Defective by B. Austin

3.5 stars “My heart is cracked, my lungs have stopped breathing and anger is frying my brain” Defective is a book that reeled me in right away. Right from the first page, action is almost pouring out of it. The first few chapters are pretty jam-packed with information and action, which was a bit full on but I didn’t mind it so much because it cooled down soon. I do love a good book that can pick me up right away. I spent most of my night reading it and picked it right back up when I woke up to fi 3.5 stars “My heart is cracked, my lungs have stopped breathing and anger is frying my brain” Defective is a book that reeled me in right away. Right from the first page, action is almost pouring out of it. The first few chapters are pretty jam-packed with information and action, which was a bit full on but I didn’t mind it so much because it cooled down soon. I do love a good book that can pick me up right away. I spent most of my night reading it and picked it right back up when I woke up to finish it off which isn’t something I do often. I thought the idea for the story was great, I really liked the idea of having such a perfect society (literally immaculate) and adding in a few people who are really just normal people (the outcasts) but mess up the whole rhythm of everyone else (the perfections). I couldn’t have executed the idea better but there were a few things in my mind like that I would’ve liked a bit more on how the world came to be like this seeing as it is set a good 67 years in the future. Also, I would’ve liked to know a bit more about Dante and all the other outcasts relationships with the perfections in their lives like their parents or their peers. As you can probably tell, I didn’t love that the books focus was very much on finding Kiara but I mean it’s just my personal preference to know more about the history of it. The way the outcasts are treated reminded me a lot of Divergent and how the people who were Divergent were treated all because they couldn’t conform and were different just like the outcasts. It also reminded me of the Mortality Doctrine series by James Dashner, I can’t really put my finger on what exactly it is but it just made me think of it. It also reminded me of the Lorax because of how perfect and clean everything is except these people have plants. All the sanitation and purifying just made me think of it. So you might be able to call it a cross between Divergent and the Mortality Doctrine series and the Lorax but I don’t think that would be entirely truthful because I thought the story was very original even when some aspects reminded me of others. All in all, I think if you enjoy what I’d almost call alternate reality stories then you might just like this one a lot. I found it moved fast which some might like and others might not but it wouldn’t hurt to give it a go. I don’t think the story will really stick with me, it won’t be something I think about at random moments during my day. I enjoyed it, would I read it again? Maybe not but while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t quite my thing and usually you’d have to write a damn good book to get me to read it again (cough cough Harry Potter). Would I read another book by the author? If I could get my hands on it, sure, why not? Defective was a quality story, not my cup of tea but I still enjoyed it and I liked that even though it’s not the kind of story I usually pick up I still really enjoyed reading it and even managed get through it in under a day. I say, B. Austin, give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve done a good job. *Side note, I loved the character Valentin