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A review by pursuingcolor
Renegades by Marissa Meyer
3.0
It was good.
I wasn't blown away, but I wasn't bored either. It was intriguing, but also cliche and cringey.
I love the idea of it more than I actually loved the book. I felt like the execution was lacking in a couple areas:
1) Nova's motivations. It kinda felt like she kept repeating this mantra all throughout the book that the Council had to die so that everyone could fend for themselves and have "freedom," but this idea of anarchy was extremely underdeveloped. Like, it felt like Nova herself didn't really know what that meant or what it would look like... which makes it a bad motivation. She was SO set on getting rid of the Council and so mad about the Renegades, and I think her SOLE motivation SHOULD'VE been revenge for her family. That was a clear motivation, and it did play a major part in her actions... but then she kept circling back to this "anarchy society" idea, which was messy and underdeveloped...
UNTIL THE VERY. LAST. CHAPTERS. Only THEN does Nova start thinking of it in a comprehensive way that actually makes sense. I don't want to spoil it, but honestly only in the last 5 chapters did I really fully understand what Nova Artino and the Anarchists wanted.
And that's NOT GOOD.
As the reader, I should've known what she wanted the whole time! Or at LEAST earlier in the book! It made her actions and desires just seem wishy washy and unrealistic, all the way up until the end!
That is my main complaint with this story.
2) My other complaint is Nova and Adrian's relationship.
I just... I don't see it. I don't feel it. I don't ship it. It feels so forced. SUE ME. I like them better as friends and partners, but their whole relationship just feels forced... Nova keeps thinking, "Oh, he's so cute, but I have other thinks to focus on..." and I'm just here like-- YEAH YOU DO GIRL. HE'S PROBABLY NOT EVEN THAT CUTE.
Anyway.
TL;DR:
A decent sci-fi book! It's written for YA, so there was no romance (only flirting), but there was gore at certain parts. Not too descriptive, probably equal to any superhero movie or book you will find. If you're obsessed with dystopian, superhero-based fiction, definitely read this! It was fun and thrilling. My complaints with it are small and picky.
I wasn't blown away, but I wasn't bored either. It was intriguing, but also cliche and cringey.
I love the idea of it more than I actually loved the book. I felt like the execution was lacking in a couple areas:
1) Nova's motivations. It kinda felt like she kept repeating this mantra all throughout the book that the Council had to die so that everyone could fend for themselves and have "freedom," but this idea of anarchy was extremely underdeveloped. Like, it felt like Nova herself didn't really know what that meant or what it would look like... which makes it a bad motivation. She was SO set on getting rid of the Council and so mad about the Renegades, and I think her SOLE motivation SHOULD'VE been revenge for her family. That was a clear motivation, and it did play a major part in her actions... but then she kept circling back to this "anarchy society" idea, which was messy and underdeveloped...
UNTIL THE VERY. LAST. CHAPTERS. Only THEN does Nova start thinking of it in a comprehensive way that actually makes sense. I don't want to spoil it, but honestly only in the last 5 chapters did I really fully understand what Nova Artino and the Anarchists wanted.
And that's NOT GOOD.
As the reader, I should've known what she wanted the whole time! Or at LEAST earlier in the book! It made her actions and desires just seem wishy washy and unrealistic, all the way up until the end!
That is my main complaint with this story.
2) My other complaint is Nova and Adrian's relationship.
I just... I don't see it. I don't feel it. I don't ship it. It feels so forced. SUE ME. I like them better as friends and partners, but their whole relationship just feels forced... Nova keeps thinking, "Oh, he's so cute, but I have other thinks to focus on..." and I'm just here like-- YEAH YOU DO GIRL. HE'S PROBABLY NOT EVEN THAT CUTE.
Anyway.
TL;DR:
A decent sci-fi book! It's written for YA, so there was no romance (only flirting), but there was gore at certain parts. Not too descriptive, probably equal to any superhero movie or book you will find. If you're obsessed with dystopian, superhero-based fiction, definitely read this! It was fun and thrilling. My complaints with it are small and picky.