Renegades Series - Marissa Meyer
This was my favorite series I read this year. All my life I’ve looked for superhero novels, but there weren’t really any in the mainstream. And while I’ve learned to enjoy Graphic Novels this past year, I still don’t fall into those the same way I do with books. Finding Marissa Meyer’s Renegades series was such a fun experience for me because of that.
Nova being a villain at the start shifts the perspective of the book and raises a lot of questions as to whether the heroes are actually the good guys. Moving from Renegades to Arch-Enemies to Supernova, Meyer creates a really interesting world of superpowered people and the struggles that go with keeping people safe in such a world, especially when the government is being run by people with powers.
The characters are really where the series shines. Nova/Nightmare/Insomnia and Adrian/Sketch/Sentinel are the two main characters whose perspectives we see. Both of them have secrets that they’re keeping from each other and the Renegades as a whole, leading to much of the tension in the book. They are one of the best pairs I’ve read in YA in a long time and both of their desire to see the Renegades be better than they are is the driving catalyst for the series.
The supporting characters are maybe even more enjoyable. Max/The Bandit is my favorite character in the story. The rest of the team Oscar/Smokescreen, Ruby/Red Assassin, and Danna/Monarch are a delight. The council as a whole is fantastic, but Adrian’s dads Hugh/Captain Chromium and Simon/The Dread Warden, do a ton of the heavy lifting in helping to understand what the Renegades are and what they stand for. The other Anarchists, especially Leroy/Cyanide, help to humanize the other side of the Renegade’s battle and allow for Nova’s story to carry the weight that it does.
The Renegades series is one that I would absolutely recommend and it’s one that gives me hope there is an audience for books like mine!
