Defy The Stars

Loving The AI One

released 6 April 432 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author Claudia Gray Publisher Hot Key Books

Star Wars tie-in author Claudia Gray’s Defy The Stars is the kind of book that makes you ration pages as you count down to the ending, just to make it last that bit longer.

Space pilot Noemi is fighting a war against Earth to save her colony world, Genesis. She stumbles across an Earth-made android named Abel on an abandoned spaceship and, as he’s programmed to obey humans, orders him to help in her war effort. However, as time goes by it becomes clear that there’s a lot more to Abel than meets the eye... and there’s a chance this mech can actually feel real emotions.

In basic terms, this is a romance that riffs on everything from Pinocchio to Westworld and Battlestar Galactica – there’s lots of talk on the nature of a computer having a soul, and a few religious musings too. But there’s so much more here: marvellous worldbuilding that takes us from planet to planet, each of them distinct and fascinating; a well-thoughtout glimpse of our future and the repercussions of our current lifestyles; a measured, intelligent depiction of multiple societies and cultures. The majority of characters aren’t Caucasian, and there are just as many women as there are men.

The story works beautifully on an emotional level, too, with the narrative switching from Noemi to Abel every other chapter, but never feeling forced or artificial. Their thoughts are both realistic and layered. And the pacing is masterful – never do you feel as though anything’s being rushed, yet the story powers along at a rate of knots... usually to unexpected places.

By the time you reach the final page (thankfully not a cliffhanger, but still open-ended for book two) you’ll be sad to leave this unlikely pairing behind. Just marvellous. Jayne Nelson

It offers a wellthought-out glimpse of our future

Michael Fassbender’s role in Prometheus was a major inspiration: “He walked right into the uncanny valley and stayed there.”