Renegades (Renegades, #1)by Marissa Meyer
Published by Pan Macmillan
YA, fantasy, sci-fi
Secret identities. Extraordinary powers.She wants vengeance. He wants justice.
The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies―humans with extraordinary abilities―who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone . . . except the villains they once overthrew.
Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice―and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.
"We were all villains in the beginning."
How could I not be absolutely captivated from the start with a first sentence like that? I love villains, anti-heroes and morally grey characters. Even more so, I love when it is difficult to tell who are the bad and good guys. It's all about perspective - everyone's a hero of their own story. Renegades plays with that idea to the T: Nova is an Anarchist, sworn for vengeance, and Adrian is a Renegade, part of organisation in a mission to protect and fight the villains. What makes Renegades more than a cliché forbidden love story, is the execution and attention to everyone's motives. I usually take sides pretty quickly, but this time, I liked both sides. There's no traditional good versus evil, but two sides that have both good and questionable intentions. It's complex, which makes it oh so good and addicting.
Characters are the best thing here. The world-building is alright, but it's more character driven story. There's plenty of action, backstories and history, but I feel like the characters and their personal conflicts are the driving force here. It's perfect that way, because there's a great cast of characters. Nova's resourceful and she doesn't give up or give in - Renegades failed her family and are tormenting her found family, so she'll do whatever it takes to tear them down. Adrian's a sweetheart: he's the goody-two-shoes type of guy, but he's also determined to have justice and ready toe the line if that gets him closer to finding his mother's killer. There's also a whole bunch of other intriguing characters. Adrian's team and family are great, and Nova's found family, the Anarchists, are brilliant.
I'm not most coherent right now, but to put it in a simple way - I love Renegades. It's basically everything I want in a book. It's captivating and stunning, and I'm going to read Archenemies right after because I need more of this world and characters. So yes, I highly recommend it to everyone. But specifically for everyone who likes superheroes and supervillains, quests for vengeance and justice, and sworn enemies and undercover operations.
5 of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment