Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Defy the Night

“I think that very few people truly deserve what they get, Tessa.” He pauses, and for the briefest moment, sadness flickers through his eyes. “For good or for bad.”

~ Rating- 3.5 stars ~

Note- 22/9/21- After some thinking I am lowering my rating from 5 stars to 3.5 stars. I still really enjoyed the book but I didn't completely consider its flaws, which is why I am lowering it. I think I was a bit too biased while rating it the first time. Sorry.

This review is very long and it is spoiler free.

Content/ Trigger Warnings- Alcohol, Betrayal, Blood, Being chained, Biting lip and drawing blood, Crying, Dying, Death of a mother, Death of a father, Death of parents (recounted), Dead bodies, Death of a friend, Death of children & Murder of children, Possible Depression, Execution, Eyeball trauma, Epidemic, Faking a pregnancy, Fire, Grief, Guilt, Guilt over death of a friend, Locking yourself in a Cupboard, Murder, Nightmares, PTSD, Panic-attacks, Prison, Rebellion, Sickness & Illness, Self-harm (digging fingers into palms), Suicidal Ideation (mild), Suffocation, Several Mental Breakdown Scenes, Threat of Rape & Sexual Assault, Mention of Sexual assault occurring, Torture, Urine, Vomiting, Violence

Note- I have tried to include all the content warnings that I noticed, but there is no guarantee that I haven’t missed something.

-Mention of some of these in the review-

Defy the Night, by Brigid Kemmerer is a dark, atmospheric YA fantasy with morally grey characters. I was hoping this would be a 5 star read, and was very happy that my prediction came true and was happy with the book (even though I lowered my rating), though I am a little bit biased considering Brigid Kemmerer is one of my favourite authors.

“It’s easy to love your king when everyone is well fed and healthy. A bit harder when everyone is not.”

In the kingdom of Kandala, sickness stalks the streets. The cure is Moonflower, a rare and expensive flower only the richest can afford. King Harristan and his brother Prince Corrick are forced to rule with an iron fist, show no mercy and rule with cruelty.

“When there are calls for revolution,” I say to him, “we should be riding at the front, not hiding in the shadows.”

Tessa Cade is a masked outlaw, who robs from the rich to help the poor by distributing food and medicine to those who need it most, along with her friend Weston. When it becomes clear that the only way to save her people is to assassinate the King, Tessa must face a deadly mission that will take her to the dark heart of the kingdom to work with the very people she intended to destroy.

“I hate the king,” I whisper. “I hate the prince. I hate what they’ve done. I hate what Kandala has become.”

The plot of the book was entertaining. It is fast-paced, despite being so long. There isn’t a dull moment, it hooks you from the start. It does take some time for some important things to start happening though and the plot takes a while to progress. There were a few plot twists which were good and foreshadowed well, but I had predicted them quite early on.

The main flaw in the plot is the amount of clichés and tropes it has. Having read a lot of YA, I knew the exact direction in which this book would go in when I was about 50 pages in. It wasn’t exactly a bad thing considering I was still invested regardless of this, but there isn’t much in this book that makes it very different from the other YA books that exist.

We have several overused tropes like ‘the morally-grey prince who doesn’t really want to be cruel’, ‘a king who isn’t really ruling’, ‘an orphan girl looking to rebel and get vengeance’ and clichés like ‘the male character getting flustered when the female character enters in a gown’ and ‘the female character getting flushed when the male character takes his shirt off as he is injured’ etc. These don’t bother me as much, but if they bother you I think you will be annoyed by this book.

Apart from all of this, I liked the plot a lot and the other elements of the story do make up for these stereotypes in YA.

“There are too many layers here. I thought it was as simple as right or wrong . . . but it’s not.”

The world building of Defy the Night was excellently done. It isn’t info-dumped (thankfully!) and the map was a great addition to the book. We don’t really explore much apart from Kandala, but I am expecting to see more of the world in the sequels.

“All this time I’ve thought that the people within the gates were the most powerful, but maybe I was wrong. We all have power.”

The writing was my favourite part of the book. Brigid Kemmerer’s writing and her ability to tell a great story has never failed to amaze me, and Defy the Night was no exception. The pacing in Brigid Kemmerer’s books are always wonderfully done and the 500 pages didn’t feel like a drag at all. The writing isn't over the top or filled with purple prose, but its not dry either. It's subdued, which is perfect for this book and the tone it is going for.

“We buy what we can from the taxes we collect, and we distribute it among the people. But there is never enough: not enough silver, not enough Moonflower.”

The characters were properly-written, and I would say they are three-dimensional. The side-characters didn’t really play any big role though, which was quite disappointing.

➼Tessa

“I’m not a killer. I heal people; I don’t harm them.”

Tessa is an apothecary, and also the one who steals Moonflower for the sick and poor of the village, along with her friend Wes. They are the Robin Hood’s of Kandala, and rob from the rich to give them to the poor.

“I keep notes in my father’s notebooks of what cures the fevers—the Moonflower—and what doesn’t: everything else.”

I liked Tessa as a character. She is strong, rellistant and kind. I liked the role she played in the book, but despite all of this I felt something was lacking about her character arc. There is a lot of character development, but my main problem was the lack of relationships she has with other people. I know not all people are that social, but when the only relationship Tessa has is a romance, it isn’t a good look.

“We don’t discuss what could happen, because I’m right. The king wouldn’t care that we’re stealing to help people. If we’re caught, we’ll be executed right next to the smugglers.”

