Review: Renegades by Marissa Meyer

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Summary

Nova Artino wants vengeance against the Renegades -- a band of superheroes who are dedicated to preserving law and order after the chaos of the Age of Anarchy. Nova has reasons to hate the Renegades, and nothing will stop her in her mission to assassinate her prime target -- Captain Chromium, the head of the Renegade Council. Well, almost nothing. When she is inducted into the Renegades, she meets Adrian Everheart, and suddenly, everything gets more complicated.

Adrian Everheart wants justice. As a member of the Renegades, he knows that obeying the code is vital to maintain order. But when he discovers the mysterious villain Nightmare may have something to do with his mother's murder, he is desperate for answers. Under the guise of the Sentinel, he searches for the answers to the questions that have plagued him for years.

My Review

I really liked this book. The whole idea of a superhero uprising -- and then superheroes trying to rebuild the world afterwards -- was such a neat concept. Plus, the uniqueness of many of the characters powers was so, so interesting. For instance, Red Assassin, one of the Renegades, creates weapons out of her blood, which crystallizes into solid ruby. Another, Monarch, turns into a swarm of butterflies. The two main characters, Nova and Adrian, also had unique powers: Nova can put people to sleep at a touch, and never sleeps herself. Adrian can make his drawings come to life.

The characterization was varied. The Anarchists all had interesting personalities, and were definitely characters in their own right. Nova was a superb main character, and her POV was always fun to read. Her main dilemma -- whose side is she truly on? -- is compelling. Ruby and Oscar, two of the Renegades on Adrian's team, were extremely well developed as well.
On the flip side, Adrian himself was not a very interesting character. He had his moments, but overall was kind of bland, especially when compared to the other, stronger characters. The members of the Council, too, were all very flat.

As for plot and pacing, I thought it was done well. Of course, something about Meyer's writing style always pulls me in and keeps me flipping pages, so I can't really relate to anyone who says that the pacing was slow. I honestly thought the story progressed at a quick enough pace to keep me engaged, but not so fast that I'm left gasping for breath with no room for character development.

As for content... The main thing that bugged me was the gay couple. Though it wasn't a large part of the story, I don't like the portrayal of anti-Biblical lifestyles whatsoever, and I feel like it could have been taken out with no detriment to plot or character development -- basically, it was just "there to be there."
Apart from that, there were a few instances of minor swearing, a few references of wanting to touch another person (romantically) and mentions of kissing. Violence was there, but was not described graphically by any means.

Overall, I recommend this book for ages 16 and up.




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