Audiobook Review: Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

Posted October 6, 2021 by Stephanie in 5 Stars, Audiobook, Fantasy, Review, Young Adult / 15 Comments

Title: Defy the Night
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Narrators: Christopher Ragland & Lexie McDougall
Series: Defy the Night #1
Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
Publication: September 14th 2021 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Find it on: AmazonAudible | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | iBooks | Kobo
Rating: 5/5★

Bloomsbury presents Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer, read by Christopher Ragland and Lexie McDougall.

A spark of rebellion is all it takes to defy the night.

In a kingdom where sickness stalks the streets and only the richest can afford a cure, King Harristan and his brother, Prince Corrick , are forced to rule with an iron fist.

Tessa Cade is a masked outlaw marked for death, but she likes it that way. Together with the mysterious, handsome Weston, she robs from the rich to help the poor, distributing food and medicine to those who need it most.

As it becomes clear that the only way to save her people is to assassinate the king, Tessa must face a deadly mission that will take her to the dark heart of the kingdom…and force her to work with the very people she intended to destroy.

From New York Times best-selling author Brigid Kemmerer comes a brand-new blockbuster fantasy series about a corrupt kingdom, a star-crossed romance and a girl who will do anything for justice.

©2021 Brigid Kemmerer (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

“Mind your mettle, Tessa.”
 
It doesn’t often happen that a YA fantasy impresses me so much that I bought a hardcover copy of it while I wasn’t even ten chapters into the audiobook. In fact, this has never happened to me, until now with Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer. I loved it so so so damn much!

The story is set in the kingdom of Kandala where Prince Corrick was forced to take the role of the King’s Justice at 15 years old after his four year older brother has to take the throne when their parents are unexpectedly and shockingly assasinated. Now a few years later a disease that had been slowly but very surely destroying the kingdom is making more and more victims every day. Only the petals of the Moonflower made into an elixir is known the help but those only grow in certain provinces and those are being controlled by council members of the royal court.

Corrick had to harden his heart since becoming the King’s Justice and change into the cruelest version of himself, executing all smugglers and rebels with no exceptions. Rumors of rebellion are getting louder each day and it won’t be long until the people are sick of dying and will start to fight back.

Tessa Cade who is an apothecary apprentice who, together with her friend Wes, steals Moonflower petals in secret every night to give the elixir to the people who need it. After a shocking event Tessa who’s blinded by rage and grief decides to sneak into the palace in a desperate attempt to assasinate the king but there she gets captured by Prince Corrick, who decides not to execute her as he would have other traitors.

That’s where I’m stopping the description of the story because spoilers.

This book just had it all. A courageous heroine like Tessa that I would simply die for, a merciless prince like Corrick who beneath the cruel exterior is slowly killing himelf inside for his brother, the king. The romance was simply swoon-worthy, heart-pounding and just delicious to read about. The angst and tension between these two characters just had me on the edge of my seat. There was action, violence, betrayal and never ever a dull moment. What else can you want from a fantasy book?

I also loved the two narrators who gave their voice to Tessa and Corrick (Lexie McDougall and Christopher Ragland). Narrators have to be just right for me and luckily enough Lexie and Christopher were more than right. It’s because of their performance that I was so hooked on the audiobook and that I thoroughly fell in love with the story and characters. Perfection!

Brigid Kemmer has really outdone herself with Defy the Night. I know I just finished the book recently but I already want to reread it to get plunged into the kingdom of Kandala with Tessa and Corrick again. I absolutely can’t wait to read the next book!

About the author:

Brigid Kemmerer is the New York Times bestselling author of dark and alluring Young Adult novels like A Curse So Dark and LonelyMore Than We Can Tell, and Letters to the Lost (Bloomsbury), as well as paranormal YA stories like The Elemental Series and Thicker Than Water (Kensington). A full time writer, Brigid lives in the Baltimore area with her husband, her boys, her dog, and her cat. When she’s not writing or being a mommy, you can usually find her with her hands wrapped around a barbell.

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15 responses to “Audiobook Review: Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

  1. I’ve seen this book around book twitter and the cover caught my eye but glad I read your review cause now I’m just even more curious! Great review 🙂

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