A review by isabellarobinson7
Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.

Rating (sadly): 1 star

 I tried. I really tried. But it was just so boooooring! I liked the concept and what not, but it just did not deliver for me. Nova and Adrian, the book's two narrators, just irked me so much and I found that I just couldn't bare to read from the perspective of their characters. This probably affected my view over the rest of the story, as coming for two characters I particularly didn't favour, everything else just underwhelmed me. 

 That being said, no book is ever without highlight. I will say that I was very intrigued by Winston Pratt, also known as the Puppeteer, whose ability enabled him to control other people like they were puppets, but when he was, ah,  removed from the main story line, I completely lost interest and found myself pushing though the book for no reason. I was really looking forward to exploring his powers and basically just enjoying the blatant creepiness of his character. He had all the perfect elements of a harlequin villian: from a singsong voice to an obsession with childish games and phrases. I mean, who can say no to that? 

 I was also really impressed by the sort of authority the adult prodigies had over the younger ones, as all too often the teenage protagonists of the story's seem to do pretty much everything themselves which is incredibly unrealistic. The Renegade Council was run by adults, as were the Anarchists. 

 I will give the book credit for these aspects, but it fell flat for me in all other areas, and I just couldn't continue to read it just for the sake of it. 

 Of the two main characters, I found Nova to be the most irritating. She was always focused on vengeance for her uncle's death (this isn't a spoiler by the way, it literally tells you this in the prologue of the prologue) which can be a great character motive if executed correctly, but Nova just came across to me as a young child having a tantrum:  "Nova shook her head, mildly disappointed in humanity. She stood at the back of the crowd, unable to see much of the actual parade, which was fine by her. Arms crossed defensively over her chest." 

 A further concern I had with Nova's motive 

Spoiler was her claim that the Renegades were responsible for her parents death. I can get why she may be angry Spoiler at the Renegade Council for killing her uncle, but holding them responsible for the death of her parents is a stretch. Yes, the Renegades were too late to save them, but that is far different than actually causing them, advertently or inadvertently, first or second hand. And I'm not just making an assumption saying that this was a motive for her. Spoiler She actually says,  "It was to avenge her family, too, who the Council could have saved, but hadn't." 

 Another thing with this book was it's unrelenting use of cliches:

 Oh, how Nova despised the Renegade Parade. 

 Already it felt like she'd been standing there for an eternity. 

 "Let them laugh," Phobia responded. "They won't be laughing for much longer." 

 She faked a loud gagging sound... 

 But she wouldn't miss. She would kill the Captain. 

And more... 

 I am honestly quite disappointed. I really wanted to like this book and read it over and over countless times, but here I am, barely half way in, unable to read any further.