Reviews with content warning for Violence - Archenemies

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Archenemies, by Marissa Meyer

24 reviews

tsar's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“Once we have total power, what's to keep us from becoming villains ourselves?”

At first, I was quite disappointed that Renegades would be a trilogy instead of a two-book series as I believed that the cliffhanger on the first book is perfect to set up the conclusion on the sequel. Alas, I realized that I should take everything with a bit of a grain of salt.

Picking up where the first book leaves off, Archenemies reveals that Ace Anarchy is alive, hiding from the society as he takes his time to strategize another devastating attack against public heroes while waiting for his dear niece to get him his helmet back. On the other hand, the original Renegades, who are now running the Gatlon City as their political rulers with iron fists, have presented the so-called perfect solution to end super-powered crimes in the form of Agent N, a neutralizing serum that would stop people from abusing their power.

In writing this conflict, Meyer offers an empathetic perspective to see the original renegades' psyche thoroughly. Some characters might have questioned the justification to use a bio-weapon as an exchange of heroes, particularly its potential to breach basic human rights. Most of all, the concern that this serum could be an abusive tool of power that could be mistreated by both heroes and villains. The easy dismissal by the original renegades show the changes that have occurred for years; the bright motivation to save the world has transformed into a jaded urge to shape the city as to how they perceive it, tuning the general public's opinions despite knowing that the renegades' choices could directly affect the society as a whole. To an extent, the dispute highlights the bitterness that Anarchists do feel about these heroes in using their powers, granting a certain appeal to illustrate their rebellion against the renegades since its first clash.

If the first book acts as a character introduction of Nova and Adrian, the second book focuses more to illustrate Nova's struggles as a double agent. The narrative writes her as a young woman growing up with the belief that all heroes are selfish and unjust, cherry-picking those who they want to save and marginalizing victims that might have distasteful connections. Moreso, she's consumed with the idea that her uncle and his rebellion would liberate the super-powered society, creating a safe space where both super-powered and normal humans could treat each other with respect. Yet, the reality hits quite different to her; while some heroes are expectedly acting like she presumes them to be, those that she has known better are portrayed to be the opposites of her assumption. For example, her own team has shown much human conscience in doing their job to protect the city, understanding the limitation of what they could or couldn't do against their enemies but being effective in their methods. These conflicting realities allow Nova to form her own idea of justice without the excessive internal influence from her uncle or the sense of vengeance following her since childhood.

Having Nova as the centerpiece of Archenemies does sacrifice a stipend of character development, especially on Adrian, who technically serves as the male protagonist of the series. However, his story doesn't severely lose its identity as he has scenes that allow him to shine, particularly the moments where he has to juggle his position as a student, a budding hero, and somewhat a parent to his adopted little brother who is quarantined for the sake of the greater good.

And so, despite a small critique of the book, Archenemies is a worthy sequel where Meyer has written a narrative that understands the struggle to put with heroism beyond its glorification in society today, which I still believe should be the end of the series altogether instead of a bridge between the first and finale.

Content Warnings

thebookpaiges's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

piper_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

totallybookedforlife's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wanted to read this book because I really enjoyed the Cinder series. So, I thought I would give Marissa’s other work a try. I struggled with the first book, and I also struggled with this book.

Adrian and Nova are each other’s worst nightmare, they just don’t it. In Renegades, Nova and Adrian fought the battle of their lives against the Anarchist known as the Detonator. It was a short-lived victory. The Anarchies still have a secret weapon, one that Nova believes will protect her. The Renegades also have a strategy for overpowering the Anarchists, but both Nova and Adrian understand that it could mean the end of Gatlon City – and the world – as they know it.

This book was boring. I would have loved for the hidden identity of Nightmare and the Sentinel. I felt like this book was just delaying the inevitable. It was filler book with no major thing happening except for Frostbite’s team showing to be the real villains. I felt like every single character is just define by their powers and absolutely nothing else. I would have killed for someone to have an actual personality. Adrian started to annoy the crap out of me about 50% in the book, Nova started to annoy me about 25% in this book. I felt like there was no romance whatsoever in this book and no drama.

There was so much potential that this book could have, but it was just never there. I just wanted more, and I found myself skimming through the last 10% of the book because I was bored and uninterested. I am going to have the read the last book just to hopeful see someone go down, whether it’s the Renegades or Ace, but someone better go down otherwise I'm going to throw the series out of the window.

Content Warnings

robin_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The teenage angst is real in this. It’s Nova and Adrian are full of it. The way they both think they’re in the right in the way they behave and in the things they believe is getting really obnoxious. I get that they both have been raised with certain propaganda around them but despite them seeing how flawed the things are they’ve been taught, they hold on to their anger and their wishes for revenge. It’s a bit annoying but I’m going to read the next book to see what’s going to happen and how the book will end.

Content Warnings

ansleymg's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

We finally get some insight into the corruption of the Renegades in this book, which was my main complaint in the first book. The characters stayed stuck in their ways however.

Spoiler

With Adrian continuously acting as the sentinel and Nova’s practically unwavering support of the Anarchists.

I really enjoyed the fact that we got more information about the minor characters like Honey and Ruby in this book. It makes for a great sequel and I can’t wait to read Supernova.

Content Warnings

anielabooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I’m not gonna lie, this book got me in a reading slump for a while but goddamn that ending was stressful. So much action was packed into the last few chapters. I was on the edge of my seat the ENTIRE time. The miscommunication can get a bit frustrating but that is literally what I signed up for by picking up this book. I’m too invested in the characters so I’ll definitely continue reading this series.

Content Warnings

gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is a solid second book to read. Whilst a lot feels like it didn't happen it does spend a bit of time building up with the last 100 pages popping off in a way that the third book can pick up from.

There were some things about the book that I hope will be better explained in the third book,

Spoiler

in particular why Monarch was suspicious of Nova in the first place. Was it just falling asleep in the hospital from the first book. It just seems very weak. Monarch is probably one of the few character that I actually don't like in this series so far.

With the ending of this book I cannot wait to see what happens and how everything will unfold. I don't really have an idea of where this could go, but do have some hopes.

Content Warnings

k_galloway's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

More...