BOOK REVIEW: RENEGADES

Justice - Superheroes - Family - Friends - Series

Author: Merissa Meyer

Genre: YA dystopian

Page Count: 552 pages

Trigger Warnings: gun violence, physical violence,

"One cannot be brave who has no fear."

“How can we expect people to change if we don't give them the chance to?”

In a society ruled by a council all naming themselves prodigies, Nova Artino finds herself in spite of the world around her. With a tragic loss in her life, Nova turns to the Renegades for whom she blames for her family's death -- an imprint of hatred left coveted in her head, to which leads her to the Anarchists, helping build a foundation from such a struggling time at a tender age -- as well as further build her hatred for those ruling the country. On the flip side of the coin, Adrian Everheart, the son of the two head council members in such establishment -- Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden -- believes in that what the Renegades do with full disposition. He constantly battles to get noticed by the council, and believes this supremacy is what will lead to a better nation. When both abundantly divergent people come into play with one another, one under a disguise, they have to fight their most innerward battle in hopes of kindling a relationship.

Renegades is Merrisa Meyer's first book of a trilogy, with the other two books following as Supernova and Anarchists. Run in a prodigy-established council, the city in which both Noval and Adrain live has a regime led by those who go by prodigies, to say that they have superpowers. Yet, though both live in practically the same world, both carry abstract, but opposing views in what should happen to this community -- while Nova seems to be reluctant to such a gathering, Adrain is one who believes in all that the Renegades does. Once Nova is forced to willingly change her mindset toward the Renegades, and Adrain, for the sake of the Anarchists, she finds her midst of the Renegades in a place where she never thought it to be.

In a world run by superheroes, it seems as if all that is said to be exciting and exhilarating would seem to happen, but it would be the opposing case for a book like this. Renegades was written as one accumulation of propriety cliches folded through the pages of a singular book -- rather to say, there was really no original aspect. Getting even merely invested in the book made this rather difficult, and it would seem as if I knew the entire story without even reading it -- regardless to say, it seemed like walking into a place with high expectations, and walking out to have those pulverized. Even to those that would never have read anything relating to superheroes, or even read anything dystopian, it would be all too obvious what would lay to happen. Renegades, in turn also proved to be anticlimactic; it was much too easy to predict what would happen, and the book didn't leave much left to offer after that recoil. Though the battle scenes proved to be incredibly high-stakes, many times I was left wondering when the big 'wow' factor would come into play with this book -- which to my rather surprise, it never did. Each through battle and incoming problem, nothing ever really resonated with me, not through feelings or even space of mind. As a reader myself, I felt as if I was posing as an unnecessary secondary character -- there was no such connection to the readers, nor to the concept or plot of the book itself. This loss of feeling made the book greatly reduce in it's value to me, and had it read as if a long essay rather than a story. In turn, the backstories of not only Nova and Adrain, but rather the entire town was written as if it was forced to be there -- first through a prologue, then rather through a telling which occurred not too long after. The biggest problem, I believe, with the mention of backstories was that they were introduced without the establishment of a connection between the reader and character -- when given Nova's backstory in the prologue of the book, there was nothing that remotely interested me, merely because I wasn't interested in the character. As with Adrian, Ruby, and Oscar, it seemed as if all the backstories were written as one hindering block in which I had to drag myself to get through before returning to the actual story.

The characters in such a world were left, not much better. Nova and Adrain seemed to both be of those I would expect -- in many ways cliche, and in more, infuriating. Though the character of Nova made me clinch my breath at times, it was Adrain whom I found the most trouble with -- the character of him proved to be extremely underwhelming. I found myself longing for a rather logistic, or inadvertently developed character. With Adrain, the novel seemed to repeat himself, as it seemed his thinking would never develop moving forward -- with every chapter, I come in expecting to recognize more about him, and every chapter I leave not elated, but disappoint. His character was that of extremely unsatisfying -- and by the midpoint of the book, he'd kept speaking of the same point until it was a bore to hear. Not to say that Nova didn't have her faults as well -- though reasoning through her complex thinking was an incentive factor to take into account, Nova finds herself falling for Adrain Everheart, yet acting as opposing as no human would think to do of the situation. With the issue of the romance between Nova and Adrain being that of they come from differing sides in such a community, it was so placidly clear of how Nova seemed to admire Adrain, and even more infuriating of how she pushed her feelings away. To this point, it seemed almost unrealistic that Nova would push her feelings to such a great extent -- it almost felt as if a stone had implanted in her head. Through the novel, she is presented as a witty and charismatic character, yet that all seems to dwindle when she remotely thinks of Adrain -- it makes the relationship seem like plastic, fake, a scheme to add more depth to the novel. That of which seems to vex me further would be of the ignorance presented in Ruby and Oscar, as well as their rather absence in the book. With both characters, they're presented in such a way it would seem as if the author almost dumbed them down to highlight both Nova and Adrain's intellect -- they seemed as if tools to bestow admiration to Adrain and Nova. Neither of both, from what I'd seen, had their own, developed ideas, and they seemed to follow Adrain without any such input of their own -- it seemed as if they weren't a person as a whole. Not to mention, their absence of presence in the novel seemed to add to their primitive sense -- with their presence being scarce in the novel, both Ruby and Oscar seemed to be pushed aside, in which it seemed as if they were almost forgotten, left to the wind.

Thinking of what this book might have taught me, my mind draws a blank -- there was nothing to evoke, to absorb from such a novel. With my lack of connection to the characters, any such realization they make wouldn't appeal to me in any way, because my reduced solicitation made it difficult to highlight any significance to leave with.

*NOTE: Though I clearly did not enjoy this book, I would never want anyone else to stop themselves from reading it as a result of my review. That is never my intention -- if you expect this to be an enjoyable experience, if it's a read you've been waiting to pick off the shelf, then, by all means, read it! This review is only my honest opinion of what I thought of 'Renegades' and should not influence your decision to read it, but rather provide some insight before you dive in.

Characters: 1/5

Plot: 1/5

Pacing: 2/5

Overall: 4/15

Recommended for fans of The Lunar Chronicles, Serpent & Dove, and Sorcery of Thorns.