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Title: Defy the Night (Defy the Night, #1)
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Pages: 454
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Release Date: 14th September 2021
Blurb from Goodreads:
A spark of rebellion is all it takes to DEFY THE NIGHT.
In
a kingdom where sickness stalks the streets and only the richest can
afford a cure, King Harristan and his brother Prince Corrick are
forced to rule with an iron fist.
Tessa Cade is a masked
outlaw marked for death, but she likes it that way. Together with the
mysterious, handsome Weston, she robs from the rich to help the poor,
distributing food and medicine to those who need it most.
As
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 … and force her to work with
the very people she intended to destroy.
From New
York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer comes a
brand-new blockbuster fantasy series about a corrupt kingdom, a
star-crossed romance and a girl who will do anything for justice.
My Review:
*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and NetGalley*
Tessa Cade is an apothecary apprentice in the kingdom of Kandala.
A sickness is spreading, and not everyone has access to the cure, so Tessa steals the ingredients, helping those in desperate need alongside her friend Wes.
As the sickness spreads, so too does the talk of rebellion. King Harristan took the throne after his parents were assassinated, and has ruled with his brother, Prince Corrick, as the King's Justice. As King's Justice, Corrick delivers brutal punishments to those that defy the crown.
One such punishment leads to Tessa sneaking into the palace, where she will find herself questioning everything.
Can the sickness be stopped?
Will the rebellion be thwarted?
I've been a fan of Brigid Kemmerer's books for a while now, and, even though I haven't been enjoying YA fantasy as much as I used to, I was interested to see what this book would be like.
Tessa was a likeable and relatable protagonist. I liked that she was willing to do what she believed was right even if it meant putting her own life in danger.
I thought both Harristan and Corrick were interesting characters, and I did feel sorry for them given the circumstances of their parents' deaths and how they were surrounded by a lot of people who were more focused on helping themselves rather than those who were suffering.
Quint, the Palace Master, and Rocco, a King's guard, were among my favourite characters, and I would have liked to find out more about them.
The plot was enjoyable, but nothing that happened particularly surprised me and I wasn't gripped.
The author's writing was easy to follow, as usual, and made the book feel shorter than it actually was.
While I did enjoy this book, it doesn't really stand out in any way to me.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read.
