Review: Defiance

Defiance (Strange Angels book 4) by Lili St. Crow
UK Publishing Date: 31st March 2011
UK Publisher: Quercus Publishing Plc

**DESCRIPTION CONTAINS SPOILERS OF EARLIER BOOKS**

Description (from goodreads)


Sixteen-year-old Dru's worst fears have come true - Sergej, the deadly nosferat, has kidnapped her best friend Graves and she must now go on a suicidal rescue mission to bring him back in one piece. That is, if she can put all of Christophe's training to good use, defeat her mother's traitor once and for all, and manage to survive another day...


My thoughts:


The book starts with Dru playing bait in a club; and the whole time I was thinking "Dru-Girl! Don't you have something more important to be doing???" In fact; Graves isn't mentioned for aaaaages. I thought maybe I'd skipped a book (okay I didn't but I did find it odd). Anyway Dru does eventually get round to thinking about Graves, who is still missing.


It was great to see the addition of Nathalie, I loved having another female voice around; especially one so cool! It was nice for Dru to have someone in her life that she can fully trust; now that Graves is M.I.A Tbh, I didn't miss Graves that much. I don't really get why Dru likes him so much. I mean; he's fine as a friend but as a love interest? I just don't see it. Christophe however, yes. I pretty much love Christophe. And this book does not disappoint in terms of Chris and Dru scenes. I love the tension between them; and the confusion on Dru's part. Christophe really lays out what he wants in this book, and you get to see Dru questioning her feelings. Her self-doubt and speculation are done very realistically; there's no sense of Dru messing around with either guy or that's she's gloating about having so much male attention. Dru has to be one of my fave female characters. She's strong, but not in a annoying forced way; in a genuine "I'll be dead if I'm not" way. I love her attitude and her thinking patterns. It was great to see her develop more in this book; and grow into herself and her powers a bit more. Dru is an unintentional empathetic character. You really feel with and for her; even though she doesn't demand or expect it (in fact, she'd probably beat you round the head for it). St. Crow writes her mistrust of most people around her in such a clever way that it doesn't seem at all paranoid or pathetic. It just seems real. Dru seems real. 


The council scenes were as entertaining as always. I love the mismatch of djamphirs that make it up. I felt there weren't enough scenes with the wulfen but it's easy to why-this book is so jampacked with action! 


Plot-wise..wowowow. These books have always been quick paced, full of action and ambiguity. The fourth one is no exception. The twist in the story very nearly had me; but I caught it. I didn't mind one bit though because it was so elegantly written in; playing on doubts that already existed. The end scenes were fantastic. I could literally feel my heart beating faster as I read. My stomach felt like St. Crow had reached into my mouth; grabbed my guts, pulled them out and stamped on them in heavy; steel toed boots for a while then shoved them back in. This is such an intense book. The plot is intense, the characters are intense, the themes are intense, the action is intense. It's intense. 


Afterwards I still felt so...affected by it. This isn't something that usually happens to me in regards to books. I feel whilst I'm reading; and then objectively speculate about it afterwards; or get excited about it. Yet with this book it was totally different and I'm not sure I can fully explain it. If you haven't yet picked up this series you need to do it. Right now. Go. 


I think Ash is possibly my favourite character in this book; though honestly I love most of them! I give Defiance a solid 6/5. It's possibly my favourite book so far this year and definitely my favourite of the series. Although, one question still remains unanswered: Why the flax does Christophe smell of apple pies????????