Leta’s Book Review: Renegades by Marissa Meyer

The slow start that I had going into Renegades did not prepare me for how much I would crave more by the end. Meeting Nova and Adrian was spectacular, and it shouldn’t have taken me as long to dive into the action as it did (I blame a hangover from another book).

Adrian is a Renegade, the adopted son of two of Council members (original Renegades). His power is sketching, the ability to draw anything and make it into a reality. Using this power, he’s created a third alter-ego for himself known as the Sentinel. Though he believes that what his dads are doing is right, he doesn’t think they’re doing enough with all the rules superheroes have now.

Nova is the niece of Ace Anarchy, the original Anarchist, and therefore an honorary anarchist herself. As Nightmare, she terrorizes the Council and aims to take them down and allow a more fair and just system to replace them. After going undercover in the Renegades in order to learn more and possibly destroy them from within, she takes the name Insomnia and hides the true nature of her powers.

I’ve always had a thing for superheroes, especially the X-Men. I’ve read the first few hundred issues and have fallen in love with every movie and television show they’ve put out. I love the idea that superpowered humans, or mutants if you’d prefer, would not only evolve into being but take opposing political stances and have battles against each other. The issues in Renegades differ from that of X-Men, but they’re immensely more fascinating to me. I’d say there are four sides in this conflict, and Adrian and Nova represent two of them. However, I think they’ll both find that they believe exactly the same thing, just from different viewpoints.

As always, I loved the way Marissa Meyer wrote these characters. Nova is witty and intelligent, embodying her suspicion and beliefs with a strong air of righteousness. Adrian is sure of himself and kind, already embodying the leader I’m sure he’ll become. They merge and clash with ferocity and shyness and provide the reader with enough tension for a whole planet. I have no idea what to expect from the next two books but based on the cliff-hanger book one left off on, I can’t believe it would be anything less than terrifying and brilliant.