In the mood for an action-packed superhero story full of plot twists, spies, and well-kept secrets? Renegades may be just what you’re looking for. Written by Marissa Meyer, Renegades is a three-book series. The story starts off with the first book titled, quite simply, ‘Renegades’ and follows Nova and Adrian in a futuristic world where some people who are viewed as superheroes have supernatural powers. Each power is different than the last.
The Renegades are supposedly the ‘good guys’ and have their own headquarters – ‘Renegades Headquarters’. Adrian’s dads are the leaders of the renegades with their powers of super strength and invisibility. Then there are the Anarchists who protest the Renegades. Nova is part of the Anarchists, a group that aims to tear down the Renegades as they believe their leadership is bad and not what the world needs.
The Anarchists don’t like how everyone without powers looks up to those with them as gods of some kind. Nova decides to work as a spy and joins the Renegades to find out whatever she can to help the Anarchists defeat them. She goes to Renegade tryouts and ends up being accepted after she fights the Gargoyle – one of the members of a Renegade group – and she proves her abilities. Nova has the power to put people to sleep and she never sleeps herself. However, her alias – Nightmare – prevents her from using her power of touch because the Renegades would discover who she is as they know Nightmare and what powers she has.
Adrian has a secret of his own, however. He works as the Sentinel – a superhero that neither side can figure out who he is allied with after various battles and appearances. Adrian’s alias – Sketch – has the ability to sketch anything and bring it to life. Using this ability, Adrian draws tattoos on himself that give him special powers which makes the Sentinel even more powerful.
Throughout the series, Nova falls in love with Adrian and the two have to keep their identities secret from each other which leads to many awkward scenes where a heavy amount of explaining is needed to ensure the suspicion isn’t placed on either of them. At the end of Renegades, Nova fakes her own death and they all believe Nightmare to be dead which lets quite a bit of the pressure off her. In the end, Nova finds out her uncle who was said to be the most feared villain is actually alive, though weak. He needs his helmet to restore his powers.
In the second novel, Archenemies, they continue keeping their identity secret from each other while they fight the rise of crime in Gatlon City. Nova begins working at the artifacts department at headquarters where she discovers many interesting items including her uncle’s helmet which is said to be the most dangerous superhero object there is as it increases someone’s powers.
The Renegades create a neutralizing agent they call Agent N which can take away a person’s powers for good and they use it on a villain they recently caught. In the end, Nova breaks into Renegades Headquarters to steal Ace’s helmet and ends up in a battle with Frostbite (a superhero who is quite the villain) and Adrian’s little brother who has the ability to take away other people’s powers simply by being in close proximity with them. Knowing this, Nova wears a charm of sorts that protects her. Adrian’s brother, Max, is severely injured in the battle and goes to the hospital.
Meanwhile, Adrian and his team find Ace’s hiding spot and he is captured which leads into book three – Supernova. The Renegades decide to hold a public event where they’re planning on using Agent N on Ace. At the event, the Anarchists attack, capturing Ace, retrieving his helmet, and leaving. Nova goes with them and Ace rebuilds their old headquarters. Adrain tries sneaking in through a secret passage he found and is captured. The Renegades attack and a battle breaks out where Max gets involved to try and steal Ace’s powers. Ace ends up dying at the battle and Max has to save the city because Ace used his power of Telekinesis to pick the entire city up which will damage everything unless Max is able to put it down. Max uses Ace’s helmet and succeeds. He ends up taking everyone’s powers and then releases them because they’re all too much for him which ultimately gives everyone back their powers and those who didn’t have any now do. Adrian has found out who Nova is by now and everything works out in the end.
They realize that the Anarchists and the Renegades can get along and maybe there really isn’t such a thing as villains.
The entire series was amazing and the kind of books you really don’t want to put down. There are so many plots and subplots included that you won’t see coming (at least I didn’t). I hadn’t read any superhero-themed books before, so these were the first ones and I can say they are amazing!