Review: Defy the Fates by Claudia Gray

Posted May 9, 2025 by Lillian in Reviews / 1 Comment

Review: Defy the Fates by Claudia GrayDefy the Fates by Claudia Gray
Series: Constellation #3
on 2019-04-02
Age Range: 14+
Length: 480 pages
Reviewing Kindle from Library
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2025 Beat the Backlist, 2025 Library Love

The stunning finale to the Defy the Stars trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Lost Stars and Bloodline.

Hunted and desperate.

Abel only has one mission left that matters: save the life of Noemi Vidal. To do that, he not only has to escape the Genesis authorities, he also must face the one person in the galaxy who still has the means to destroy him. Burton Mansfield's consciousness lives on, desperate for a home, and Abel's own body is his last bargaining chip.

Alone in the universe.

Brought back from the brink of death, Noemi Vidal finds Abel has not only saved her life, but he's made her into something else, something more. Not quite mech, yet not quite human any longer, Noemi must find her place in a universe where she is utterly unique, all while trying to create a world where anyone--even a mech--can be free.

The final battle between Earth and the colony planets is here, and there's no lengths to which Earth won't go to preserve its domination over all humanity. But together, the universe's most advanced mech and its first human-mech hybrid might have the power to change the galaxy for good.

Defy the Fates by Claudia Gray is the conclusion to the series Constellation, which follows two unlikely allies fighting for a better world. If you have not read the previous books in the series, there may be minor spoilers to them ahead. Read at your own risk. This book picks up right where Defy the Worlds left off. Abel has one directive: save Noemi Vidal. To do that, he must first escape Genesis airspace and return to the only person he knows can help, Burton Mansfield’s daughter. The cost of saving her is his life.

Defy the Worlds left us dangling on the edge of cliff unsure if Noemi would live or die, but as the main character we all knew should would live, right 😅 Noemi awakes to find that she is no longer fully human nor is she fully mech. She is something new. Noemi’s super strong and fast, like a mech, and her brain works in overtime giving her information she didn’t ask for. As she continues to adjust, she realizes something is wrong. Not just with her mech brain, but other mechs as well. They are breaking down across the galaxy.

While I enjoyed parts of this story, I also found it quite repetitive. Both Abel and Noemi are determined to die for one another and try to do so again. The worlds are at war again. Mansfield has somehow come back again. Lots of repetition without a lot of movement to the story. While I appreciated returning to the world Gray created, I felt the series could have been wrapped up as a duology, especially with all the repetition.

Overall, Defy the Fates was an okay read for me. If not for the cliffhanger in book two, I’m not sure I would have finished the series. It had all the elements I love in a sci-fi (space battles, technology, political intrigue), but the story was drawn out and repetitive. If you are a fan of YA, sci-fi, or enjoyed the series, I do recommend reading as you may enjoy it more than I did.

About Claudia Gray

Claudia Gray is not my real name. I didn't choose a pseudonym because my real name is unpleasant (it isn't), because I'd always dreamed of calling myself this (I haven't) or even because I'm hiding from the remnants of that international diamond-smuggling cartel I smashed in 2003 (Interpol has taken care of them). In short, I took a pseudonym for no real reason whatsoever. Sometimes this is actually the best reason to do things.

I live in New Orleans. So far, in life, I've been a disc jockey, a lawyer, a journalist and an extremely bad waitress, just to name a few. I especially like to spend time traveling, hiking, reading and listening to music. More than anything else, I enjoy writing.

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