Renegades (series) - 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.

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

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I’m a huge fan of Marissa Meyer. It started when I read the Lunar Chronicles a couple of years ago. It took me a little while to get into the first book in the series - Cinder - but when I did, I fell in love with the series. It didn’t take me long to devour the rest. Earlier this year, I read Heartless, which I was again dubious about. Knowing how the story of the Queen of Hearts ends, I wasn’t sure I’d find much interest in the backstory Meyer created. Once again, I was proven wrong.

I should have expected the same to happen with this series. I received the books for Christmas, but it took me a little while to finally pick them up. I’m not really a huge fan of superhero stories, and so I thought this would be a miss for me. However, Meyer’s track record was good, so I decided to give it a shot.

How glad I am I did. As soon as I started reading, it had me hooked. The different points of view mean we get to learn a lot about a wide range of different characters quickly, and what amazing characters they were. I fell in love with the world that had been created, and with every chapter I read, I sped even more quickly through the next. 

This book isn’t about heroes triumphing over villains. It’s about humanity, and how that is something that is never black or white. People aren’t good or evil; they are all of the different shades in between. Also… everybody can be a superhero.

Rating: ✫✫✫✫✫

The Concept

In order for this story to work, there had to be an entirely new, convincing world created. I absolutely loved what Meyer did with it. This is a world where some people develop superpowers. If they do, they either become a superhero or a supervillain. 

The Renegades are the biggest network of superheroes, making up the ‘police’ of the city of Gatlon. This made for a really interesting spin on the superhero style. Most such stories show superheroes aiding the regular police force with any criminals, but instead, this story saw them replace it. The Renegades Council oversees the city. If you’re a prodigy, you can try out to be a Renegade. If not, or if you’re rejected, you have to settle for admiring from afar.

The superpowers that some prodigies had were really interesting. Sketch with his ability to bring drawings to life, Nightmare with her ability to put people to sleep with one touch, and the Bandit, with the ability to absorb the powers of others, were among my favourites. Although some of the cliches were in there (flying, super-strength and invisibility, to name a few), l liked that we got to see different spins on what we would consider a super-power. Some were really outside the box, and it kept me intrigued. It was a little difficult to keep track sometimes, but I loved learning about the different characters.

The villain squads who want to overthrow the Renegades were really fascinating. I found it especially interesting that we get to follow the narrative of one such villain - Nightmare. You get to connect with her, see what motivates her, and understand why she doesn’t believe in the widespread admiration of the Renegades. I loved to see that this wasn’t good vs evil, heroes vs villains. This showed us that you can be a good person and do bad things, or a bad person who did good. People aren’t all one or the other. In these books, we follow one hero who decides that being a Renegade isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be, and a villain who begins to see beauty in the regime. It’s a good commentary on society and authority, and I loved the messages that were shared through the story.

It was a detailed, well crafted world with really lovely, relatable characters, both good and evil. I loved each book more than the last, and Supernova left me with a book hangover for quite some time.

If you read beyond this point, beware of spoilers!

The Characters

Nova/Nightmare

Our resident villain, ready to bring down the government authority that she believes let her and her family down. It’s a solid story, and I really did like Nova. She’s fierce, strong and independent, as well as having a vulnerable quality that makes her incredibly relatable. She’s doing what she believes is right, and that vision of right changes as she learn more about the world. I did find her a bit of a pain sometimes, as she blindly supported her uncle, despite seeing with her own eyes that maybe things aren’t quite as she was led to believe. However, I had to admire her conviction, and I loved her power: being able to put people to sleep with one touch. Pretty cool. Plus, her relationship with Adrian was TOO. DAMN. CUTE.

Adrian/Sketch/The Sentinel

Here we have the other half of our narrating team. Adrian is a wholesome character, and I could easily make an argument for saying he was my favourite of the series. He was sweet, kind, and entirely good, but he didn’t blindly follow what he was told to. He saw the grey areas, and he tried to do something about it. His alter-ego, the Sentinel, is the hero we always imagine, and I thought it was really cool how Adrian made him out of his own power. The tattoos he designs and the way it helped to protect him was a really unique and interesting touch. I also loved knowing that he and Nova both had alter-egos, but didn’t know it. Brilliant!

