I had my eyes on Defy since I first stumbled upon it on goodreads over the summer, the summary instantly pulled me in, and my expectations were immediately set high. Sadly though while Defy did have a great premise, enjoyable love triangle, I found it it really lacking in scenery/writing, and character development.

Defy follows Alexa, Alexa is a fighter, but she is also a woman. To avoid being put with the other woman of her town in the 'breeding' She must disguise herself as a man, go by the name of Alex and serve in the Kings army. Her job? To serve on the snobby Prince Damian's guard. Alexa is the best fighter at the palace, but when a sorcerer breaks in, all her fighting tactics are useless. Herself, Prince Damian, and her friend on the guard Rylan have all been abducted. As the three of them make it through the jungle as 'prisoners' Alexa will learn she is not the only one with big secrets to hide.

 The official summary of Defy says- "A lush and gorgeously written debut, packed with action, intrigue, and a thrilling love triangle." For the most part this is true, the part that I find (very) false is the part that says "lush and gorgeously written" Defy could have been a beautiful novel, the main scenery the characters find themselves in is a jungle, the jungle could have been described so beautifully! Unfortunately  though Ms. Larson never really described the scenery. I wanted to be shown what the 'dangerous, but beautiful' jungle looked like, but instead I found myself just being told it was beautiful, no details, nothing. Besides that I just felt Defy was missing something.

Alexa our main character was for the most part a likable character. I love a bad ass chick that can kick some serious ass like Alexa can. The only complaint I have for Alexa was that I didn't really see her develop as a character, mind you this is just the first book in a series and I'm sure she will develop as the series goes on, but normally I feel readers would see some development in the MC in the first book. With Alexa I don't feel she grew at all. The two love interests Rylan and Prince Damian, I think readers will like both of them. Prince Damian comes off as a snob at first, but then you get to really know him and he is actually quite likable. Rylan we don't get too know that well in Defy, but I find myself personally liking him more and being most intrigued by him. I am hoping in book 2 we will get to know him more.

 Overall, even though it may not seem like it based off of my review, I did rather enjoy Defy. It was a good start to a series, and I do plan on continuing this series. I had just hoped for alot more from Defy than what I got, but this is only the first book of the series and I think this series will get even better as it goes on (hopefully at least)! If you are someone looking for a novel with a MC chick that knows how to fight, a love triangle between 2 gorgeous men, a good amount of action and a little bit of magic, than Defy would be a read you may enjoy!

Sidenote I feel needs to be mentioned: Defy is not a high fantasy novel, it is a very light fantasy novel. The series may get more heavy fantasy in the future books, but Defy I would not in any way call a high fantasy.

Pros

• strong main character
• good love triangle
• non-cliff hanger ending, but still had an ending that left me curious as to what is going to happen next