{"id":977,"date":"2014-04-02T15:52:01","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T23:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.writinghope.com\/?p=977"},"modified":"2018-09-26T10:02:35","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T18:02:35","slug":"defy-reading-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/untanglingtales.com\/WritingHope\/defy-reading-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Defy (Reading Notes)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Defy\"<\/a>Fantasy and wish-fulfillment done well.<\/p>\n

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013 Eric Hoffer<\/em><\/p>\n

Each book, movie and television show, we love reveals some of our own desires, hopes and fears.<\/p>\n

Every story is a fantasy.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t read fantasy (just) to escape reality. We read to experience a reality we understand to be true and can\u2019t access as often as we wish for it.<\/p>\n

The fantasy in this story is a girl becoming one of the Boyz while still maintaining her attractiveness and desirability, evidenced through the two good men who both honor her and value her skills.<\/p>\n

(Potential spoilers ahead: read at your own risk)<\/span><\/p>\n

Alexa finds herself fighting on the wrong side of a cruel war. She has (from the age of 14) disguised both her age and her gender from her fellow guards.<\/p>\n

Seeing as this is Fantasy, some of us can roll with the description that a 17-year-old young woman can hold her own, even be the best, among a group of trained fighters brought up as warriors.<\/p>\n

What I appreciate is how this is eventually justified through both \u2018gifting\u2019 (magic is good for all kinds of things)\u00a0 and years of specialized training and preparation (from the age of 6 with her twin brother as a sparring partner and a mumblemumble<\/em> father to train her). Alexa earns her wins, and her relationship with the different members of the guard are varied and individual\u2013 a bit thin, but still quite the feat in the small space the story allows for them.<\/p>\n

Rather than a transformation (say, from a personal lie to truth, or from brokenness to healing), Alexa\u2019s progression in this story is a growth in who or what she already is.<\/p>\n

It is a valid and useful question, and not just for the YA reader: How does one honor and maintain what makes one unique while still leaving room to grow?<\/em><\/p>\n

I enjoyed Sara B. Larson\u2019s answer.<\/em><\/p>\n

The entire time Alexa is motivated by duty. Her assignment is to be part of the prince\u2019s bodyguard, despite his father being a cruel warlord, and the prince himself being unadmirable and self-centered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether I respect him or despise him doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d says Alexa, \u201cI\u2019m a member of his guard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, before the half-way mark, she feels more toward him than duty, but those feelings are conflicted (life and kingdom under threat, and at least one more book to develop through).<\/p>\n

Still it is that sense of duty that drives her to the end, while being informed and strengthened by her growing identity as a woman who is loved.<\/p>\n

It was an interesting choice, to show a character settled strong in her essence (duty, commitment, skill) while keeping her from being stagnant. The effort here was to focus on internal growth, since external growth was just about intensifying what already is.<\/p>\n

Possible negatives:<\/p>\n