Archenemies
Ratings90
Average rating4
God, this series is grating. The first book was okay, but now I'm getting fed up with every single character. Going to power through #3, but I'm hate-reading by now.
The Renegades series sounded somewhat shallow at first – from a storyline perspective. A world where various people have superpowers that form up into good and evil groups? I enjoyed how much this one expanded on the first, while starting to advance into how the groups in charge shaped society (or tried to). If I had the third book today I'd start on it immediately.
I've finally finished this book and I'm SHOOK.
Holy, that ending left me so scared but also like ‘hell yeah go get them girl' because Genissa is an ass. Her team as well though. Also, is there is shipname for Adrian and Nova because I'm dying for that ship, even though they have probably no future whatsoever.
I read the first one and thought it was fine, maybe a little underwhelming at best. That said, I wanted to see where the rest went. Well, I regret that curiosity now. This one is definitely too YA for me so there's that, but the romance is blah and the plot listlessly plods along to the bitter end when an unearned cliffhanger appears. Maybe it's a case of middle book syndrome, but I'm pass on the Renegades overall.
The Renegades series sounded somewhat shallow at first – from a storyline perspective. A world where various people have superpowers that form up into good and evil groups? I enjoyed how much this one expanded on the first, while starting to advance into how the groups in charge shaped society (or tried to). If I had the third book today I'd start on it immediately.
God, this series is grating. The first book was okay, but now I'm getting fed up with every single character. Going to power through #3, but I'm hate-reading by now.
Pros:
- This book starts off shortly after the end of Renegades. We continue to follow Nova and Adrian in their “official” and “unofficial” roles. I really appreciate how they both have secrets but yet their secrets are the same.
- This book I felt like did a great job with the relationship building. I really feel like Nova and Adrian's growing relationship is very organic and I'm enjoying how Meyer is writing it. I know we are speeding toward a collision in Supernova, but I can enjoy it for now.
Cons:
- So I know these books are setting up a final showdown between the Renegades and the Anarchists, but I feel like there is a huge lack of explaining everyone else (like what are the non-prodigies doing all the time).
- While I still really enjoyed this book and gave it four stars, I feel like the plot was lacking in some aspects, while I know we had to set up a lot and explain a lot as we move closer to the finale of the series, I just wish we had gotten more plot. We got a lot of relationship building which I loved, but more scheming and action would have been enjoyable.
I enjoy the back and forth between the two character points of view in this series. I am not sure how much actually happened until the end of this book but I enjoyed the journey none the less. I am excited for the final book at the end of this year.
I spent a good part of this book wondering why this needed to be whole damn trilogy; feels like the story is being dragged out longer than necessary.
I just don't know how I feel about this series. Do I think they're very good? No. Am I still going to read the third book? Of course.
Based on the ending of the last book and this book's cover, I thought some series shit was going to go down. Instead, this felt like another book of set up and nothing happening until the end. Big surprise.
q carajo acabo d leer?????? ayuda??????!^¡%¡%¡$¡
dios, fue buenísimo. una montaña rusa de emociones por todos lados.
rtc
Un libro muy bueno, especialmente para una secuela.
Nunca hay un momento aburrido, todo el tiempo están pasando cosas, y en un instante podes pasar de la risa a que se te escape alguna lagrimita.
Realmente me encanta la historia, la forma en la cual está escrita es super atrapante.
Sin más que decir, YA NECESITO LEER EL ULTIMO LIBRO!!
AAAAAAAAAA I AM STRESSED IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE!!!! NOW THIS IS HOW YOU DO SLOW-BURN AND ENEMIES TO LOVERS
I JUST WANT MY BABIES NOVA AND ADRIAN TO BE HAPPY AND IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER
SO SO GLAD I PICKED THIS ONE UP!!! I read the first one a couple of years ago and then never got around to the second one but boy am I glad I did. Love both our main characters (even if I was screaming at Adrian to just get a recording in that one scene because that would have literally solved the whole oh, they would never believe me issue...) and their romance is so cute. Highly recommend this and Marissa Meyer's other series, The Lunar Chronicles.
Well, this was something of a disappointment. I wasn't crazy about the first novel, but I thought it had potential, and I was eager to see what Mayer could do, since I had heard that she was just not talented at writing the first books in a series. And I was excited to see where the situations set up in the first book would go, as the tension and deceit kept increasing with every page. Yet, after I finished with this book, I am forced to say that Mayer dropped the ball on this one and makes me doubt if I will enjoy the third book to come.
I will say that this book has some positives compared to the first book. The action scenes are written well, which can be harder to do than you think. I also enjoyed how she managed to tone down the cheesy dialogue compared to the first book. Where Renegades began with very cliched dialogue from first action scene, Meyer has toned this down considerably in this next installment. It was also a fast read, with me being able to read through 50 pages no problem, which meant that while it wasn't a great read, at least it did not take me long to get through.
Yet, the rest of this book feels so lacking in many ways. The biggest problem is how much of this book abandons cool ideas of superheroes and their powers for romance. It is a constant debate of if Adrian and Nova will hook up in this book, with many will-they-won't- they scenes, when I, the savvy reader, know that this is a forgone conclusion. It also does not help that I do not like Adrian or Nova, with both of these characters being bland and forgettable, despite having read nearly 900 pages about each of them over the course of two books. Nova spends her time wondering if she has feeling for Adrian, and dismissing them, as she tries to spy for the Anarchists. Meanwhile, Adrian tries to find out what happened to his mother and keep his identity as the Sentinel a secret from everyone. Yet both these plots are only given the barest of attention, as the book tends to be concerned more with identifying as a romance novel than superhero tale.
Then there is the B pot: Agent N. It is a cure for those people who have powers, but whom the Renegades think they are not using it responsibly. It is a liquid cure that is injected right into the blood stream, usually by Renegade patrols as they encounter various people using their powers for ill-gotten gain. While, yes this does generate many different ideas about the responsibility of power, and how it is used, this is not truly explored in any great detail, nor is it shown in a negative light in other than a few scenes. And besides, this feels like a plot recycled from X-Men 3, although, I doubt many teens would remember that film since it came out so long ago. Needless to say, in X-Men 3, it felt like the issues were better explored than in this book, with it being the catalyst and concern for most of the movie. Here, it is mentioned in a few important scenes, but does not have nearly the impact it should. This just shows that when a 2 hour film can do better displaying an ethical dilemma than a 400 page book, you know something is wrong.
So, you have a cruddy romance, and recycled moral dilemma from an old superhero film. Take that out and what do we have left? Honestly, set up for the third installment. Most of the story just feels like the preparation for the final book but I wonder how many people are going to care by then. I am going to read it, when I can get my hands on it, but while part of me hopes that it will be action packed, I cannot help theorizing that it will be the same boring love-filled ‘superhero' story that we have seen two times already. I give this book a two out of five. Be warned that you can read it, but only if you have the power to stand it.
