There was a substantial amount of hype surrounding Marissa Meyer's Renegades series. Alas, it was not my favourite. (Although, I can see why so many people might love it.)


Renegades
by Marissa Meyer

Secret Identities. Extraordinary Powers. She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies — humans with extraordinary abilities — who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone... except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice — and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.







Marissa Meyer is a personal favourite author of mine, so you can understand why I was so excited to finally get my hands on a copy of Renegades. I've almost always had a great relationship with her novels. Her books are always action-packed, romantic and utterly delightful. My anticipation was real with Renegades, but perhaps that is why it went so wrong for me.

By wrong, I don't mean that this novel is inherently bad. I mean to say: this just wasn't my cup of tea. In theory, Renegades had a great deal of thrills and romance set within its pages. It was neither here nor there, for me, personally, due to some cliches and other things that felt drastically... overdone. My feelings towards this book can be summed up in one word: underwhelmed.

While Meyer's writing is as smooth, and easy to slip into, as ever, there was this constant nagging feeling in the back of my mind that just felt like something was missing from Renegades. Even in its more electric moments, I found myself asking its ink, "Is this all? Is that all?"

And then felt guilty that I wasn't connecting with the story like I'd wanted to.

(See: I adore Marissa Meyer.)

Regardless of my lukewarm feelings towards it, there was a lot of good in Renegades.

It was entertaining enough, for starters. Even though it wasn't my favourite, there are a couple of things that need to be noted when it comes to praising the novel. 1. Meyer actively went into diverse territory, once more, making sure that there was more to be seen. 2. Its use of superheroes, morally grey characters, unique magic system and its reliance on generally entertaining tropes makes it a great fit for newer readers.