Center for Teaching & Learning

When Nova Artino’s Uncle Ace is killed in a battle, along with his invincible helmet, Nova and her fellow Anarchists are forced to move down into the sewers like rats. Nova is a young girl who would do anything to avenge her parents, little Evee, and now her uncle. On the other hand is a young Renegade, (the Anarchist’s nemesis) named Adrian Everhart, the son of Lady Indomitable, the deceased Renegade. He’s now under the wing of the Grand Warden and Captain Chromium, the invincible superhero. No one knows how Lady Indomitable fell from a building with the ability of flight, or who did it. 

Some people in the world of the book have special abilities since they were born. Nova can put people to sleep with her touch, and Adrian can draw objects and scenes and make them come alive. 

After failed tries by Nova to kill captain Chromium, she decides to go undercover as a Renegade for the recruitment every year. She gets in as Insomnia— she never needs to sleep. She makes friends quickly on her team: Ruby, who can grow red crystals instead of blood and makes weapons from it; Oscar, who can make smoke come out of his hands in any shape or form he wants; Danna, who can turn into one hundred butterflies and back into a human, and Adrian. Eventually, she will have to decide— Adrian or her family.

The book is written in the third person with switching perspectives from Adrian to Nova, and Meyer has an effective way to describe the objects in the room to make it seem like the reader is there with Nova and Adrian. Meyer also includes effective dialogue to make the situation seem believable. I enjoyed how Meyer could trick the reader into believing something that might not be true or to hide something to make her audience want to read more. She also creates suspenseful scenes, like when they are on their missions or when Adrian comes to visit Nova’s house. 

Meyer also had the characters change throughout the novel. For example, in the beginning, Nova was wanting nothing but revenge, but she matures and shows what she really wants inside of herself. Adrian starts out being an awkward teenager with superpowers, but he starts maturing, becoming an adult, and making his own decisions against the council. 

I loved how this book showed what would happen if the audience were living in a society with people that have superpowers. She showed it would be the rejects vs. the people in power that rose to the top. But in this situation, the people who didn’t have powers were under the control of Renegades. 

The pace of the book made the reader want to continue, with suspenseful scene after suspenseful scene. Meyer lets the characters cross paths without knowing it or go on missions together, and it keeps the audience reading for the moment where Adrian will find out that Nova is Nightmare. 

I rate this book a ten out of ten, and I recommend its high suspense and action to anybody who enjoys action-adventure, sci-fi, and romance. The third book in the Renegades series has just come out, and it is phenomenal. Meyer has also written the Cinder series, which is science fiction, and I loved it. This is not a book to be missed with its compelling story and lovable characters.

Nestor

Feiwel & Friends, 592 pages