• Defects

  • The Reverians, Volume 1
  • By: Sarah Noffke
  • Narrated by: Elizabeth Klett
  • Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (101 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Defects  By  cover art

Defects

By: Sarah Noffke
Narrated by: Elizabeth Klett
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

In the happy, clean community of Austin Valley, everything appears to be perfect. Seventeen-year-old Em Fuller, however, fears something is askew. Em is one of the new generation of Dream Travelers. For some reason, the gods have not seen fit to gift all of them with their expected special abilities. Em is a Defect - one of the unfortunate Dream Travelers not gifted with a psychic power. Desperate to do whatever it takes to earn her gift, she endures painful daily injections along with commands from her overbearing, loveless father. One of the few bright spots in her life is the return of a friend she had thought dead - but with his return comes the knowledge of a shocking, unforgivable truth. The society Em thought was protecting her has actually been betraying her, but she has no idea how to break away from its authority without hurting everyone she loves.

©2015 Sarah Noffke (P)2016 Sarah Noffke

What listeners say about Defects

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    59
  • 4 Stars
    32
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    65
  • 4 Stars
    23
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    55
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

felt original and fresh from the beginning

In the quiet area of Austin Valley a high class society called the Dream Travelers lives comfortably. They are gifted with various special abilities, being dream traveling the basic and common one. Only when reaching puberty new abilities show up in each person, except for a group of subjects called defects, who feel left behind by the gods of the Reverians and suffer every day painful injections to help them developing their gifts.

Em, one of the daughters of an important man inside the community, is one of these defects, and the main character in this story. She will soon discover part of the truth behind the injections she daily receives, and what defects really are; and she and her friends will try to find out the rest of the truth, even if they make the accommodated society of Austin Valley tumble and their lives put in danger.

This story felt original and fresh from the beginning, and it is nice to see fantasy books different from the typical scenarios. It is very easy to get caught in the story from the start thanks to the well depicted characters and the beautiful descriptions. A writer could be telling the most wonderful stores but if the characters are not alive, they will fail. This does not happen to Sarah Noffke. One could almost feel being a part of that little group of friends, suffered whenever they did and rejoiced when thing went as expected. The book is narrated in first person, and we discover new aspects of the truth along with Em. The author, Sarah Noffke, does an excellent job in keeping us hooked to the story, and revealing things slowly to keep us interested until the very end.

This is just the first book of a series, and we reach the end wanting more, wanting to know what is going to happen to the characters and how their lives will evolve after the happenings in Defects.

The narration was done beautifully. I tend to prefer male narrators, but Elizabeth Klett’s voice and tone were perfect for the story. She changed her tone to perform male voices without sounding annoying like some female narrators. The sound edition was correct, and I did not notice any changes or breaks like it sometimes happens with some audiobooks.

I would definitely recommend this book to any person who likes fantasy and enjoys a well written book.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome start to the series!

A very enjoyable audiobook with great characters and an exciting storyline. Em Fuller lives in Austin Valley, which on the surface appears to be an ideal society for Dream Traveler's. All Dream Traveler's develop additional gifts once they reach puberty, except for the Defects, of which Em is one. She and her fellow defects must endure painful injections to encourage the development of their special gifts, but Em discovers the dark truth behind these injections. Her world crashes down around her and with the help of her sister and friends she escapes and the fight to survive begins!
This book is a great start to The Reverians series. It's well written and draws you in from the very beginning with likeable characters that one can empathize with, and a plot that captures your imagination. I especially enjoyed the humour of Em's obliviousness, her tenacious nature and strength of character. This story has romance, intrigue, originality and some great twists and turns. If you loved the Divergent or Hunger Games type of books then you will love this story too. The narrator did an excellent job of breathing life into the characters, the humour, sadness, pain, frustration and want comes across loud and clear. Her voice depicts both male and females very well and she manages to portray individual personalities and attitudes excellently. I look forward to listening to the next in the series. I received this audiobook from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining.

