Deliverance (Defiance #3)
By C.J. Redwine
Genre: YA Dystopia
Recommended Ages: 17+
Everything hangs in the balance, and nothing is certain: Rachel has been kidnapped by enemy forces and is being taken to Rowansmark while Logan, imprisoned and awaiting trial, is unable to leave Lankenshire. Separated from each other and their Baalboden comrades, each must find a way to achieve what they desperately want: to rid their world once and for all of the Commander and the tech that controls the deadly Cursed One.
Fighting through her pain and embracing the warrior she’s become, Rachel will do whatever it takes to escape her enemies’ clutches and join Logan in his fight. But when she learns a secret that changes everything, she realizes that escaping Ian and his tracker friends is no longer an option if she wants to save the people she loves. Instead, she’ll have to destroy Rowansmark from the inside out—if she can survive the journey through the Wasteland.
Logan needs allies if he wants to thwart Rowansmark’s power grab and rescue Rachel. But securing allies will mean betraying his beliefs and enlisting the help of the man he hates more than anyone: Commander Jason Chase. Driven by his fierce love for Rachel and his determination to make their world safe, Logan may be just the weapon the city-states need to defeat the Cursed One.
But as Rowansmark bears down and uneasy alliances are tested, will Rachel and Logan’s love for each other be enough to surmount the unbelievable odds against them?
The Gist:
For me, this was a mediocre end to the trilogy. Parts of it were great and filled some needs I have for series endings, and parts were lacking. This book suffers a lot from the boring first half, exciting second half syndrome. It felt dragged out many times and was weighed down by too much tech talk and explaining how devices worked. The book was semi-enjoyable, but not the series ending book I would have liked to have seen.
What I Liked:
One good thing about Rachel and Logan being apart for so long is that is seemed like it gave the book space to bring side characters into the spotlight a little more, like Willow. She’s a little spitfire isn’t she? I liked hearing more from her.
Character development was strong in this book, especially (and mainly) with Rachel. The poor girl has gone through a lot, but we see her process all of it end try to let go of the hate and thirst for revenge, which is hard. And her ability to maintain hope in herself and Logan and the good people on her side was a big step and a light in the darkness she faced.
What I Didn’t Like:
Rachel and Logan were apart for too long. If it were up to me they would have been reunited a fourth of the way through the book. I don’t like it when couples are separated for long periods of time because it makes me missed the sexual tension and flirting we get when they’re together. I missed seeing the love! I think this fact made Deliverance my least favorite book in the series.
I got confused a few times in Logan’s part, though as I get older I get confused more so that could be it. Or it could be too much jumping around in his story and too many plans he’s trying to hatch at once.
Speaking of confusion, the tech talk got to be too much for me. I don’t need to know all the little details of how some tech works. Just tell me what it does and move on. There were parts where I totally phased out because I got bored with the intricacies of how tech worked. Logan is super smart and technical. I get it.
I know a fast pace is good in a book, but there were parts, especially towards the end with a certain character that felt rushed and like an unbelievable dramatic turnaround. It felt incredibly unrealistic and the change unjustified.
LunasLuckyRating: 3/5 Lunas
