I’m sure I’m not the only one memorized by the cover of THE DEFIANT by Lesley Livingston. I mean, just look at it! One glance at the cover and I can already hear the clang of steel from the fight – and that’s what THE DEFIANT was, fierce. Read on to see my full review and thoughts on the book!
The Defiant
Author: Lesley Livingston
Series: The Valiant Series #2
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Historical
Release Date: January 23, 2018
Publisher: Razorbill
Summary:
Be brave, gladiatrix…And be wary. Once you win Caesar’s love, you’ll earn his enemies’ hate.
Fallon was warned.
Now she is about to pay the price for winning the love of the Roman people as Caesar’s victorious gladiatrix.
In this highly anticipated sequel to The Valiant, Fallon and her warrior sisters find themselves thrust into a vicious conflict with a rival gladiator academy, one that will threaten not only Fallon’s heart – and her love for Roman soldier Cai – but the very heart of the ancient Roman Empire.
When dark treachery and vicious power struggles threaten her hard-won freedom, the only thing that might help the girl known as Victrix save herself and her sisters is a tribe of long-forgotten mythic Amazon warriors.
The only trouble is, they might just kill her themselves first.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.
Side-note: Before I start this review, I want to mention something really quickly. When I first started The Defiant, it took me awhile to remember who was who and who did what in The Valiant until I found this lovely recap of The Valiant. Trust me, that recap will help you so much.
What I Liked
More girl power! I love watching Fallon and her friends being completely badass. I know I definitely leaped up from my seat, and did a full-on YESSSS! fist pump as I was reading The Defiant as the girls wouldn’t let anything get in their way and let them down. There were more risks in The Defiant and I was cheering for them at every step they took (and yes, even cringing when they made a misstep, but hey, at least they got through it).
Okay, this might sound a bit *ahem* morbid, but I love how realistic The Defiant was with betrayals and yes, even the deaths of multiple characters. There was no way Fallon and her crew would reach their end goal without anyone dying or getting injured and the added betrayals just made everything more juicy and believable. The Defiant showed us how harsh living in ancient Rome could be and I enjoyed every moment of it (and constantly thanked the fact that I wasn’t born back then because I would not have survived anything thrown at me).
One of my main concerns while I was reading The Valiant was the insta-love between Fallon and Cal and how their romance developed so fast. They basically had like two to three conversations and BAM! they would wait for one another and do almost anything for one another. However, The Defiant allowed me to see their romance develop even more and actually start to care for the two of them being together, making their romance less insta-lovelike and more believable.
What I Didn’t Like
The one main issue I had with The Defiant was that so. Many. Things. Just happened in the last fifth of the book. In fact, it sometimes felt so fast that I had to take a quick moment to stop reading and wonder if any of the characters actually felt and registered those events happening because it didn’t really feel like they did. Once you’ve reached that point of the book, you’ll understand exactly what I mean. I wanted a more sincere reaction from the characters, but the characters just felt like they were walking through a fog instead and had absolutely no idea how to get out of it, which left me feeling a little detached from the story.
Overall
If you’re ready to pump your fist and in the mood to celebrate with some girl power, definitely grab this book off your shelf – you won’t regret it.
WEEK ONE
January 22 – Seeing Double in Neverland – Review
January 23 – ButtermyBooks – Review or Playlist
January 24 – The Fiction Fare – Review
January 25 – A Page with a View – Review
January 26 – Mundie Moms Book Reviews – Review
WEEK TWO
January 29 – Arctic Books – Playlist
January 30 – Oh the Book Feels – Review
January 31 – Effortlessly Reading – Review
February 2 – Alexa Loves Books – Gladiator Gift Guide
February 3 – I Fangirl About Books – Review
Omg! I love The Valiant! I read it months ago and it was so good! I have The Defiant but I want to reread The Valiant before reading it! I love your review!
I’ll definitely be adding this to my TBR.