Genre: YA Fantasy/Science Fiction

Rating: 4.75/5 stars

Good vs evil.

Superheroes vs villains.

Who wins in the end?

You may think you know the answer but Renegades will make you question it. Marissa Meyer writes a tale from the villain’s point of view and with all its multilayered characters and rich landscape you’ll find the lines get blurred and wonder…

Who put them there in the first place?

The story follows the Renegades, a group of superheroes who run Galton City and keep it safe from the Anarchists and other rogue superheroes. We see things from Nova’s (alias Nightmare) perspective as one of the Anarchists who wants to overthrow the Renegade Council and restore power to the people so that all people with superpowers can live freely. She’s the niece of Ace Anarchy, the founding member of the Anarchists, and with his death by the hands of Captain Chromium, the Renegade leader, she wants justice served. Leaving her group of misfits behind, Nova goes undercover as a newbie Renegade (new alias Insomnia) to learn how to destroy the structure from within and bring upon the destruction needed to ruin the Renegades. Introduce Adrian (alias Sketch), Captain Chromium’s son, who wants Nightmare’s blood for her deathly past schemes, and a secret project undergoing at Renegade headquarters, Nova has more to worry about than she first thinks.

Man, I loved this book. It was reminiscent of the Reckoner trilogy by Brandon Sanderson which I absolutely adored, and I found I struggled to put it down. The characters were just great and I appreciated the scope of the world. I had faith in Meyer’s writing and she delivered.

The characters I adored:

– Nova (Nightmare) was awesome. She has light and dark elements to her and even with the moral ambiguity, I still felt a warmth to her. I’m interested to see her character arc in the next book and for us to see her powers more.

– Adrian (Sketch) was just adorable. I’m appreciating that guys in books now are more varied. He was nerdy and cute but smart. He wasn’t arrogant or demeaning – he just saw the best in others. Also, his power was to sketch things and bring them to life. Seriously, how cool is that?

– The Sentinel was a new character that joined the cast, and I liked how he was really ambiguous. Is he good? Is he bad? No side claimed him but he added that extra layer of depth to the book.

– The Anarchists were just awesome. I liked Leroy (Cyanide) the best as I felt he spoke a lot of wisdom and was Nova’s closes ally, but Honey (Queen Bee) was also so quirky and unique. Winston (The Puppeteer) was that comic relief the book needed.

– The Renegade Council held the right stature and demeanour to not make a ‘superhero’ novel seem cringey. They wore capes and superhero costumes but it never felt cheesy or funny. I understood their perspective on things despite seeing things from the anti heroes perspective, and could see they were doing their best to build a safe society with rules.

Only issue:

– Nova’s powers as Insomnia were so similar to Nightmare’s that I just thought it was obvious that they were the same person. Like how did the Renegades not see that? Also, Adrian disappearing mid scenes and coming back as The Sentinel and no one batting an eye was strange too. I just think everyone would have noticed their alter egos.

Overall, I’m really glad I read this book. It was a riveting read with a great set of characters to set the scene. I’m excited for Archenemies to come out to see how the stakes can rise even higher!