SOPHIE LI

Hi everyone!

I ended up really enjoying the Renegades series by Marissa Meyer. I devoured the whole series within a span of weeks (which is fast for me!!) and it came at the right time to kick me out of a reading slump. Today I’ll share mini-reviews for both books in this series.

Disclaimer: The below are spoiler-free reviews for Archenemies and Supernova. I did my best to keep the reviews spoiler-free in general, however cannot promise that there are no spoilers for Renegades. (Check out my review for Renegades here!)

The Renegades Trilogy continues, in this fiercely awaited second installment after the New York Times-bestselling Renegades by Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles.

Time is running out.
Together, they can save the world.
But they each other’s worst nightmare.

In Renegades, Nova and Adrian (aka Insomnia and Sketch) fought the battle of their lives against the Anarchist known as the Detonator. It was a short-lived victory.

The Anarchists still have a secret weapon, one that Nova believes will protect her. The Renegades also have a strategy for overpowering the Anarchists, but both Nova and Adrian understand that it could mean the end of Gatlon City – and the world – as they know it.

• The characters!!
• I really loved Nova and Sketch who continued to have sizzling chemistry that kept me reading.
• The secondary characters were fun to read about as well, from Ruby and Oscar (who were super cute) to the sweet Max. I loved that the characters were relatable and each had their own stories.

• The plot was slower moving than book 1. There were fewer actions scenes but despite this an element of tension ran throughout the book which made me not want to put it down. Despite and because of the slightly slower pace, this book gave room for Nova and Adrian’s relationship to develop. To be honest I really couldn’t count this against the book!

The epic conclusion to Marissa Meyer’s thrilling Renegades Trilogy finds Nova and Adrian fighting to keep their identities secret. While the battle rages on between their alter egos and their allies, there is a darker threat shrouding Gatlon City.

The Renegades’ worst enemy is back among them, threatening to reclaim Gatlon City. Nova and Adrian must brave lies and betrayal to protect those they love. Their greatest fears are about to come to life, and unless they can bridge the divide between heroes and villains, they stand to lose everything. Including each other.

Intrigue and action will leave readers on edge until the final, shocking secrets are revealed.

• Again, I LOVED the characters in this series. Nova and Sketch had great chemistry.
• The secondary and even minor characters had stories of their own and seemed relatable and three-dimensional, despite the few pages they had. It was really hard to find a character that I didn’t like. 
• Max was the cutest. Oscar and Ruby were the dorkiest and most adorable duo.
• I loved the parent-child dynamics and non-romantic relationships which were very well conveyed.
• One character’s story which unexpectedly resonated with me was Winston Pratt (the Puppeteer) who I admittedly didn’t like for much of the series. He turned out to be perhaps one of the most human characters in the whole story (for me at least!)
• Even though this was a sci-fi novel with lots of action scenes, I loved the amount of thought that went into each of the characters and their backstories.
• The plot was full of twists and turns, some that I saw coming and some that took me by surprise. I liked that there was tension and suspense from beginning to end.
• I literally read the book in one sitting.
• I liked the themes of the book, one of which was that everyone had their own stories, and that no one was truly villainous or heroic.
• The writing and world building were amazing. I was in awe of all the magnificent imagination that went into the world.

• While the plot kept me engaged, I thought the pacing was kind of funky for the first half of the story. It almost felt as if I wanted the first 30% to have happened at the end of Archenemies rather than the beginning of Supernova? Hard to explain without actually revealing the plot points. But the pacing felt kind of off there.
• I wasn’t 100% a fan of the ending. Without giving too much away, I guess I was hoping that there would be more…. subtlety? 

4/5 fishies!

Although I had a few small qualms about the pacing and the series ending, they didn’t stop me from reading both books in one big gulp. Archenemies & Supernova made me laugh and cry. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy/ sci-fi!