Scan barcode
A review by labunnywtf
Renegades by Marissa Meyer
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.
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.