Review of Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Marissa Meyer is one of those authors always adjacent to my radar, never quite on it. I want to say I tried Cinder once and bounced off it, but I can’t actually say for sure. In any event, I noticed the sequel to Renegades on a shelf at my library and promptly checked out both books. I am a sucker for superhero remixes, and this one looked good. However, I have been burned by them in the past—they are tricky to get right—and at the very beginning of this book, I was nervous. Fortunately, Meyer sticks the landing.

Nova watches her parents get murdered at six years old. Instead of becoming Batman, however, she gets taken in by her uncle—who also happens to be Ace Anarchy, the most powerful and founding member of the Anarchists. These superpowered “prodigies” have wreaked havoc on Galton City. Fast forward ten years. Nova is now a teen, her uncle was murdered nine years ago by the eponymous Renegades, and she is hellbent on revenge. She hatches on a scheme whereby she infiltrates the Renegades, joining up as one of them: Insomnia. Living a double life as Insomnia to her new Renegade team and the wanted fugitive Nightmare to her Anarchist found family, Nova is a textbook case of divided loyalties. Whose side will she come down on in when it counts the most?

The opening of Renegades is great from a technical point of view. Much like an action film, we get a big, explosive set piece that introduces us to some of the main characters while getting us excited. However, as with a lot of superhero fiction, sometimes things that look great in comics or on television come across as clunky in prose. It’s one thing to show a superpower being used and another to describe it only in writing. I think this is what a lot of authors who want to write a superhero novel struggle with, and Meyer here is no exception.

What saves this book, honestly, is the strength of the interpersonal characterization. Nova and Adrian are such a great duo. They are both keeping secrets—from each other and from the people close to them. Their motivations are in lockstep, both traumatized by a close personal loss. I found some of their individual characterization a bit over the top at times—yet that kind of melodrama is probably appropriate for this subgenre.

Meyer walks a fine line in her portrayal of the Renegades. It would be easy to turn this book into a “Nova learns the Renegades were the good guys all along” parable; similarly, she could have turned it into “Ah-hah, the Renegades are the bad guys all along and have evil designs on humanity.” Without spoiling it, the truth is definitely somewhere in between. The Renegades have positive and negative qualities. Some of them are giant dicks. Some of them truly mean well. To that end, Meyer shows us how much Nova struggles as she infiltrates their ranks. She befriends her team members. Is attracted to Adrian. Genuinely adores and acts against her best interests to save Max. Yet it’s clear she hasn’t completely been converted to the Renegade cause—and honestly, that might be a good thing?

One of the themes that emerges later in the book is the idea that maybe the powers, not the prodigies who wield them, are the problem. Maybe the world would be a better place if prodigies didn’t exist as such. This is not an original theme, mind you, nor does Meyer explore it with that much gusto (though I have hope that Archenemies will go in that direction). But Renegades excels at highlighting how the powers are not the point. As several so-called allies of Insomnia point out, “not having to sleep” is not the world’s most baller superpower. Nova proves her mettle through her ingenuity and grit. Adrian, likewise, has spun his power, which is not very useful as an offensive ability, into something that can be incredibly versatile. Even though she has come up with such an incredible diversity of prodigy powers, Meyer remains committed to a lens that depicts prodigies as people first, which is fascinating.

All in all, this is one of the more successful novels I have seen to tackle superheroes and superpowers. Much respect to Meyer for not really delving into why prodigies exist (I am filing this under “fantasy” rather than “science fiction” because it seems like magic is involved—there is certainly no attempt to justify anything with science, and some of the powers are frankly ludicrous). Love the moral ambiguity, especially surrounding Nova. The twist at the end is a bit anticlimactic yet, to be honest, delicious. I’m so glad I have the next book in front of me to read soon!