The Anarchists:
Leroy/Cyanide; Honey/Queen Bee; Winston/The Puppeteer; Ingrid/The Detonator; Phobia; Ace Anarchy 

I'm not gonna lie, I'm so glad the book had a list of characters at the beginning, because there were so many characters to keep track of. With all their names and pseudonyms, and with different sets of good and back characters, it could get a little confusing. The Anarchists were really interesting. I can't say I liked them, necessarily, but they were a hell of a cast of characters. Between them, they are scary, creepy, sassy, lethal, and silly. What a team.

The Renegades:
Ruby/Red Assassin; Oscar/Smokescreen; Danna/Monarch

And talking of teams, this is one hell of a squad! It was a little too easy to make another romantic pairing of Ruby and Oscar, but hey, I loved it! The comic relief and sheer sass those two bring is a wonderful thing, and they were among my favourite characters. I wasn't as keen on Danna, although it's not necessarily because she was the one who figured out Nova's secret. I just thought she was a bit whiny and I couldn't take to her as much. 

The Council:
Hugh/Captain Chronium; Simon/The Dread Warden; Max/The Bandit

Nova hates the council, and so it's built into us from the off as the reader that they cannot be trusted. However, over the course of the series, we get to see what they're really like, and it introduces us to some wonderful personalities. Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden make the CUTEST couple, and you can see they genuinely do care about Adrian, and the Renegades organisation. Although I don't think of the decisions they make are the best, they have the best interests of everyone at heart, and that comes through more and more over the course of the series. Max, on the other hand, is lovable from the off. He's the most powerful and dangerous prodigy, and yet he locks himself away because he wants to protect everyone. His relationship with Adrian was the sweetest, and I'm really glad that his role became bigger and bigger as the books progressed.

The Rest:
Genissa/Frostbite; Callum/Wonder; Magpie

Genissa is pure evil. 

Callum is pure and deserved so much more. 

Magpie: WHAT?!


When reading the series, I had so many thoughts that struck me, and I'm going to attempt to document them here. No doubt it'll be crazed and messy, but if you're interested in hearing my thoughts on each of the books, keep reading!

Book 1: Renegades

I loved that the story started in the middle of the action. It was incredibly hard to follow at first but I was surprised to find that it actually forced me to distinguish the characters much quicker, which I don't think was a bad thing. It's often hard to keep track of so many different characters in a fictional world, and being forced to keep track really did help.

We learn the difference between the Renegades and the Anarchists, and especially Nova and Adrian. Nova's inability to shoot Captain Chromium tells us that although she is angry, she isn't a killer. She doesn't believe that it is the best course of action for Gatlon. I liked that this set up her character straight away; she is weary of the world she lives in and knows it needs to change, but she isn't entirely convinced assassination is the right way to go. The subsequent chapters where we learn about her backstory, her past, and why she is where she is were so interesting. I loved that we got  real depth of story straight away. So many books fail because they only reach a surface level story, but this made for a very immersive world almost immediately.

When we add in the appearance of the Sentinel, and the Puppeteer being captured, it made for a very interesting opening sequence. It definitely gripped me straight away. It was especially fun to flit between the perspectives of Nova and Adrian. We get to see what's happening on both good and bad teams, and it kept me on my toes.

The idea that prodigies need to audition to join the Renegades was super interesting. It really does demonstrate Nova's point that the system is flawed, as those not chosen are, we imagine, cast out. However, the cene was really fun and I can imagine it making a great one on screen. The fact that Nova was attempting to join whilst undercover, Adrian's unexplainable faith in her, and her decision to take on Gargoyle as a challenger were all really great moves. It was one of my favourite scenes as it really set up the plot to reach the next level of intrigue.

Witnessing Nova join Adrian's team and work with them was surprisingly tense. I winced every time she could have been caught out, and knowing she and Adrian were both hiding secrets was a good experience as a reader. We spend the book wondering when the secrets are going to come out, and it really helped me keep up my reading pace. That added intrigue made me really fly through the story. It was super fun to watch their relationship develop whilst knowing when the truth came out it would be shattered. It was the combination of different tropes that I love. Friends to lovers, but also enemies to lovers at the same time. Very clever!

