I’ve just started diving into Marissa Meyer’s catalogue and I was so excited to get a pre-release of Renegades. I love superhero origin stories, dystopias, and pretty covers, and Renegades has all three wrapped in nearly 600 pages of badass-ery. (PS, don’t let the length daunt you, you’re going to breeze through it too because the world is so engaging and the characters are awesome.)

Let’s dive in, shall we?

The 411: Our world is one where people with X-Men-like abilities, aka prodigies, historically were forced to keep their powers a secret and live underground. Enter Ace Anarchy, who rose to be a prominent figure, fighting for acceptance of prodigies. In response, several “villain” gangs formed, leading to the formation of OG “hero” organization, the Renegades, who overthrew Ace and ushered in the age of the Renegades.  Nova Artino is our main gal. Nova is determined to bring down the Renegades after her family was brutally murdered by a villain gang and the Renegades failed to intervene. She also happens to be the niece of one Ace Anarchy.

So the main plot involves Nova, aka Nightmare, infiltrating the Renegades to bring them down from the inside. Before the “I’ve heard this story” thoughts start infiltrating your mind and you completely cross this off…yes, you’ve probably heard/seen this storyline several times. I know I have…and I didn’t care at all. Our other narrator is Adrian, the adopted son of Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden, two of the original council Renegade members. He has the unique ability to draw anything and bring it to life. He’s also hiding some other secrets…dun dun dun

The different array of powers also super impressed me. I feel like we always get the same teleportation, telekinesis, metal manipulation, etc. But there were many abilities in Renegades that I’ve never encountered, i.e. Honey Bee’s swarm of (you guessed it) bees and Monarch’s butterflies.

And because I’m a sucker for teeny bopper romances, there wasn’t as much progress with the main pairing that I would’ve liked, but the pining and inner turmoil was satisfying for a first novel. I can’t wait to see where the story takes off from here.

MY RATING: ✰✰✰✰1/2 (or Novas if you will…ok, I’ll stop)
RECOMMENDED FOR: lovers of superheroes and interesting, well-rounded “villains”

Thank you Feiwel & Friends for my galley! Renegades is available now.