Review: Renegades

Renegades by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marissa Meyer is an author who consistently grabs my attention. Prior to reading Renegades, I had only read the first two books in the Lunar Chronicles, but it’s certainly something I keep meaning to amend. After all, the rest of the Lunar Chronicles are books I need to read, as I’m in desperate need of answers. Heartless is also a book to have piqued my interest. I cannot decide if Marissa Meyer is playing really smart by writing what is popular at the moment in young adult fiction – cashing in on the fairy-tale retellings, Alice in Wonderland, viewing things from the bad guys view, and superheroes – or whether her mind simply works in a way that her stories always seem to be within the trend, but I cannot fault her for providing stories that always seem to grab my attention.

With Renegades, I had planned to hold off reading it until book two was released. I wanted to read the duology back-to-back, allowing me to immerse myself in the world across a couple of days. Instead, my lack of self-control came into play, and I devoured this one as soon as the chance came about. Now I’m hearing it is not to be a duology, but instead it is to be a trilogy, and I’m even more annoyed with myself. If it is to be a trilogy, then that is fine by me – it just highlights the fact that I should have waited before diving in, as now I’ll have multiple waits to get my answers.

Despite the knowledge that I should have waited before reading this one, I did enjoy Renegades. I wasn’t entirely sure about it at first, in some ways I was fearful I was not going to fall in love with this one, but the more I read the deeper into the story I was pulled. This may not be the strongest four-star rating I have ever given, but it’s certainly a story that pulled me in deep and left me wanting more. It wasn’t just the shocker of an ending, a cliff-hanger of information that leaves you in dire need of answers, it was also the way I feel in love with the characters and the way the story unfolded – by the end, I was so invested, I was desperate to find out more.

I think the only weakness for me was the world building. I feel as though certain things were lacking, certain elements were not explained as well as they could have been. I’m hoping these things will be explained more in the next book, that the world will develop into something more solid, but even without the depth of world building I enjoy, this book kept me engaged throughout. What we did come to know about the world was great, there were so many things opened up, I just wish things had been taken to the next step so the images in my mind were more solid, so my knowledge of the world was something more grounded.

As I mentioned, though, even without the level of world building I like, this book had me gripped throughout. The storyline is a lot of fun – it gives us the black and white, along with the grey. You are pulled into both sides of the fight, you come to enjoy the characters. Plenty of different elements are introduced, and there are so many things I cannot wait to find out more about. There are characters I want to see much more of. There are plot lines I want to see develop. There are scenes I wish to see.

If the word on the street about this becoming a trilogy is true, then I can kind of see why it has happened. There was a lot left open at the end of this one, so many things need to be answered. It could happen in just one more book, but it would be a really big book if it was to do everything justice. I may not be completely happy about the wait I have for all my answers, but my fingers are crossed the extra book means the details will all be played out well.

Overall, Renegades was a ridiculously addictive read, one that has me desperate for the next book in the series. I was already planning to go and fill in my Marissa Meyer blanks, yet this book has made it even clearer that I need to do so – and hopefully such will tide me over until I can get my hands on book two of this series.

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