Reviews

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

lindaixchel's review

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4.0

Renegades was such a bop. I am forever awed by Marissa Meyer's writing. I got into this book because I'm still in love with the Lunar Chronicles so I picked up this book and thank god I did.

labunnywtf's review

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4.0

This book is getting ripped on Goodreads, but man, I really loved it.



I'll acknowledge, it's a familiar premise, with a very slow start. This is Marvel and DC in YA form. The summary could be: the kids from the X-Men, led by the Avengers, with a touch of the backlash seen in Civil War.

You have to wade through the clunky comic speak (Your days of villainy are over, Nightmare) to get to the good stuff. Like picking the gross pineapple off your otherwise perfectly good pizza.

Nova, our main character, is a Villain (Anarchist). She hates the Heroes (Renegades) because of what happened when she was a child (Tragic Comic Book Back Story), during the big battle (Infinity War). Unlike the other Anarchists, her real identity is completely unknown, making it very easy for her to infiltrate the Renegades and figure out the best way to take them down.

Our other main character, Adrian, is a Renegade. His super hero power is useful, but still considered kind of weak. Raised by two of the most powerful Renegades, he seemingly got his position handed to him, and is constantly working to prove he's just as worthy as the next one.

The characters are what make this book more than anything else. I've never read the X-Men, nor have I seen more than one of the movies, but the thing that has always intrigued me about them is their range of powers. So many cool things they can do (though some of them are less convenient than others). And this world is stuffed full of Prodigies who can do seriously cool shit like knock people unconscious just with a little skin-to-skin contact, or shoot lasers from their hands, or know an object's past just by touching it.

That last one would be the worst. I already have a hard time letting go of some stuff, can you imagine if I knew its entire history? O_O

And this isn't just about Heroes vs Villains. This is about the aftermath of a world run by super heroes. This is touched on throughout, and one of Nova's biggest complains about the Renegades, but I want so. much. more. on this. People have stopped trying to take care of themselves, because why bother? We don't need police anymore, we've got Captain Chromium (::wince::), with his super strength and near invincibility. Burning building? Get the Renegades, we can't possibly figure out how to put this out ourselves.

Before the Renegades took over, Prodigies were hated just like Mutants are in X-Men. Now they're worshipped like gods, but people have lost a lot of their own control. I want so much more about this phenomenon, I hope it gets touched on a lot more in the next book.

There's a lot of foreshadowing set up in here that I hope pays off in the next two books. I saw the twist at the end coming pretty much within the first 100 pages, and there are a lot of holes I need answered. Especially when it comes to Nova's family.

We need a lot more character development, but what we got just fed my need for more. Especially when we got the backstory on Adrian's crew, including Max. Max, who I feel like is going to be such a huge player in this whole arc, and I'm having many feelings about it.

You see the good and the bad to both sides, which I always enjoy. You've got your mustache twirlers, like The Detonator and Frostbite. But you've also got The Puppeteer, a Joker-like character with maniacal laughter and truly evil powers who gets very sad and introspective when discussing Nova as a child. It's effective as hell.

That being said, Honey's superpower gives me so many heebie jeebies, I prefer not to think of it. And I can't even think about Phobia. Nope. Nope nope nope.

There is so much set up here. It's hard to not have complaints with the first book in a series, when so much groundwork has to be laid down. And this is 600 pages of groundwork. But it's so good, the storyline is SO promising. The storyline is an octopus, and there are so many directions this could go, so many bits of treasure it can wrap its arms around and squeeze the life out of. I cannot wait. Waiting is going to be the death of me.

This is why I wait and read a series after all the books are already published. Gah.

labunnywtf's review against another edition

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4.0

We both know the world would be better off without heroes. Without villains. Without any of us, getting in the way of normal, happy people and their normal, happy lives.

Original review can be found here.

Upon re-read, I can now confirm that NO REALLY WHY IS NO ONE READING THIS AND TALKING ABOUT IT WHY HAS THE BOOK COMMUNITY FORSAKEN ME..

Most depressingly, I wasn't able to go to the book signing in New Orleans for Archenemies. I have no words for what a massive bummer that was. I mean, the signing was on release day, man. That doesn't happen in Louisiana. Goddamit.

But the bookstore holding the event has generically signed copies, one of which they are shipping to me. I had planned to buy a copy of Renegades there and have her sign that, as well, but now they only have the paperback signed and I can't do mismatched series.

I am really, really bummed I won't have a personalized signed copy of this series so far. Because unlike Divergent, I don't see this series disappointing me so much I'll regret my love for this first book.

The characters, the world building, the message about society relying on super people to fix every tiny problem. I JUST LOVE THIS STORY A LOT, OKAY?

Now, if Octavia Books could just GET ARCHENEMIES TO ME QUICKLY, that'd be great.

l_h_prince's review

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

rlstrayer1's review

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5.0

4.5 stars




RTC

nandaluna14's review

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2.0

2.5 I found myself being really bored at some parts, I think the book was just too long for the story .

littlehouse88's review against another edition

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2.0

This book is okay, but it felt lacking, especially compared to Cinder. It took me a while to realize that I couldn’t tell the good guys from the bad guys. Lots of people like this kind of book, but I prefer a clear division between the two.

sweetrosegirl76's review

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5.0

4.5-5! I really liked it! I'm trying to get back into series so it does feel like it was longer than I wanted it to be but it was still good! It was pretty easy to follow along which I really appreciated. I thought it would be harder to keep track of all the characters and their powers and I'm doing better than I thought. I really was split between who I was rooting for. Still am. I am loving all the characters. I think it was written well, here for all of it. Imo Ruby and Adrian have the coolest powers. I'd pick Sketch's power though if I could have one. Or Max ofc.

kanarazu's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

fairlylocaltrashdragon's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0