Renegades (Renegades, Book 1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Published November 7, 2017
Page Count: 576
In the glittering, high-tech skyline of Gatlon City, two factions of superpowered beings stand locked in an uneasy truce. The Renegades are the celebrated heroes who restored order and now govern the city. The Anarchists are the so-called villains who believe that power has merely shifted hands.
Nova Artino is an Anarchist with a secret and a score to settle. Years ago, her family was murdered during a time when the Renegades failed to protect the innocent. Now she has the perfect plan for revenge: infiltrate the Renegades by joining their ranks, earn their trust, and tear their empire down from the inside.
But vengeance becomes complicated when Nova meets Adrian Everhart—a gifted Renegade with a restless conscience. As the son of two of the organization’s most powerful leaders, Adrian carries the weight of legacy on his shoulders. By day, he upholds the law beside the Renegades. By night, he operates as a masked vigilante, questioning the very system he was born into.
As Nova and Adrian grow closer, the lines between hero and villain begin to blur. With secrets mounting and loyalties tested, Nova must decide what matters more: the revenge she’s planned her whole life… or the boy who might change everything.
In a city built on power and perception, who really gets to decide what makes a hero—or a villain?.
Reading Audience:
Middle and High School
Stuff to be aware of:
Gore/Violence - You will find plenty of superhero action including hand to hand combat, assignation attempts, and people being shot at. There are brief mentions of being hung and killed. Someone is shot and the blood from the shot splatters on someone’s face. There is a man shot in the head and blood is splattered everywhere.
Language - There are mentions that characters “curse,” but below is a list of the words that actually show up.
A*s - 1 D*mn - 2 Hell-3
LGBTQ+ - Two male characters are married. They are the adopted parents of one of the main characters. His “dads” are often referenced in the story.
Sexual - A character is mentioned to have “cleavage and curves,” but nothing sexually graphic is mentioned.
Other - There is drinking and a mention of “beer gardens.” Narcotics and drugs are mentioned a few times. Wine is mentioned.
Overall
Most middle schoolers and possibly high schoolers will enjoy this story if they are into superhero love stories. My personal opinion is that the story and the dialogue are not great. Most of the characters are high school age, but their dialogue is a bit cringy. I listened to this book on Libby, so part of it could have been the reader, but a lot of the dialogue was campy, but not on purpose. The story itself isn’t anything you haven’t heard before if you read comics or watch super hero movies. The story combines several X-Men and super hero story beats into one story and sometimes it works better than others.
Middle school readers—and possibly some high schoolers—who enjoy superhero stories with a strong romantic thread will likely find a lot to like here. The premise is fun, the powers are creative, and the hero-vs-villain tension gives the story momentum.
That said, it didn’t fully land for me. While the characters are mostly high school age, much of the dialogue felt overly dramatic or awkward in a way that didn’t always seem intentional. I listened to the audiobook through Libby, so it’s possible the narration amplified some of that, but even accounting for that, several conversations came across as unintentionally campy.
The overall storyline also treads familiar ground. If you’ve read a lot of comics or watched plenty of superhero films, you’ll recognize many of the story beats. It blends elements that feel reminiscent of classic X-Men and vigilante narratives—sometimes effectively, sometimes less so. At its best, it explores interesting questions about power, legacy, and who gets to define “hero.” At other times, it feels like a remix of ideas we’ve seen before.
For younger readers new to the genre, it may feel fresh and exciting. For seasoned superhero fans, it may feel more predictable—but still entertaining if you’re in the mood for a hero-villain romance with high stakes, or at least the teen heroes feel the stakes are.
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