Book Review: Renegades by Marissa Meyer + GIVEAWAY!

Title: Renegades (Renegades #1)

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publication (of my edition) : November 2017, Feiwel And Friends (Macmillan). 

Purchase details: I received an advanced reader's edition of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb:

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone...except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

  The Bengali Nomad's Rant

**Quotes taken from an ARC and therefore might vary from the final copy.**

Despite all the attention that The Lunar Chronicles has garnered, I was one of those people who gave up on the series halfway through. This, along with the fact that the book seemed reasonably thick, made me put off Renegades for a while. Renegades certainly is a well written novel, but like Marissa Meyer's Cinder, it takes a while to pick up its pace.

Regardless, the story does get better once you push through the first few, much slower chapters. What motivated me in particular was the sheer curiosity of seeing more of Marissa Meyer's brilliant character development. Even the supporting characters were created well. Nova in particular, starting from her past to the buildup of her resentment towards the Renegade cause, was very intricately portrayed. 

"I fell asleep - the very last time I ever slept. And when I woke up, there was a man with a gun. He killed them both. He killed my sister. He tried to kill me. And the Renegades didn't come." -Nova, Renegades

Meyer also does an excellent portrayal of Adrian and his strong sense of justice. Adrian's sense of justice is so unwavering that it's something that transcends beyond his beloved Renegade protocol. While he shows absolute loyalty to the Renegades and the Council, he sees and acknowledges the flaws in the system. Adrian adheres to his own ideal of what a hero should truly be, and this particular mindset of his is unfolded during several instances throughout the book.

"They were supposed to encourage every prodigy... no, every human to be as heroic as possible. How was publicly rejecting anyone going to further that goal?" -Adrian, Renegades

"Heroism wasn't about what you could do, it was about what you did. It was about who you saved when they needed saving." -Adrian, Renegades

My only real complaint about Renegades is the slow start, and how that eventually leads to a frustrating cliffhanger, like the post-credit scene of a Marvel movie. The story starts off with combat, and there are quite a few other combat scenes that occur throughout the book. But the author's love of superheroes really shines through this novel. Definitely looking forward to the next installment in the series, even though I am a tad bit salty about the Marvel post-credit scene style cliffhanger. 

The Bengali Nomad's Rating: 4/5 Palanquins

  GIVEAWAY TIME!

Since it's finally time for me to clear out my shelves a bit, I am doing a Bangladesh only giveaway for some of my old review books. I know, this is entirely new. How often do you see Bangladesh only giveaways happening in the book blogging world? So without further ado, one lucky winner will get two picks from my stash of books (Photographed below). 

Aside from Drummer Girl, Angel Dust, The End Games, Midnight City, The Severed Tower and City of a Thousand Dolls, all are ARCs (proof copies). As proof copies are pre-publication copies they are very likely to have typos and other errors and CANNOT be sold. All books are in pretty good shape. City of a Thousand Dolls is signed, as well as some other ones probably but I can't tell off the top of my head right now. Giveaway closes by midnight on January 2nd. Please respect the rules (there aren't many) and Good luck! 

Also, two more things. 

A) Let me know if you have trouble reading any of the titles.

B) Leave your Facebook name when you're entering with your email because that's how the winner will be contacted.

a Rafflecopter giveaway