[Review] Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Series: Renegades #1

Rating: 3 stars

Format: ARC Paperback

Release Date: November 7th 2017

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

I feel bad about being the black sheep for this one because I normally like Marissa Meyer's books! I loved Heartless, and The Lunar Chronicles/Wires and Nerves were lovely and full of badass heroines. And I love superhero movies (Marvel fangirl right here who just saw Thor: Ragnarok and LOVED IT).

I just couldn't get into Renegades.

The premise is interesting enough. Superhero school and "good guys" vs. "bad guys". That reminds me, The Incredibles 2 is coming out next year!

Plus Filipina/Italian protagonist! Filipino anything makes me happy.

Anyhow, in Gatlon City, there exists two factions - Renegades and Anarchists. Renegades believe in order and law, while Anarchists believe in freedom to do anything. Of course, to many, this equals a typical good vs. evil fight. This is not exactly the case, as Nova, an orphan girl, has come to despise the Renegades, who were supposed to be the saviors of the city. She teams up with a group of Anarchists to wreck havoc and revenge upon them. But perhaps the best way to learn about your enemies is to join them.

For half of the book, there's a buildup towards this point. It's all one very big introduction. We learn about the Renegades, the Anarchists, and their alias/real names. And this can be very confusing when they switch back and forth. This part was more expository than plot based, and I found myself kind of bored with it. However, I will admit their powers are all very cool. Turning into butterflies, making someone sleep, drawing anything to life - pretty unique powers here!

The second half picks up, once Nova enters the Renegades as Insomnia, the hero who never sleeps. There's a lot more action here, with Adrian and his team searching for Nightmare (who is actually Nova) and the hidden Anarchists. And that plot twist at the end (no spoilers here) - makes me interested in picking up the sequel!

All in all, Renegades felt like a setup for the rest of the series. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's left me with more questions than answers, more information than action. It would be best for me to wait out the rest of the series before picking up the other books.