* * * *Marissa Meyer is officially one of my favourite authors. I've always loved The Lunar Chronicles and these books are just reminding me what an absolute genius Marissa Meyer is.
Archenemies is the sequel to Renegades and, while it's a little more slow-burning, it's still amazing. I love how the concept of good vs evil is explored and it makes the whole plot so much more interesting and compelling! The characters are as amazing as always and make every page so easy to turn.
Renegades Book Review
The whole book starts with Sketch's team pursuing Hawthorn and I was so pumped! Our crew work so well together and it was super fun to see them in action.
The whole Agent N plot line was explored in this book and it's such an interesting debate because I feel so conflicted! On one hand, I totally agree with Nova because it's an infringement of human rights and it could totally be abused by the Renegades, but if a prodigy is using their powers to kill people, then they don't deserve any human rights!! You could totally apply this debate to our own world in terms of prison sentence conditions or capital punishment and it just makes everything so much more interesting!
But, generally, I mostly agree with Nova because it's such a difficult thing to regulate. I mean, this book just proved that it's a super difficult weapon to keep away from your enemies and stop them from using it on the good guys! And when they demonstrated it on Winston.... my heart broke a little bit. I don't even know why but I love Winston! Sure, he's not a stellar citizen and beacon of selflessness but... he's funny and entertaining (because that totally makes up for all his moral flaws). But watching his power get stripped from him and all the Renegades cheering at his pain... it broke something inside me. It was horrifying.
"As her thoughts roiled, someone in the audience began to clap. Then another joined in. And soon the room was applauding while Winston Pratt sobbed on the stage."
Adrian continues this book in his quest to take down all Anarchists to find out what happened to his mother and, understandably, he goes straight to Winston Pratt. Winston agrees to give him information in exchange for his favourite doll back and, damn, I thought he was going to give Nova away completely! Winston is such a gamble of a character- you never know what he's gonna do- and I was sighing in relief when he all he revealed was that Nightmare was still alive because, frankly, Adrian had pretty much suspected that already.
The only person that made the Artefact chapters bearable was Callum because he's such a sweetheart. I didn't even realise he had a power and, while it's probably the last one I would want for myself, it's still so cool! I think we all need a flurry of optimism like Callum in our lives.
But another positive that came from the Artefact chambers was the Vitality Charm! Adrian takes the gamble that it'll protect him from Max and it works!! It was such a lovely moment when Simon got to hug Max for the first time- I had tears in my eyes, it was so sweet.
Plus, it's super handy that Nova now has it to protect her from Agent N. You go, girl!
We also have the progression of ships in this book despite it being painfully slow!
Firstly, I'll give an honourable mention to Oscar and Ruby because they are adorable! Oscar is one of my favourite characters in this series and I'm so rooting for him and Ruby- they're perfect for each other!
And then, of course, we have Adrian and Nova.
Adrian does the incredibly romantic gesture of painting a mural of Nova's dream and that was such a beautiful scene! They had their first kiss which felt like such a win because finally!! And then, Nova goes and puts Adrian to sleep to search his house. Typical.
Honestly, I have no idea whether to ship Adrian and Nova because I'm too reluctant for my heart to get hurt. I'm seriously doubting whether they'll end up together but I desperately want them too! When they find out about Nightmare and Sentinel... everything's going to explode and I don't know if they can make it through that. Especially now that Adrian thinks Nova hurt Max... it's not like he's gonna give her the chance to explain herself once he finds out.
At least Oscar and Ruby know about the Sentinel now. They go to fight Ace at the Anarchists' cathedral lair and, again, I thought Nova's cover was sufficiently blown! When Ace started taunting to Adrian that his niece was close to him, I thought we were done. But, evidently, all Renegades are oblivious!!!
Honestly, I'm so shocked Nova's identity wasn't revealed in this book! I thought Adrian would find out in Archenemies so the next book could be about them earning each other's trust and love again... but obviously I'm delusional.
But, frankly, it was a little frustrating when Danna was the only one to have her head screwed on straight! And where is she now?! Shut in a jar that I hope never opens because she'll mess everything up with all she knows!
I don't even know how Nova has managed to keep her secret from everyone but Danna. I mean, Callum couldn't possibly fathom how Nightmare knew what his power was, Simon hasn't questioned where the Vitality charm went when he saw Nova in the closet where it last was and Adrian didn't even suspect Nova when he mysteriously and strangely fell asleep during kissing her!! Are you guys even serious?!?!? I totally understand Nova's point that we shouldn't always rely on Renegades now because they're evidently useless!! And, sure, some of them haven't had the chance to connect the dots yet (we literally left Callum asleep in this book so he hasn't actually had the time to figure it out) but there are so many instances where Nightmare's identity is obvious! (Don't even get me started when Adrian and his team interviewed Winston in book 1 because the glances he kept shooting Nova were beyond subtle).
Nevertheless, I'm terrified for when they do finally find out but that just makes me even more excited and desperate for the next book! Well played, Marissa Meyer. Well played.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts. Stay amazing!
Chloe
I agree that this book strated out slower but once it kicked off at the end it got intense! It's so frustrating to know their identities from the beginning and not be able to tell the other characters when it is so obvious!!
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