Renegades by Marissa Meyer

The Age of Anarchy brought an end to civilized society. The world was ruled by gangs of anarchists; prodigies with super powers that felt betrayed by the world and would exact revenge.  Gatlon City was at the center of the chaos. But, hope was on the horizon. A group of superheroes called the Renegades would bring stabilization and order. They promised protection. One little girl, Nova Artino, counted on that protection. Her father could pull energy from the air and create threads of metal. She too had powers. She never required sleep, and her touch caused grueling nightmares. When her father refused to help the anarchists, he relied on the Renegades' protection. She witnessed her home invaded and her family murdered. Where were the Renegades? They failed her and her family. Nova would become Nightmare, an anarchist who would would dedicate the rest of her life to destroying the Renegades.

Fast forward 10 years. A world of chaos and anarchy is brought together and stabilized by superheroes Captain Chromium, The Dread Warden, Lady Indomitable and others on the Renegade Council. Lady Indomitable was killed in battle. Her son, Adrian is a young prodigy who can sketch an object, and then make his drawings a reality. Adrian would soon become known as the Renegade called Sketch. After his mother's death, Adrian was adopted by Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden, and he is now dedicated to finding his mother's murderer. Sketch and Nightmare will soon confront each other, while Adrian and Nova will become a budding romance...

Having devoured Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series, I had extremely high hopes for this new saga. My hopes were extinguished quickly when reading this long over-reach of a novel. I had so many issues, but I read on hoping that my issues would be resolved, but they were not.  The superheroes and their powers seemed like a stretch on the ridiculous and were difficult for me to accept (as far as superheroes go). The world building just left me empty. The plethora of characters were often confusing, using both their given names and their superhero name, requiring me to refer to the list of characters in the front of the book. This one just didn't do it for me.  Renegades does end on a cliff-hanger that will have me reading the second installment, I just hope I can make it through the whole book
Mark's Book Picks Rating: 3

Reading Level: 6.5 • Interest Level: 7-12 • AR Points: 25 • Lexile: 860L  
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends • 552 Pages • Copyright: 2017 • ISBN: 1-250-04466-2 • Available in Perma-Bound binding.