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really liked this book. It was another foray into a dystopian earth in which there is a sort of feudalism that is similar to most other books in the genre so if you liked Hunger Games, Divergent, and other books of that ilk, you will enjoy this one. It is a different take on the genre as there is a bit of superhero in this as well. The world is broken down into two groups, those with powers and those without. The ones with the powers are Dream Travelers, and these people also have psychic powers that manifest as they get older. A group of these travelers do not develop their psychic power, and they are called defects. Our protagonist, Em, is one of these defects. This is the story of her discovery of the truth of her world and what is truly going on.

The world is well thought out and the plot is exciting enough to keep you going. The only problem I find is the common tropes in these dystopian novels. In particular, the love triangle. Authors...please stop doing this. Just because it is YA, the readers do not need another love triangle in their world. And specifically, this book does not need it. The world and story are good enough without it and would have been just as compelling.

That said, I still feel the book was great and I gave it five stars. Mostly, because I found it to be interesting enough to overlook the love triangle hoo-ha. Sarah Noffke is a really good writer and has built a great world in which to continue this series. I will be for sure getting the next in the series, as I do want to know how this whole story will play out.

The narrator, Elizabeth Klett, was a really good narrator. She didn't over-act the lines to the point of sounding cartoony like some narrators do. She also maintained a fairly even tone, so that I wasn't hovering over my volume button. I would listen to other books read by her for sure.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Already a fan of Em and Rogue

What did you love best about Defects?

Defects is a great dystopia full of action and betrayal and psychic abilities. I loved that this book doesn't follow the trope of our heroine finding out she's something special and taking a long time to accept her new existence. This story drops us into the Dream Traveler's world, where everyone has special gifts (unless they are a Middling). Well, not everyone, not the Defects.

As we come to find out, the Defects are being given painful injections to try to "stimulate" their gifts - where in reality their gifts are being suppressed because these Defects have shown rebellious tendencies. We find out so many horrors about the Austin Valley society leaders, and what awful things they do to maintain control over everyone.

We come to get to know Em, and how badly she wants her gift, only to later realize why her gift hasn't surfaced at puberty. Then there's Rogue, who is a pretty awesome dude, escaping his father - the President of the society - and living off the grid until having to return to steal some medication for the mind-and-body-numbing headaches caused by withdrawal from the injections. But no injections means their gifts can surface, and we really get a chance to see how amazing Em is.

Together, they learn about all the horrors their fathers have planned and they fight back. Well, they start to at least. This is only the first book so there is more to come, but I'm already impressed and curious to see how these gifted kids will take down their oppressive leaders.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Defects?

The scene between Em, Rogue and their fathers near the end of the book. Wow.

Have you listened to any of Elizabeth Klett’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have, and it was another Saran Noffke book. I enjoyed it as well.

Any additional comments?

I received this audiobook in exchange for my review from Audiobook Blast.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An awesome dystopian-ish fantasy :)

A dystopian-ish fantasy! I haven't read many books that manage to pull off being a mixture of both genres. This one accomplished that and much more. I have not read the author's previous series yet, but I am dying to get my hands on the audiobook version now! The world is a place where abilities are actually expected. I loved the characters, the world, the writing, and the mysterious plot! I was impressed by how smooth and imaginative the writing was. I got sucked into the story quickly and didn't want to stop listening. The narrator of the audiobook was perfect for the story, and did a fantastic job as well. I really enjoyed this audiobook and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book of this exciting new series.
I was provided this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A unique and very well performed story

Any additional comments?

I have received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

In the quiet area of Austin Valley a high class society called the Dream Travelers lives comfortably. They are gifted with various abilities, being dream traveling the basic and common one. When reaching puberty new abilities show in each person, except for the defects, who feel left behind by the gods and suffer every day painful injections hoping to receive their gifts one day.

