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cinnamonrollbooks 's review for:
Defend the Dawn
by Brigid Kemmerer
ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
5 Stars
This series has the comforting feel of 2010s YA fantasy yet also feels fresh and right at home in 2022. We love it!
Defend the Dawn mostly takes place on a ship, and there's mystery and tension both of the political intrigue kind and the romantic kind. Can we trust anyone? Who knows! You even start to distrust the main characters, whose heads we're in, which is quite some feat. Only sometimes, but still.
The romance never feels too angsty, mostly because the tension is earned. Tessa is still trying to come to terms with Corrick's past and, honestly, that's smart of her. He's still clearly got issues too, and though we see from his POV that he really does mean well, that doesn't mean it comes across to everyone else, or that Tessa should forgive him. I actually love that this was explored because it's more common for YA protagonists to just conveniently forget their love interest's dodgy pasts. (Not that I hate this, it can be fun, but this was refreshing).
5 Stars
This series has the comforting feel of 2010s YA fantasy yet also feels fresh and right at home in 2022. We love it!
Defend the Dawn mostly takes place on a ship, and there's mystery and tension both of the political intrigue kind and the romantic kind. Can we trust anyone? Who knows! You even start to distrust the main characters, whose heads we're in, which is quite some feat. Only sometimes, but still.
The romance never feels too angsty, mostly because the tension is earned. Tessa is still trying to come to terms with Corrick's past and, honestly, that's smart of her. He's still clearly got issues too, and though we see from his POV that he really does mean well, that doesn't mean it comes across to everyone else, or that Tessa should forgive him. I actually love that this was explored because it's more common for YA protagonists to just conveniently forget their love interest's dodgy pasts. (Not that I hate this, it can be fun, but this was refreshing).
My favourite sections of this book though were the Outlaw sections. They were exciting and funny and ultimately emotional, and the Outlaw ended up being exactly who I hoped they would be! SpoilerI can also now confirm I ship Harristan and Quint.
I was debating whether this was a 4.5 or 5* read, but honestly, the fact I wanted the sequel immediately after reading it really pushed it into the 5* bracket for me. Defend the Dawn is just a really good, solid YA fantasy story, and I'm so happy I enjoyed it this much because I met Brigid Kemmerer at YALC recently and she was absolutely lovely. Bring on book 3!