I wasn't sure what to make of the underlying theme of Adrian trying to find out who killed his mother. I knew that it had to be leading somewhere, but I wasn't quite sure where that could be. However, looking back I think it was very clever how this was scattered through the books, as now we know that the person he was looking for was right in front of him all along.

The ending of the big was very dramatic, which I did enjoy. Superheroes and villains require a big bang, and I knew it had the potential to be explosive. To be honest though, I was just glad when we reached the point where the Detonator died, because she was, frankly, doing my head in. That Nightmare was the one to do it really made for a plot twist, and I could see that it was set up nicely for the next book. The Detonator made so much drama out of the Renegades through the book, and how much she hated them, that I'm not surprised that Nightmare had enough, especially as the Detonator was prepared to kill tonnes of people to get her own way. It really shone that first light on the difference between good and evil. The Detonator is a villain, because she is only interested in pursuing her own ends. Nova, on the other hand, is willing to make sacrifices, but only if it is better for everybody. She may define herself as a villain, but she knows it is not that simple. It isn't good or evil, heroes or villains; it is so much more complicated than that.

Then, just as we think it's the close of the book, that reveal. Ace Anarchy is alive. A plot twist that I did not for a second see coming. Dun dun dunnnnn.

Book 2: Archenemies

And so I moved eagerly onto book 2, which I think I read even more rapidly than Renegades. 

The book opens with Adrian's team on a mission, which results in a lot of wounds, an escaped villain prodigy by the name of Hawthorn, and the Sentinel seemingly dead in the river. Not a great moment for this apparent hero, although an interesting moment for his alter ego-Adrian. It would have been, as Max told him, an easy moment to bow out of the mess he was getting himself into. But of course he didn't take it. Naturally.

Nova, meanwhile, works in the artefacts department of Renegades headquarters, sorting and managing some interesting and dangerous objects that many of the Renegades had forgotten about. What I liked about Nova was that she sees the value in the ordinary, and the potential in every person or object. She's doing this job to forward the villain cause, but that's besides the point. Like I said, grey areas. Although the whole saga with the helmet did do my head on, as it went on for such a long time. To make up for it, however, we are introduced to the sweetheart Callum, which did make it a little better.

One of the most, if not the most important element of the plot of Archenemies is the introduction of Agent N, an antidote designed to remove a prodigy's powers if they are not using them in a way that is approved by the Renegades. This is a really huge symbol of government power, and how far it can be deemed reasonable. Danna was, unsurprisingly, all for the use of the antidote, but I was glad to see both Nova and Adrian were reluctant to it. It's a fictional interpretation of an ongoing debate. Should the government have ultimate power to make that kind of decision? It has uses, but it is also outrageously dangerous too. Reading about Winston losing his powers was quite emotional. Although he was a villain, he was also a human who was being changed irreversibly, and there's something that just doesn't sit well with that. I thought it was a good moral dilemma to throw into the mix, and of course it gave the plot the final direction that it was supposed to take. Nova's reaction spurs the rest of this book and the next on.

One really huge part of the story was Nova and Adrian trying hopelessly to flirt with each other. It was absolutely adorable to read about their different perspectives on it, and at so many points I just wanted to scream at the book to make them kiss already! It's such a weird experience to root for characters that you know are ultimately on different sides of a war, knowing that there is always going to be a messy fallout. I spent so much reading time wondering how on earth it would be resolved, and cheering on their futile attempts at romance anyway. It was a new kind of trope and I am absolutely here for it.

Her appearance at Adrian's house began possibly my favourite sequence of scenes in the whole series. She did a huge bad in manipulating him, but at least I got to see the sweetest interactions between them! The mural Adrian painted was so freaking adorable, and it was so satisfying getting them to finally admit their feelings for each other. Shame she put him to sleep in the middle of their kiss but whatever. At least he helped her sleep too, and for the first time in a long time. Sigh. These guys are too much.

