Audio Review: Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray
Narrator: Nate Begle, Kasey Lee Huizinga
Series: Constellation #1
Published by Hachette Audio on 2017-04-04
Age Range: 15+
Length: 512 pages
Length: 11 hours and 21 minutes
Listening Speed: 2.25x
Reviewing Audiobook, eBook from Library
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2025 Audiobook Challenge, 2025 Beat the Backlist, 2025 Library Love

From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Lost Stars and Bloodline comes a thrilling sci-fi adventure that Kass Morgan, bestselling author of The 100 series, calls "startlingly original and achingly romantic...nothing short of masterful."

She's a soldier--Noemi Vidal is willing to risk anything to protect her planet, Genesis, including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she's a rebel.

He's a machine--Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel's advanced programming has begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he's an abomination.

Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they're not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they're forced to question everything they'd been taught was true.

An epic and romantic adventure, perfect for fans of The Lunar Chronicles and Illuminae.

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray is the first in a YA sci-fi about an android and young woman fighting two sides of the same war. For me, this was a reread. I loved it this time around as much as the first. You can see my original review by clicking here. A combination of sci-fi, dystopia, and even a little romance make it a favorite for me. The book opens during a space battle and the action never slows. It hooked me from the first page and I didn’t want it to end. Plus it’s duel POV in limited 3rd person…..AMAZING!!!!

The premise of the book is pretty cool. Earth was apparently dying so they settled several planets by going through a worm hole to do so. Only one of those planets is identical (or as close as it can be) to Earth….Genesis. Genesis is everything Earth should have been. They believe in relying on nature as much as possible so as not to pollute or corrupt their world. Genesis is fighting for their independence from Earth. This civil war has been raging for a while at the opening of the book. It reminds me of a cross between Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars. Y’all it’s epic 😀

Noemi is young, but fierce. I love her and her dedication to her world. She believes in what she is fighting for and even volunteers to be a part of a suicide mission to disable the Genesis Gate, the wormhole that makes travel to her world possible. However, the mission goes awry, and she winds up finding Abel and taking a trip through the galaxies instead.

Abel is an oddity. He’s a mech, but not just any mech. He’s the original mech, the A version, the first. He was supposed to be rumor, but Noemi finds him alone, trapped on a disabled space ship where he has been for decades. The solitary confinement has caused Abel to evolve. Abel is kind, he’s thoughtful, his brain has no filter which makes for several humorous miscommunications between him and Noemi. But most importantly for Noemi, he seems to have a soul. It’s hard to think of him as less than human, even if he is. The author has written his character so well…he even bleeds.

I love the relationship that builds between them. Abel is sweet and a little naive, while Noemi is bitter about the future she has set for herself. She wants to live, she wants to have a life, but she is doomed to die to save her world. It’s kind of heartbreaking her determination and willingness to sacrifice herself.

In addition to their relationship, the world-building is phenomenal. It’s everything I love about sci-fi in a young adult package. There are space battles, mechs that resemble cylons and multiple worlds to explore. Each world is detailed and unique so you don’t get confused about where they are. Like Noemi, I want to be selfish and explore them all.

Overall I really enjoyed . While the pace in the beginning was kind of slow, it does a 180 about halfway through, and I couldn’t read it fast enough. Beautifully written! Now that I’ve reread it, I’m ready to move on to book two of the trilogy. If you are a fan of sci-fi, adventure, and a little romance, I highly recommend it.

Audiobook Note: I opted to listen for this reread, and I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed both narrators. The narrator for Abel conveys his otherness well, even showing how he develops emotions overtime through subtle inflections in his tone. Highly recommend this format.

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