Em is one of this defects, and the main character of this story. She will soon discover the truth behind the injections she daily receives, and what defects really are, and together with her friends they will try to make the accommodated society of Austin Valley tumble.

I did not expect anything before reading this book since I think I have not ready anything similar. From the start I got caught in the story thanks to the well depicted characters and the beautiful descriptions. One could almost feel being a part of that little group of friends, suffered whenever they did and rejoiced when thing went as expected. The book is narrated in first person, and we discover new aspects of the truth along with Em. The autor does an excellent job in keeping us hooked to the story, and revealing things slowly to keep us interested until the very end.

The narration was also done beautifully. I tend to prefer male narrators, but Elizabeth Klett's voice and tone was perfect for the story. She changed her tone to perform male voices without sounding annoying like other female narrators. The sound edition was also correct, and I did not noticed any changes or breaks like it sometimes happens with some audiobooks.

I would definitely recommend this book to any person who likes fantasy and enjoys a well written book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Pulls you in and you don't want out!!

What made the experience of listening to Defects the most enjoyable?

The story about the main character, Em paints a picture of a society that you do and don't want to be a part of. How the society functions and how it is ruled is one that hasn't be imagined. The ideas and how it all unfurls made me continue listening at every chance. You can feel Em’s emotions with every decision she makes. I can easily relate to her and I know her struggle to get through the challenges thrown in front of her.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Defects?

One of the most memorable moments was when we discover the sinister and insidious plot that the president and his henchmen have concocted.

Which character – as performed by Elizabeth Klett – was your favorite?

I liked how Elizabeth Klett performed Rogue with his playful, carefree and loving tone. She breathed a lot of life into him and he seems just like I would have imagined him to sound.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I definitely would have listened to it all in one day if I could but I broke it down between my daily routine. I was on the edge of my seat and gasping at the twists and turns throughout the book.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed how the author described people and places, I felt right there with Em. I will definitely be purchasing the next two books to find out what happens to Em. Noffke has me completely captivated and invested in the story. I am a part of the adventure and I cannot wait to find out what happens next!! Thank you for the opportunity of listening to your book Sarah Noffke, you have made a die-hard fan out of me!! I especially appreciate the fact that the next installments are out and read for me to listen. I can listen to the story seamlessly and not get frustrated waiting for the next books to be published and narrated.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What Truths Remain Unearthed?

Where does Defects rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Defects is a great YA novel that is enjoyable for adults. The storyline is unique and riveting, and this is easily one of my top YA picks thus far.

What other book might you compare Defects to and why?

While not quite dystopian, many novels surrounding corrupt and powerful goverment can be compared to this. When you read a lot of fiction, some similarities are bound to happen. This said, Defects stands by itself. I quite enjoy new takes on fight for survival style books, and this one had so many twists and turns, I was able to keep pace while still left wondering what was going to happen next.

Which scene was your favorite?

Noffke creates many scenes throughout Defects that are easily believable. Em is not your traditional protagonist who has all the amazing super abilities and can easily decide what to do next. Her genuine character development leads to some great scenes, and I don't wish to spoil those for future readers.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The suspense created from the story and performance together had me hooked, and while I wished I could listen to the entire book in one sitting, I was not able to. The saying of a "page turner" applies to this, in it's audio equivalent.

Any additional comments?

I have to find out what happens next!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Defects - Honest Review

Where does Defects rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I rate it quite highly, definitely an excellent listen which covers themes of class, society and identity which empathises with younger readers that enjoy these topics in their books, and I would highly recommend they should definitely pick this up. The universe is unique enough to enchant fans into wanting more! An excellent performance by both author and narrator!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Defects

Any additional comments?

Sarah Noffke is one of her strongest work to date with Defects and her new Reverians series. Em Fuller is the perfect protagonist; completely likeable, relateable, and strong. This book relies on dream travel, and powers (although they definitely both play pivotal roles in the plot) ;

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful