Renegades (4/5)

As a child, did you ever wish you had superpowers? Or that you could fight beside your favorite superhuman heroes from movies and books alike? Renegades by Marissa Meyer is a YA superhero fiction novel, the first in a series of three books, published in the year of 2015. The novels include high action, stakes, and romance, with plots to assassinate government officials, attempts to rebuild a society brought to the brink of destruction, and espionage shenanigans, with an eccentric cast of main and supporting characters, which can grant you those feelings. Our main character, Nova Artino, better known by her villain alias of “Nightmare,” is a young adult girl with a skill for building makeshift weapons, and an ability that allows someone to sleep at the touch of her hand, and also the power to never fall asleep. Introduced into the world of villainy at a very young age, being a part of the famous villain group “The Anarchists,” she has a pessimistic “kill or be killed” mindset, hating the so-called heroes of the world with a vicious fury. Directly contrasting this is Adrian Everhart, the adopted son of famous heroes Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden, he possesses the unique ability to draw on any surface, then to bring his doodles to life. An amature hero, known as “Sketch,” he is the leader of his hero patrol team, but even with his heroic appearances and famous lineage, he has many hidden depths not even his fathers know. When the two cross paths, a star crossed romance blooms, Nova, Adrian, and the other members of his team, Oscar and Ruby engage in many hijinks throughout the book, butting heads, and even working together in unexpected ways. Personally, I think the book is a good read, if not a bit lazy with its naming conventions. I mean, naming the drawing hero “Sketch?” The butterfly hero “Monarch?” And hey, I bet you’ll never guess what they named the guy with smoke powers! (News flash, its Smokescreen.) And even with how strong our heroic cast is, you can't help but feel that they are a bit outmatched by the villains. Who do you think would win a fight, a guy who can make shapes out of smoke and a girl who bleeds gemstones, or a puppeteer who can mind control people and a woman who can conjure bombs out of thin air? Shockingly, it often won't be the side that you think. Another problem I have with the book is the characterization of Nova, who we follow for most of the book. While I appreciate the effort to write a dark, traumatized character placed within such a bubbly eccentric cast, she just comes off as a female reskin of Batman with the budget of two pennies. But my most glaring issue is the romance, which usually I have nothing against, but for some reason YA novelists seemingly are allergic to not infecting their book with it. The romance between Nova and Adrian develops far too fast, as they barely know each other for more than a few weeks, and despite Nova’s apparent “hatred” for heroes she falls head over heels for Adrian easily. The romance utterly breaks the darker and more serious tone the book is attempting to feel, and it honestly comes off as a cop-out, or even filler to try and bridge between the actually interesting content. I feel that if Nova and Adrian stayed as good friends and instead shifted this romantic arc more onto Oscar and Ruby, Adrians team members, not only would it have better developed their characters, but it would have also allowed the lovey-dovey mush to stay in the book. But you may be asking, if you hate the book so much, why did you give it such a high rating? Well, frankly, the worldbuilding and character interactions are wonderfully written, and bring the fictional world Gatalon city into reality. The scene between Adrian’s teammates discussing how they got their powers through traumatic events, with him being unable to relate due to being born with them. Or even Nova’s unfortunate living situation, being forced to sleep in abandoned train cars in the forgotten metro system of the city, alongside all the other members of the Anarchist gang. The establishing scene of the book, the Hero parade does wonderfully to set up the tone and general feeling of the book, and does a great job of introducing concepts and key items, such as Nova’s bracelet quite subtly. Overall, I say the book is a great read if you want action packed superhero content, with a more modern writing twist and some of the wonderful unive