Book Review - Defiance by C.J Redwine

Instead of learning to dance and sew within the walls of Baalboden, Rachel Adams learns to track and hunt. When Rachel's father fails to return from a mission and is declared dead, the cities commander sets Rachel a new protector, Logan - her fathers apprentice and the boy she declared her love too. With the fierce belief her father's survival, Rachel decided to escape and find him herself. 

Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can't be killed and an army of  assassins out for blood. They discover romance, heartbreak and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making. 

I first heard of this book by Rachel over at Booktastic Reviews and I was instantly intrigued. It sounded like something I've never read before though it did kind of remind me of Angelfall by Susan Ee which I have also done a review (if you want to read you can click here) 

After reading a few chapters, I was instantly drawn in, I loved so many things about it. The first thing was the writing style - I love how C.J alternated each chapter between Rachel and Logan and we were able to see from both of their points of view. 

I loved the relationship that was shown between Rachel and Logan - you can tell from the beginning that there's some underlying tension which you recently find out a bit later which just made everything understandable. 

Rachel as a lead character is awesome. She is only 16 but yet she's so strong, confident and has a backbone - in other words, she speaks her mind and doesn't care what anyone thinks. She is so loyal to those she loves and will do whatever it takes to make sure they're safe - which is why she goes after her father. I will say though that she does have quite drastic mood changes which makes you step back and think "waow, calm the f*** down girl" It did annoy me quite a bit.

Logan is also amazingggg - he's extremely smart, strong and courageous. Throughout the book he goes through so much and you find out a bit about his past which gives you a huge insight into why he hates the Commander so bad, and you can't help but cheer him on throughout the challenges he faces during the book. He was Jared's apprentice (Rachel's father) so he is trained to be a tracker and he also is incredibly smart and can make incredible gadgets which help throughout their journey. 

The other charactes such as Oliver - Rachel's friend/adopted grandfather is also involved a lot and you get a good insight into his relationship with Rachel and also Logan which is really good.

The bad thing about this book is that, you don't get any detail of where this takes place, yes it's in Baalboden, but where in the world is that - and you don't get any idea of the time frame of in what year this takes place which annoyed me. Though considering that there is no high tech gadgets/technology apart from what Logan makes - no one has an idea of what it is - I'd guess the book is placed in the 20th Century and even the dress sense and the language used suggests that it was in a different/older time.

Overall, I really liked this book - it was different and definitely not something that I would usually read which is the main reason I wanted to read it. I will definitely be purchasing the second book :) If you want something different to read, I would definitely purchase this book.