Defiance

Defiance by CJ Redwine

This book is set in kind of a Medieval post-apocalyptic world. People are in isolated cities surrounded by giant walls and live under the protection of the city leader. The societal structure is rather archaic and so is the city layout and the economy, but there is a prevalent presence of technology. The technology has nothing with the advancement of communication but more rudimentary uses such as tracking, stealth, and blowing things up. But it doesn't seem like technology is available to every citizen. Also, women are raised to be meek minders of the homestead and can only move about in the city with their protector (usually a male relative, close family friend, or an appointed male).

Now this story is told with two narrators; Rachel Adams and Logan McEntire. These are also the only two characters with last names. Well, a few other last names are mentioned, but they are very minor characters that don't speak. The format narration jumps between Rachel and Logan every chapter, sometimes one of them gets a few chapters in a row depending on where the drama is.

Now there seems to be a handful of jobs where you can work for the Commander (City ruler). Rachel's father, Jared, is a courier for the Commander. He delivers messages or small parcels to the other cities. The book starts off with Jared having gone missing for 60 days and he gets deemed dead per the Commander's protocols. They bust out his will and discover that Logan (19) has been declared Rachel's protector rather than Oliver (Rachel's second father, older man who is a baker). Everyone's all stunned especially because Logan was Jared's apprentice and grew up with Rachel after Jared made him his apprentice. Oliver also had a hand in raising the both of them.

Again, it seems rather archaic with the social system and dictatorship and what not especially because this is the future (?). Also, everyone has been mysteriously branded so that if a guard uses some sort of device they can discover who's where in what building and who they're with, etc. Weird and disjointed. The technology seems to thrive around 'security' and there seems to be a hint of 'big brother' paranoia wrapped around the idea of technology.

The biggest qualms I have with this book is that they spend most of it squabbling, freaking out, reeling from events, etc. It's very reactive. Also they spend the first half of the book in the city and while in the city they spend most of their talking about Jared and venturing into the Wasteland (everything that's not part of a city).

They also frequently reference the cursed one without seeing it for the longest time. It became kind of like a 'boogie-man' to me.

I just think there was too much buildup before it finally took off. This is clearly a first book in a series though, so maybe the next one will be better. I'm still a little on the fence if I'd recommend it to anyone or not. I mildly enjoyed it more than I disliked it.