There were a few other bits of the plot that happened in the middle that are not really a huge deal, but I had some thoughts on nonetheless, so excuse my babbling for a moment:

• I loved the consistent plot of Adrian trying to work out how to get closer to Max. Max is the purest character, and when Simon was finally able to give him a hug after so long, it actually made me really emotional.
• I was FUMING knowing that Frostbite had visciously killed Hawthorn and blamed it on the Sentinel. Like, excuse me?! Where does she get the nerve? We don't even get any justice for the Sentinel for this, and it's the one part of this series that left me dissatisfied. I'm sure it was all sorted by Adrian outside the narrative after the events of Supernova, but still! Not cool!
• The progression of Dann's trapped butterfly was equal parts sinister and genius. Stopping her reforming that way was a stroke of absolute genius, both by Nova and Marissa Meyer herself, because it kept the tease going. Somebody close to Adrian knows the truth, but she can't quite get it out in the open. I thought it was incredibly clever. Another bomb waiting to be dropped.

The end of Archenemies was, unsurprisingly, explosive. Nightmare's break-in to Renegade headquarters had me on the edge of my seat as I waited for her to be unmasked, convinced it had to happen here. Sadly, it didn't, and I was left wondering how the hell this whole mess was going to be wrapped up in one final book. Gah! However, Adrian's team being led to Ace was a good plot move. His alter-ego is revealed to his team, and so we do see some progress on that front. 

Nova's ordeal is slightly messier, to say the least. She ends up neautralising two prodigies with Agent N, despite her earlier outrage at the very invention of it. Furthermore, she gets herself into a mess with Frostbite and Max. Am I sorry that Frostbite had to lose her powers to save Max? Not at all. Am I glad Nightmare helped Max? Absolutely, knowing it would come out in Supernova and would help to ease the blow of her real villain status.

As I've said all along, it's humanity that shines through. Nova isn't evil, even though she has broken laws. It's those shades of grey, rearing their heads again. 

What a mess was left to be cleaned up in Supernova.

Book 3: Supernova

I was so excited for Supernova, I started it the same night I finished Archenemies. And I finished it the same night. Oops! 

The final book in the trilogy opens with Nova paranoid that her secret identity has been compromised. It was a weird situation to be in as a reader, knowing all the different angles and just waiting for it to blow up, and I kinda loved it! 

I felt for her when she just wanted to tell the truth about what had happened to Max; that Genissa was responsible for his injury, not Nightmare. When Max finally woke up and told Adrian the truth, it was incredibly satisfying. Meanwhile, Nova and her fellow Anarchists are looking for a way to break out of prison, and she's being blackmailed for the stolen helmet. I grew more and more uneasy knowing that Nova was pursuing a bad path, and when Danna revealed the truth to Adrian's team, I felt so tense. Finally! The moment we'd been building up to for the entire trilogy was here! Nova ends up in prison, Adrian feels betrayed, and everything goes dark.

I really liked the scene where Adrian went to visit Nova in prison. You could see the ache on both sides and it tugged at my heartstrings. I have to say though, I thought it was random and silly for Nova to deny being Nightmare. The game was up, the plot could progress on, and it would have made for an impactful final book. Her denial got her out of jail and added a few more chapters before the next reveal. But it was ultimately just another reveal. Adrian's appearance with flowers on her release was, of course, adorable, though. Nova's return to a new Anarchist lair shows that dissent is growing, and the number of outcast prodigies is extreme. It really felt like there was a revolution brewing. Although, Narcissa's attempt at being Nightmare was a joke, and I cannot see how anybody fell for it. But I digress...

When Nova confronts Hugh in the Renegades headquarters, we get to the crux of the plot. Nova thinks Agent N is a dangerous idea, and her public condemnation of it made for a great scene to read. Soon after, we see the mid-book showdown that really gets things moving. Nova and the Anarchists are moving in on the Renegades event. Their aim was to pacify the Renegades long enough to free Ace. Sadly, Nightmare was left out of the plan to neutralise them. This scene was WILD. Winston reveals the reason he developed the powers he did, which broke my heart. Callum ends up killed, which was a real disappointment, and definitely the saddest death in the series. He deserved so much more.

