The Defiance by A.G. Henley

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Title: The Defiance
Author: A.G. Henley
Series: Brilliant Darkness #2
Published by: Audible Studios
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller
Length: 7 hours and 38 minutes
Genres: Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult
Source: Audible
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ iTunes
My rating:

Blurb:

It hasn't been long since Fennel, a Sightless Groundling, and Peree, her Lofty Keeper, fell in love and learned the truth: the Scourge, and their world, are not what they seem.

Fenn and Peree are determined to guide their people to the protected village of Koolkuna, but first they must convince them that everything they believe is a lie. An impossible task, especially when someone seems hell-bent on trying anything--even animal sacrifice and arson--to destroy the couple's new bond and crush the frail truce between the Groundlings and the Lofties. Not everyone wants to uproot their lives in the forest, and those who stay behind will be left terribly vulnerable.

Fenn and Peree's resolve to be together, and the constant threat of the Scourge's return, push both groups to the breaking point. Unable to tell friend from foe, Fenn must again decide how much she's willing to sacrifice to ensure the future of the people of the forest.

Only this time, the price of peace may be too high to bear.

My Review:

4.5 stars — Well, that was a lot of crying.  I mean, I know I’m a crier, but damn.

Emily Zeller was fantastic as always as the narrator.  Her voices were consistent even with the first book, and I basically just LOVE everything about how she narrates these books.  I honestly can’t imagine consuming this series in any other way, it’s so easy to get sucked in and absorbed by the words.

Sometimes when I read a series like this, I wonder if the subsequent books will be as good as the first.  Well, in this case, success.  I loved (in a heartbreaking way) seeing Fennel’s community struggle with the aftereffects of the reckoning, of what Fennel and Peree had to say about Koolkuna, their forbidden romance, just everything.  I think the allegories within the strife between the Groundlings and the Lofties was both subtle and beautiful — you could really compare their struggles with many issues that separate any humans (along gender, religion, but most especially race).  It was so hard to watch Fennel struggle with trying to convince her people, and at a certain point figuring out when it’s time to give up on them.  That broke my heart.  It’s a truth about human societies that just kind of sucks — we are, inevitably, resistant to change.

I appreciated how her relationships with her friends and family changed and grew over the story, as they all learned to settle into how Fennel had changed, and how that affected them.

I loved seeing the new relationships she formed with some of Peree’s family — Petrel and Moon were just a delight.

I ached seeing Fen and Peree struggle with their new romance and how it fit into their society — so many things to balance.  But in the end I delighted in how they were with one another — I never doubted them.

That ending sure left me champing at the bit for the conclusion!!  I’m fascinated to know about this new development and what will happen.

I can see this series becoming a favourite of mine — one I relisten to when I need a guaranteed hit.