Hello everyone! I’m back after an impromptu break! I’m really sorry I haven’t been posting, but I was super busy this fall. I had normal school and homework, dance, work, and piano lessons, plus I was in my dance academy’s production of The Nutcracker and I did my grade 9 piano history exam on Friday, which I was studying for non-stop in the last week. All in all, I haven’t had time to myself in quite a while, and I’m really excited for Christmas break to start! Now that I’ve updated you on my life, here is my book review!
Title: Renegades
Author: Marissa Meyer
Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: Dystopian
Back cover description
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.
My thoughts
IT WAS SO GOOD! I was hooked from the start, and I read it more quickly than usual (besides the few weeks when I was studying for my piano exam). Marissa Meyer’s writing style is so good, and the story started right away with some action. The idea of the story is super original too.
I love the idea of having the main character being a “villain” in society. It gives perspective to what society thinks is right and not right. In the story, Nova is an Anarchist, which are the “villains”, and the other main character, Adrian, is a Renegade, which society sees as a “hero”. With this, we really get to see how the heroes aren’t always good and the villains aren’t always bad. The Anarchists have really good intentions and in my opinion, the only reason they’re considered the villains is because they don’t have the power, they’re not the ones ruling. The Renegades, who are the government, have all the power, and they’ve made the Anarchists out to be the bad guys, when really, they’re doing bad things too. I think this story really shows that there isn’t just black and white in the world, there’s a lot of gray too, and that’s a really important message to send. Also, depending on who you’re getting information from, you might not be getting all of it, or it could be biased information. (Pause, I’m checking my Instagram DMs to see what else I sent to my ibf while reading haha.) Okay, I’m back. So, continuing on this theme, I really want Nova and Adrian to be together, but I also want Nova to stay true to her cause! I think if the Renegades heard the Anarchists’ ideas and worked together, they could be great!
I feel like this review is all over the place, and I’m sorry, but I just have so many opinions and feelings and I can’t express them all!
It’s also super cool to see a main character be a double agent and how they deal with it.
And, ok, there’s a HUUUGE cliffhanger at the end, which I have a theory about. (SPOILER) We find out on the last page that Ace Anarchy is still alive after thinking he was dead for the whole book. At first we think Captain Chromium killed him by impaling his helmet and head with a sword, which, obviously, he wouldn’t have survived. Then, though, we find out that wasn’t what actually happened. What happened was that Max absorbed his powers, the Captain wrestled the helmet off Ace, who then jumped off a building into a fire. But maybe Max didn’t absorb all of his powers, so Ace would have been able to soften his landing and create a path through the fire. Though this doesn’t explain how Nova didn’t know the helmet with a hole was a fake and what actually happened, if she had been seeing Ace all this time. Hmmmm. (UNSPOILER)
So to sum it all up, this book was really awesome and I can’t wait until next year when the next one comes out! I have a few more posts planned, so stay tuned!
A Whirl of Books 