Book Review

Book Review: Supernova (Renegades #3) by Marissa Meyer

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult fantasy + sci-fi
Length: 560 pages
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Fiewel & Friends
Release Date: November 5th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

All’s fair in love and anarchy…

The epic conclusion to Marissa Meyer’s thrilling Renegades Trilogy finds Nova and Adrian struggling to keep their secret identities concealed while the battle rages on between their alter egos, their allies, and their greatest fears come to life. Secrets, lies, and betrayals are revealed as anarchy once again threatens to reclaim Gatlon City. 

THIS WAS A SOLID FINALE.

I was nervous walking into this read. Excited, but nervous. Archenemies let me down and I have all the love for Renegades. Combine these two polar thoughts and I had no idea what I was walking into for Supernova.

I ended up really loving this. I wouldn’t call it a FIVE STAR YOU NEED TO READ THIS NOW. More of as I closed the book I realized how much I enjoyed it and my favorite pieces. I thought about how everything came together in the end and how I was cool with everything as it wrapped up (not to mention that EPILOGUE Y’ALL).

My favorite thing about this was the character arcs for Nova and Adrian. They both were coming at the story from opposing sides. As they battled each other and all the secrets started spilling out I got a glimpse into new sides of them. Nova learned that her Uncle’s ideals weren’t all they were cracked up to be, just like she learned that the Renegades weren’t the enemy. Adrian finally found the truth of his Mom’s murder and to let go of some of his own ideals to see the story from another angle. It gave me all the chills watching them. This wasn’t purely superheroes vs. villains, because who can truly define those anyways?

I love that there was actual wickedness. I love a solid evil character who can’t see past their own desires. It makes everything feel that much more dire and puts me on the edge of my seat. I said multiple times, and even wrote it in my notes, that I had no idea how I was going to get a happy ending by the time this was over. There were even a few twists that I did not see coming and loved how they tied into the final plot.

The love story never took over, but did encourage Nova and Adrian through a few of their decisions. I like that is was held back, but that I got to see it flourish. They both deserved some happiness, and if it’s with each other, that’s great [a nod to Ruby & Oscar who were TOTALLY STINKIN’ PRECIOUS in the background over there].

The ending was fascinating and heartfelt. I really like what became of the characters and their super powers. I thought it could have gone one of two ways, and I would have been fine with either [depending on how it was done]. Meyer’s writing is amazing though and it’s so quick to read. Yes, it’s 550 pages, but you would never know it. I can’t wait to see what project she is working on next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy + sci-fi
  • Language: none
  • Romance: a few light kisses
  • Violence: murder, battles, skirmishes, building collapses
  • Trigger warnings: Chapter 30 – a character talks about being previously molested as a child

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Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Fall TBR

Happy Top Ten Tuesday!

I broke this into two parts because not only are their some great new releases coming out, there’s also a huge stack of books I’m staring at in my house that need to be read too. Lots of books to read this fall y’all.

NEW RELEASES ON MY FALL TBR:

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones


The Beautiful (The Beautiful #1) by Renee Ahdieh


The Toll (Arc of a Sycthe #3) by Neal Shusterman


Supernova (Renegades #3) by Marissa Meyer


Starsight (Skyward #2) by Brandon Sanderson


The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) by Holly Black


Ninth House (Ninth House Series #1) by Leigh Bardugo


Fireborne (The Aurelian Cycle #1) by Rosaria Munda


Blood Heir (Blood Heir Trilogy #1) by Amelie Wen Zhao


The Sky Weaver (Iskari #3) by Kristen Ciccarelli

BOOKS I’M DETERMINED TO READ THIS FALL:

Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2) by Brandon Sanderson


Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars #1) by Elizabeth Lim


A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell #1) by Deanna Raybourn


The Hollow Boy (Lockwood & Co. #3) by Jonathan Stroud


Hunting Prince Dracula (Stalking Jack the Ripper #2) by Kerri Maniscalco


There Will Come a Darkness (The Age of Darkness #1) by Katy Rose Pool


The Vine Witch (Vine Witch #1) by Luanne G. Smith


The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar


Vortex Visions (Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles #1) by Elise Kova


The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

What books are on your fall TBR? Any new releases or are you trying to conquer your back list? May we not be buried by our TBR this fall! Lets talk in the comments.

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Book Review

Review: Archenemies (Renegades #2) by Marissa Meyer

Archenemies

 

Rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: YA Fantasy/Sci-fi, no language, a kiss scene, violence
Length: 560 pages
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel Friends
Release Date: November 6th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Renegades Trilogy continues, in this fiercely awaited second installment after the New York Times-bestselling Renegades by Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles.

Time is running out.
Together, they can save the world.
But they each other’s worst nightmare.

In Renegades, Nova and Adrian (aka Insomnia and Sketch) fought the battle of their lives against the Anarchist known as the Detonator. It was a short-lived victory.

The Anarchists still have a secret weapon, one that Nova believes will protect her. The Renegades also have a strategy for overpowering the Anarchists, but both Nova and Adrian understand that it could mean the end of Gatlon City – and the world – as they know it.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

DARN YOU, BOOK 2 SYNDROME.

Y’all, why. Don’t get me wrong, I’m buying the third book because crap will hit the fan since nothing happened in this book. I now fully expect (I know, should be keeping expectations low) the final installment to be a worthy tale since there is going to be a loooot to cover in 500+ pages.

I rarely know if an author has to make more books than they planned, or if it was originally intended to be a certain length, but really. This could’ve been a duology.

I’ll start with things I didn’t mind and enjoyed!

  • Watching Nova and Adrian try to flirt was so precious, and I definitely found myself chuckling occasionally.
  • The last 100 pages when the action picked up and sped through to the finale.
  • The scenes where everyone were friends/family, just doing friends/family stuff. I always like peaceful scenes interspersed with the drama.

Now this is where I get on the struggle bus:

  • WHERE WAS THE ACTION? For a long book, about heroes/villains no less, I expected so much more. Nothing essentially happened until the last, last section of the book where Nova started going through with the plans she made in the FIRST book. We spent the entire book talking about plans, to do this, that, blah blah blah. Someone do something!?
  • While I thought all the flirting was cute, this book was entirely focused on their will they/won’t they scenario. Fine, that’s totally fine, but like my previous bullet I was going for more and thought this should have taken a back seat. I personally was set on this being an action based book and was disappointed it felt more romance-ish.
  • Some of the characters were/became so disappointing. Ah man, I’m still fuming about it. So I don’t dive into spoilers, you’ll see what I mean.

The third book, I desperately hope, will be a real page turner. There were some scenes I completely expected to happen that fell through, that we all know HAVE TO HAPPEN AT SOME POINT. I was thinking it would happen earlier, but I’m still waiting to flush some character secrets out to really get the angst going.

Overall audience notes:
– Young adult fantasy, sci-fi
– No language
– Violence ranges based on prodigies ability
– Love is mostly teenage flirting, one kiss scene that is barely detailed