Tessa doesn’t interact with many people apart from her love interest, and she only has one friend who she says she doesn’t trust. She essentially doesn’t communicate with that many people on page, and I wish that wasn’t the case. I understand why it must have been hard for her to make friends, but Tessa has the kind of personality that is very open and loving, so this is quite contradictory to how she is portrayed.

“I wonder if this is why it’s so easy for the royal elites to ignore the people outside the walls of this sector. Are we all invisible to them?”

In fact, everyone says they trust her a lot (rightfully so, as she is one of the main reasons they are not dead yet) but we don’t get to see much of that on page, though we do get some moments. I guess it would have been difficult to portray all of that on page, but it would have been a lot more interesting if Tessa had friends and relations apart from the romance as well. Apart from this, I enjoyed reading about Tessa's character.

“Kindness leaves you vulnerable, Tessa. I learned that lesson years ago.”

➼Corrick

“I have heard every manner of scream without flinching. I have listened to promises and threats and curses and lies—and occasionally, the truth.
I have never hesitated in doing what needs to be done.”

Prince Corrick is the King’s Justice, the one responsible for bringing justice to the kingdom and enforcing order in Kandala.

“to my face, I’m Your Highness, or Prince Corrick, or sometimes, when they’re being especially formal, the King’s Justice.”

He is also the morally-grey character that dreads all the violence he has to do, yet he has no choice but to do everything and ~follow orders~. I know, you are thinking 'Bhavya, this trope has been done so many times before!' Yes it has, but this is one of my favourite tropes in books and I always have a soft spot for this kind of character, but I only like it if it is well done.

“Because despite all outward appearances, I’m not cruel. I don’t delight in pain. I don’t delight in any of this.”

Corrick’s character arc was so well written and was so subtly done. The whole “i am pretending to be cruel and heartless when in reality i am a sweet cinnamon roll who means no harm, but i will hurt you if you mess with me or my loved ones’ wasn’t rubbed in our face. Corrick’s mental dilemma isn’t filled with petty angst. It didn’t bore me at all. Instead we get a beautiful blend of court politics, betrayal and a desperate man doing what he needs to do for everyone to survive. He was definitely my favourite character and I loved him.

“I’ll never be free of this. Of who I am. This will be my life as King’s Justice: Cruel Corrick, the most feared man in the kingdom, and somehow also the most alone.”

Character Dynamics

➼Wes & Tessa

Wes and Tessa had such a sweet bond, and I was smiling every time they were on page.

“I wish Weston were here. I’m better with the medicines, with the dosages and the treatments and our patients, but he’s better in the face of violence and danger. He’s cool and reserved when I’m hot and rattled.”

I don’t have much to say about them without spoiling something, so I will just say that they were a moment of light in a much darker book.

➼Corrick & Harristan

I loved the brotherly bond between Corrick and Harristan.

“They respect my brother—as they should.
They fear me.
I don’t mind. It spares me some tedious conversations.”

It was so well written. Corrick and Harristan love each other very much, and it was wonderful to read about how they supported and trusted each other.

There is another great character dynamic in this book, but I won’t be talking about it here to avoid spoilers!

“But we’re still taking action. We’re not backing down from that horrible king and his awful, cruel brother. We’re saving the people who need saving.
Fight back. We are.”

In short, Defy the Night is an action-packed YA fantasy novel- with a twinge of romance and court politics. While it has its flaw- like the tropes and clichés, it also has its strengths- like the incredible writing and good characters. I binged this book in a day and I can say I loved the experience. I’m hoping the sequel comes out soon! Until then, we all have to wait and ‘mind our mettle’. :)

“Mind your mettle, Tessa.”

Buddy read with Nashita. Thank you so much for reading it with me!

Review written and uploaded on 15th September, 2021.

https://linktr.ee/bhavyasbookreads- Linktree

P.S.- I tried something different for this review. Feel free to me know your thoughts on which format you prefer!

DISCLAIMER-All opinions on books I’ve read and reviewed are my own, and are with no intention to offend anyone. If you feel offended by my reviews, let me know how I can fix it.

How I Rate-
1 star- Hardly liked anything/ was disappointed
2 star- Had potential but did not deliver/ was disappointed
3 stars- Was ok but could have been better/ was average / Enjoyed a lot but something was missing
4 stars- Loved a lot but something was missing
5 stars- Loved it/ new favourite

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And another 5 star read from Brigid Kemmerer. Review to come.

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Going to start this today!

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I AM WAITING. 11 MORE DAYS.
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OMG WE GOT A COVER AAAAAHHHHHH

It looks nice, but I liked ACSDAL covers more...

Content Warnings

kbairbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Holy. Wow. This was a chocolate cake read for sure. (Spoiler) Since I typically read for escapism and this book accidentally was too close to reality for comfort it definitely took me a minute to finish it. But I loved it! What a stressful, heart pounding, heart wrenching book! Can I please know if Jossalyn is okay? What are Arella and the other consul doing? What is the punishment to be for the traitors? I really enjoyed the dual POV. I thought the humanizing of those deemed as not was really interesting and well done. This seemed like a huge body of work to endeavor in and the author did a really good job of getting all the different sides! I will say that Tessa cries a lot, and Quint is… everything. And the thought of Karri and Lochlan being together caught me by surprise and seemed a little unnecessary? But I suspected Allisander for a gooooooood hot minute there. (End spoiler)

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