Defy

by K.M. Gallagher

Sixteen-year-old Karen (aka K-9735) lives in the dystopian society of the Conurbation, just months before her mind is searched and she is revealed for what she truly a Defect, a threat to society.She escapes just in time to find herself in the presence of the most dangerous criminals in the the Murder of Crows.

202 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2018

About the author

i'm not active on here (and have not been since 2016, when i was 11 lmao), but you can find me on Instagram and Twitter @so_many_ocs

Reviews

[Nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a bit nervous to go into a book published by a fourteen/fifteen year old. I like to be supportive of indie authors and if their books are bad I never quite know what to do. Fortunately, Kayleigh crafted a story here that I enjoyed a lot and would recommend to anyone who likes sci-fi adventures.

This story follows a girl who's trying to escape from her structured society. She ends up with a group of rebels and her life is changed. I'm excited to move on to book two. I think that the limitations of the world were not explored fully in this book so I hope we see more of that in book two. The ending was fantastic. I'm glad book two is sitting in my kindle because I wouldn't be able to wait for a long time.

This story definitely has its flaws but I think readers can overlook them and just have fun. I, for one, thought this was wildly entertaining.

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book.
The blurb sounded interesting and the characters looked promising. But, after the first few pages I realized that I had to shut down my hopes. The prologue, as well as the first 3 chapters cover almost pure info-dump, as well as a summary of the history of the world. That's not how you do World-Building. Besides, I do not need 80% of the given information. Like at all. I do not need to know what kind of school types exist and how many children you can have each year.
However, what I really wanted to know was: Why the fuck would a normal person follow these senseless and absurd rules? Also, why is nobody contaminated? How did humanity not extinct? The gene pool is so low, everyone would have to be related to everyone at this point, causing some serious health problems. The government kills a lot of people, which also isn't helping.
We are in a post-apocalyptic setting. Why does it feel like the author is ignoring this fact? There was a world war that destroyed the whole world, killing almost every living beeing on it. Which means the world is in ruins, which also means, that probably every doctor or scientist is dead. You do not just build technology from scratch you know, if there is no one left who knows how this shit works.
There are so many logic errors and plotwholes that it hurts.
Why do people not feel pain? Why does nobody hurt if he gets shot? Why do the characters survive if they hit a wall? Raven hits Shadow once in the throat. This kills people when it is done by someone who is untrained ... like Raven. But our characters? They walk it of like it's nothing.

I don't understand how your Betareaders didn't tell you about this stuff.
There are so many more things that I could list ... and that's sad because I think the book had potential.

[Maggi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the plot, but in some parts it got really confusing. Like the scene where Raven suddenly possesses electricity thoroughly confused me, there was no information as to how the rogues have superpowers until Unchain, so the magic system feels a bit undeveloped. Also, a bit more emotion from Raven would have made it interesting, because she gets thrown in jail and barely reacts, and doesn't even question where she is or how it will end for her. The relationship between Raven and Shadow felt a bit rushed, and I don't know what possessed her to kiss Fas, then practically ignore him and act completely normal after. I liked Raven but her personality was a bit bland.

[Kendall · Rating 2 out of 5]

i really wanted to enjoy this book since i follow the author on ig and their posts are pretty insightful, but this was a bit lacking for me. lots of telling, rather than showing, which was unfortunate considering the first person pov. i found myself confused at various points, which was likely a symptom of both the pacing and lack of helpful descriptions. i feel like this book would have really benefited from editing, or beta readers at the very least

[Phoebe M.J. Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so captivating!