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A review by eesh25
Renegades by Marissa Meyer
4.0
4.5 Stars
There is a world in which some people have super powers. Those people are called Prodigies. But the normal people, out of fear and jealousy, treat them horribly. A rebel group, the Anarchists, rises to fight against the oppression. The revolution doesn't go as planned. For one, the rebels don't seem to care about the loss of innocent life. The world descends into chaos until a group of prodigies decide to become end the destruction. They bring order, defeat the villains and all is good in the world.
That's where this book starts. Those heroes are the Renegades and they've saved the world. But our protagonist, raised among the Anarchists, hates them. She has her reasons, and she wants to take them down. Then we have Adrian, who is a Renegade. And he's not a bad guy at all. He just wants to make the world a better place like your typical hero.
In fact, the Renegades aren't the bad guys. They have their flaws and you can understand why Nova hates them but their intentions are good and they don't hurt people. The Anarchists definitely do and, from this point, it's easy to pick a side.
But Nova also has a point. She thinks that the Renegades are making humans weak. Normal humans rely so much of the heroes to save them that they don't bother to do anything for themselves. And I'm totally with her on that. But at the same time, her opinions are very biased. Maybe she does want to empower people, but she also wants revenge. For her, the Renegades are always wrong and the Anarchists never seen to be deserving of punishment.
She's a complicated characters and I like that. I kinda like her too. But... I'm not on her side. Technically, I'm not on anyone's side at this point but still. With Nova, it's just that... I like the good guys, okay? I like people who care about others, whose judgement isn't clouded by hatred and who don't contemplate murder on a regular basis. I'm not saying 'don't have gray characters', just that you won't find me singing their praises. Ever.
Anyway, now that we have our very interesting protagonist out-of-the-way, let's move on. First, I love the concept of this book. I've heard many people compare it to The Incredibles, which is pretty accurate, and it gives me Legend vibes. But mostly, I like that it's set after the aftermath of the revolution, after the happy ending. It's like YA is quite literally moving forward. Also, everyone's abilities are really cool. Nova can put people to sleep just by touch, Adrian can draw things to life, and there are other characters with ice powers, invisibility, invincibility, and so many more.
The other characters are really great. Adrian is so nice but he also has a secret. a hidden identity which he uses to fight crime, something that separates him from the cookie-cutter nice guys (though honestly, I don't get why people don't like those). And if I had to pick someone to root for, it'd be him and his friends/team. Because I can trust them to not fuck up the world.
Overall, I loved this book. It's not a short one but so easy to get through because the pace and writing are great. I really enjoyed reading it and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. Highly recommend checking it out.
There is a world in which some people have super powers. Those people are called Prodigies. But the normal people, out of fear and jealousy, treat them horribly. A rebel group, the Anarchists, rises to fight against the oppression. The revolution doesn't go as planned. For one, the rebels don't seem to care about the loss of innocent life. The world descends into chaos until a group of prodigies decide to become end the destruction. They bring order, defeat the villains and all is good in the world.
That's where this book starts. Those heroes are the Renegades and they've saved the world. But our protagonist, raised among the Anarchists, hates them. She has her reasons, and she wants to take them down. Then we have Adrian, who is a Renegade. And he's not a bad guy at all. He just wants to make the world a better place like your typical hero.
In fact, the Renegades aren't the bad guys. They have their flaws and you can understand why Nova hates them but their intentions are good and they don't hurt people. The Anarchists definitely do and, from this point, it's easy to pick a side.
But Nova also has a point. She thinks that the Renegades are making humans weak. Normal humans rely so much of the heroes to save them that they don't bother to do anything for themselves. And I'm totally with her on that. But at the same time, her opinions are very biased. Maybe she does want to empower people, but she also wants revenge. For her, the Renegades are always wrong and the Anarchists never seen to be deserving of punishment.
She's a complicated characters and I like that. I kinda like her too. But... I'm not on her side. Technically, I'm not on anyone's side at this point but still. With Nova, it's just that... I like the good guys, okay? I like people who care about others, whose judgement isn't clouded by hatred and who don't contemplate murder on a regular basis. I'm not saying 'don't have gray characters', just that you won't find me singing their praises. Ever.
Anyway, now that we have our very interesting protagonist out-of-the-way, let's move on. First, I love the concept of this book. I've heard many people compare it to The Incredibles, which is pretty accurate, and it gives me Legend vibes. But mostly, I like that it's set after the aftermath of the revolution, after the happy ending. It's like YA is quite literally moving forward. Also, everyone's abilities are really cool. Nova can put people to sleep just by touch, Adrian can draw things to life, and there are other characters with ice powers, invisibility, invincibility, and so many more.
The other characters are really great. Adrian is so nice but he also has a secret. a hidden identity which he uses to fight crime, something that separates him from the cookie-cutter nice guys (though honestly, I don't get why people don't like those). And if I had to pick someone to root for, it'd be him and his friends/team. Because I can trust them to not fuck up the world.
Overall, I loved this book. It's not a short one but so easy to get through because the pace and writing are great. I really enjoyed reading it and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. Highly recommend checking it out.