at where Noemi comes from. It just sounds like a cleaner version of Earth. There is the introduction of a new planet in this book, but again, there is a disappointing lack of information about it, and I didn't get a clear picture of it at all.

As for the characters, I feel like none of them experienced much growth in this book. I thought the relationship between Noemi and Abel was nice and well-paced in the first book, but I didn't feel the same about this one. I also feel a little bit uncomfortable about the fact that he's a 30+ year old mechanical person and she's a human teenager (which was something that I mentioned in my Defy the Stars review too). It just left a bit of a weird taste in my mouth, if I'm honest. Some of the minor characters, like Virginia and Zayan, are far more interesting than Noemi and Abel, but they barely get a mention in this book.

The pacing in this book was also a little bit off. The first half of the book is quite slow, and then it takes off suddenly and races towards the end. I felt that too many pages were given to certain scenes, while other scenes were completely rushed. This was particularly true of the last 50 or so pages - it felt like the beginning of a whole new story arc. Combine this with the fact that I'm still not sure if this is the last book or if there's another one after it, and I'm just very confused.

The final problem I couldn't get past was the redemption arc that is given to the terrorist group Remedy. I felt this way about the first book too, and this second book features a lot of intricacies about colonialism and indigenous people that I'm not qualified to comment on. However, the fact that the terrorists are pretty much forgiven at the end of the book just felt very wrong to me.

Overall this book has a decent storyline and a lot of interesting points, but it doesn't live up to the first book in the series at all and it has a number of glaring problems that I can't overlook.

The book starts with Noemi being even more detached from her peers after the Abel situation. Things change when strange objects come through the Gate from Earth which bring a familiar virus and endanger Genesis as a whole.

Gray continues to be a master of sci-fi, with no cumbersome long-winded technical jargon or things appearing without explanation. This is sci-fi even non regular fans can enjoy. She masterfully writes characters that worm into your heart. Carrying the good from previous installment into the sequel, but still giving us a worthwhile story that can stand on its own. The kidnapping is smart, for it would be the only way Mansfield could manipulate Abel now. Actually the whole narrative is intelligently fleshed out.

I love how the author presents Abel dealing with his "humanness".

Questions arise, like how far should technology go, especially in the AI department. How fare should we go to save our own skin? And how far is too far? Also can violence ever be justified in the pursuit of freedom, a query mentioned in the book itself.

Dragging a little during the Osiris misadventure (close to the middle) until the reunion, this is still a highly cinematic space adventure with protagonists you wish to be together. With and ending full of hope, my hope is that there will be a 3rd book.

I really enjoyed this follow up to Defy the Stars, this has everything I enjoy from sci-fi books fast pace, action, and lots of romantic. The writing is great and I love the two main characters, I would highly recommend.

I'll start by saying that I find this story really interesting. I enjoyed seeing different point of views on various subjects considering religion and how various characters felt about mechs and them having a soul.

However, I found the story to be really slow. And even though things were happening, I wasn't feeling the action or the emotions. Speaking of emotions - I mentioned this in the first book as well - but I could not feel the connection between Abel and Noemi. I think the 3rd person in which the author wrote the book doesn't help the readers to connect with the characters...

The ending left me very thoughtful and puzzled I guess. I think I wanted things to turn out differently, so I didn't know how to feel with that particular way the story ended...

Thanks to netgalley, I was able to read this straight after ‘Defy the Stars’ and my gosh. I was so glad that I did. I was so invested in this world so I didn’t want to put either book down. So I grabbed this one as soon as I could. The series evolves into something that was incredible. Expanding on the characters and the world building is something that every second book should strive to do. And I’m so pleased it did. It brought everything to life again. Noemi and Abel are just the cutest and are so adorable so when they joined back together again, I was so so so happy. And that ending though. Leaves me wanting so much more. Can’t wait to pick up the next book.

3 out of 5 stars.

Deep breath.

“Six months after Noemi’s departure, Abel still has to consciously steer his thoughts to other topics daily. Maybe human love is different. Maybe it’s weak, as variable as the weather and so as emphemeral as a breeze. Abel’s love is not.”

DEFY THE WORLDS jumped literally into action with this sequel with the pacing, writing and characterisation that fulfilled my desire for more from this trilogy. Noemi and Abel were left on different sides of the gate but their stories were compelling and at times in parallel. Both these two were challenged by prejudice for different and yet similar reasons, not fitting in and yet rising above their peers for all the best reasons.

Mansfield and his chilling daughter I thought were a great evil component until I met ‘Chucky’, who absolutely gave me the heebie geebies in every way. There were some skilful plot devices and I find I’m here for the baddies created in Claudia Gray’s mind.

Abel was the character that stole my attention however, ever evolving, loyal beyond Direction One and with one intention. He was the mech and man of integrity for me.

“As he understands it, love is not transactional; it is a thing freely given. The joy is in the giving.”

Noemi was not as constant, her loyalty to Genesis superseded often but I do believe that Noemi was on a grander journey of self and I’ve enjoying observing her, whether she was all action or occasional contemplation.

The grand plot takes you beyond what you know from DEFY THE STARS and so the story opened up even more; concentration is needed. I found some pacing issues in the latter half but I remained engaged. I cannot speak to where I am left other than I need the next part of this story, so very much.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

Reviewed for Jo&IsaLoveBooks Blog.