Reviews with content warning for War - Defy Me

Reviews tagging 'War'

Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi

27 reviews

jen1804's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved it. I love the multi POV between Aaron, Juliette and Kenji, and all three of them had such interesting plots happening.
This is what all the previous books in the series have been building towards and BOOM, 5 stars!
In my opinion this book was a masterpiece. It’s exactly the kind of dystopian novel I was waiting for.
There are so many heart wrenching moments in this book, I mean utterly grim scenes involving torture, but which absolutely grip you. I cried at Emmaline oh goddd, help me.
There’s moments which made me audibly gasp in shock/horror/emotion. And several absolutely BAD ASS moments which I live for (I’m referring to the Evie/Ella, Aaron/Anderson respective parental murders)!
Part of me is bummed that Anderson can regenerate to some degree and keeps coming back once we think he’s dead. But also so far Juliette has had a chance to “kill” him and so has Aaron, and I’m wondering whether we’ll get another final kill scene but whether this time from Adam? I’d be here for that.
We get so many answers! And the history of Aaron and Ella is EVERYTHING. Stop it. When characters are continuously getting their memories wiped and yet continuously finding their way back to each other? Ugh god that does things to me🥹!
“Aaron always fell in love with her. Every time.”
We get reunion scenes, we love a reunion scene.
The bickering between Aaron and Kenji I adore so much. And their budding frenemies bromance. Love.
Aaron’s proposal in bed was legit the most perfect thing I’ve ever heard.
And that ending!? So wholesome! I loved that it was some normalcy in this life whilst acknowledging that the war is far from over and tomorrow would be hell. It was giving me a similar vibe as the Deathly Hallows Harry/Hermione tent dance scene and I loved it. Cannot wait to see what happens next.
Satisfactory ending? Yes.
“I will love you for the rest of my life. My heart is yours. Please don’t ever give it back to me”.

Edit: because I now literally have no memory of what happens in this book I cannot in good faith keep this at 5 stars so am demoting to 4.75.

Content Warnings

zc2's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Loved this one. An emotional rollercoaster. The ending gives me peace of mind

Content Warnings

hiraeth_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I loved reading from Kenji's POV and i loved the flashbacks in Juliette's & Warner's parts. Although it may feel like a "filler" book in the series to some, I very much enjoyed getting all the background stories and being able to connect some dots. I already liked Nazeera in the last book but this one made me appreciate her so much. I'm excited for her and Juliette's dynamic

(and of course her and Kenji's relationship! So cute!)

. The friendship/group bond in general was quite nice and I actually didn't mind Adam in this one (shocker, I know!). Also: a LGBTQIA+ character! yay! Even though it's not a major one (yet?? idk).

Warner and Juliette are obv very iconic in this one as well, they did not disappoint. They are just one of my favourite couples ever. But - and I mean this in the nicest way possible! -

wtf was that proposal? I mean I obv love them together and want a future for them but it did feel quite out of character for Aaron to propose to her. Like why would he believe in such a religious and patriarchal tradition? On the other hand, he really is THE SIMP™️ for Juliette so maybe that was a good choice. Either way, I was very touched by the scene and couldn't have imagined it better.

What I was also a little bit confused about was the graphic content of the brutal scenes. I mean it IS a dystopian story and I also read The Hunger Games when I was 11 or so, but sometimes all I could think was "and this is YA??? Wtf?".

All in all: A great, quick and enjoyable read with many great elements. Not too surprising/wild but also not boring.

Content Warnings