But the real MVP of the scene was absolutely Adrian, who finally reveals his identity to both Renegades and Anarchists. Yikes! It was such an epic reveal. He protected his father, he took on Ace single-handedly, and he came out of it still standing. It was a solid effort. I loved that Nova got to see him like that, and that he stood proud with it. It was suchhhh a long time coming, but the eventual reveal was totally worth it. I do wish we had seen more discussion between Adrian and his dads about it, because it was very rushed given the fast pace of the plot. Although he obviously did good things, the Sentinel also received a lot of backlash, and I find it hard to believe that they just forgot about it all. He was blamed for murdering Hawthorn for crying out loud! I guess they would have discussed it after the end of the book's events, but I still wish we'd had the opportunity to see more about how that discussion had gone, and how his fathers had reacted to it.

By this point, we're really onto the final stretch of the plot, and it feels MAJOR. Ace goes power crazy and builds a cathedral, Adrian uses his sneaky side to find a way in only to be stopped when the villains are there waiting for him. Then, he and his team find out that Nova is Nightmare... AGAIN. Now, up until this point I had really liked Queen Bee as a character. She was sassy, motherly, and a really fun villain who really seemed to be on the same page as Nova. When it came to her attempting to mutilate Adrian just for the fun of it, I started to get an inkling that maybe she wasn't so great after all!

The sequence of events that follow is the most complicated, detailed and specific set that you can expect from a book of this nature, and it was so action-packed that I absolutely loved it! Hugh sees that Nova has betrayed them, and attempts to kill her to get one up on Ace. Adrian, who sees the spark in Nova that maybe it wasn't all a lie, saves her. Ace commands Nova to kill Adrian, and she cannot do it. He sees in this moment how she really feels, and it is in this moment that Nova realises in return that her mind has changed; she may not be a Renegade, but her perception of goodness and justice has shifted because of them. In the scuffle that follows, Queen Bee is killed, and Adrian helps Nova with her subsequent injuries. This scene gave me so much life! They are so perfect. Adrian's care over Nova, and his ability to see past her mistakes to her true self shows his kind nature. He's a real hero.

And speaking of his heroic side, Adrian has had an ongoing pursuit of knowledge in the background. He wanted to know who killed his mother all those years ago, and he finally gets his truth. Phobia (the most villainy villain in the entire world) was created by a young Adrian, who, unbeknownst to him, drew him to life from his own nightmares. This was such a cool sub-plot that had such a satisfying end. It broke my heart when Nova discovered what had happened, but I'm glad he had the chance to avenge his mother.

At this point, very few prodigies actually have any powers left. Narcissa and Leroy lead some of the villain allies away (and Leroy gives a stern word to Adrian to protect Nova, which made me smile), and we're left with the big guns. On the roof, Ace and Hugh are fighting the big fight. Nova sneaks up behind them and attempts to neutralise him. This was a big scene, because we learn the truth about Nova's past. I'd had an inkling for quite a lot of the series that things can't have been what they seemed on the night Nova's family died, and I was right. When Hugh realises who Nova is, he tells her the truth. It's also clear that learning why Nova acted the way she did gave Hugh the chance to sympathise with her. All will be forgiven, if they can make it out of this alive.

For Nova to learn that the facts she has based her entire life around are fabricated is a huge thing. It's a good job Adrian and Max are there to save the day. The whole helmet thing at the end was, I'm gonna be honest, a little bit weird. Even now, I'm not entirely sure I understand the whole sun-helmet-power thing. But I went with it and enjoyed it a lot! I really thought that, given so many of the prodigies had already lost their powers, we were going to end up with a world prodigy-free. Max would absorb all the powers, and the world would be normal. Although it had been built up to make sense, I thought it would just be a bit of a cop-out! You can't end a superhero story with them all losing their powers! I'm glad they ended up with their powers reinstated. It allows my imagination to plod along imagining what would have happened afterwards, which is a nice place to be.

I thought the last 100 pages were so POWERFUL. It was action-packed, detailed and emotional, and I loved every single second! I would have liked to see more after the end of the battle. We know people are alive and have powers and all is forgiven, but what about the Sentinel and Nightmare chats that needed to be had? What about the Renegades organisation and Agent N? It was perfect but I just wanted more. I guess that's the sign of a good book, that you just want more.

And then there's the epilogue. Whaaaaaaaat? Another book? Magpie as Evie? I NEED MORE.

The Verdict

Utter perfection.