Review of Archenemies by Marissa Meyer

Hot on the heels of my ecstatic review of Renegades, I bring you the sequel! Which I didn’t realize was the second in a trilogy (I thought it was a duology for some reason), but it shows. Archenemies is peak middle book syndrome. Aside from that, however, it’s basically what it says on the tin, and I’m not mad about it. Marissa Meyer continues to unspool this story of superpowered prodigies, divided loyalties, and dangerous obsessions.

Spoilers for the first book but not for this one!

Nova continues her life as a double agent within the Renegades: Insomnia to them, Nightmare to her Anarchist found family. Her goal? Retrieve Ace Anarchy’s helmet, once believed destroyed but now under lock and key in the Renegade Tower. As pieces fall into place that bring Nova closer to this goal, an unfortunate wrinkle develops: she is actually having feelings for Adrian. Gross! Seriously though—this is actually a cute, slow-burn romance that this aromantic gal has few issues with.

Everything I liked about Renegades is still present in Archenemies. We learn a little more about Max’s power and how the senior Renegades have chosen to deploy it. The Renegade leadership continues to walk the line between well-meaning and overbearing in the decisions it makes for “the greater good.” While their slow march towards more overtly fascist leadership feels obvious to me, I reminded myself this is a young-adult novel. From that perspective, I think Meyer is doing a good job exploring the way grey morality and conflicting loyalties can cause people to rationalize doing terrible things, whether it’s for the greater good or simply to right what they perceive as a wrong against a loved one.

In this respect, Nova’s role as a conflicted protagonist is crucial. She remains incredibly sympathetic because we understand her motives—moreover, she retains a sense of right and wrong the other Anarchists don’t seem to have preserved. Her interactions with Max, Oscar, Ruby, and Adrian always underscore this, setting her at odds with the Anarchists more than once, even as she strives to fulfill her mission on behalf of her uncle.

I enjoyed seeing the relationships among side characters, such as Oscar and Ruby’s romance, develop slightly here. I would have liked to see Nova develop more friendships beyond Adrian or the group dynamic within her team. Give me some female friendship between Nova and Ruby. Give me some competitive bonding moments between Nova and Oscar. Something.

However, the book is tightly edited and still quite long (and felt like it dragged in places), so I suppose such scenes, even if they were written, might have been cut.

Archenemies quite artfully raises the stakes of the previous book and continues to plunge Nova—and by extension, the reader—deeper into moral conflict. Yet something about it didn’t satisfy me as much as the first book. I labelled it “second book syndrome” in my intro, and I think I’m right. Or to be more precise, this book raises the stakes but doesn’t really elevate the world Meyer built for us in Renegades. We still haven’t seen or heard much of anything beyond Gatlon City. Though there are new threats now to prodigies, we haven’t explored Nova’s powers much more than we did in the first book. So as a sequel and a novel, Archenemies is serviceable. As a work of superhero drama, it’s missing out on some of the super stuff. Meyer doesn’t push that dimension forward as much as I’d like (but maybe that’s just me).

Entirely recommended if you liked the first book, but I am glad I started with the first book!