Review: Renegade by J.A. Souders

Read from November 9, 2012 to
November 13, 2012

Book: Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1) by J.A. Souders

Publication Date: November 13, 2012

Publisher: Tor Teen

Number of Pages: 364

Genre/s: Young Adult, Dystopia

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. 

Her memories have been altered. 

Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. 

And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all. - From Goodreads

I've been hearing quite a buzz for Renegade long before I finally succumbed and requested it via Netgalley. I'm really glad I did because I would have surely regret it if I haven't. 

If I would have to describe Renegade in one word it would be unconventional. It's unlike anything I've ever read before. It feels different. It reads different. I knew from the moment guns were mentioned, I was in trouble.

I'm not the kind of reader who rereads synopsis every time I start a book; I just dive right in. So my preconception of Renegade was it's a fairy tale or mythological retelling slash dystopian of some sort. While Renegade proved me wrong cause it wasn't any kind of retelling in the slightest, it was so much more. My surprise could be attributed to its cover. I mean look at that cover! It's gorgeous, yes, but it's another pretty girl in the cover. It's so unassuming and honestly it felt generic but from the very first page up to the last, I could definitely say that cover worked as an advantage to this novel. 

I really liked the pacing of the novel as well. Never was there a dull or dragging moment. Plot-wise, it's almost...quirky, setting its own unique brand of storytelling cause it seeps into you and it makes you feel bewildered and unsure of what you're really reading. When events started unraveling and I got a sense of what was really happening, the memory loss, the turrets suddenly blasting people off like targets from a carnival, DNAs swiped from the system, unCoupling licenses revoked, mandatory Festival attendance; the seemingly neat and immaculate system begun to feel very chaotic. The very structure of their world while rigid and unyielding to anything short of perfect and subservient was cracked from the core.

We are all Mother’s children. It is a privilege to show her our ultimate obedience to her laws.—engraved on a pillar in the Square, Sector Two

The charm of Renegade basically comes down to Evie. She's so bad-ass, it hurts. The meek girl went from defiant, to violent; intent on getting out. It's like the perfect character growth. I like my heroine likeable even without the help of her love interest and someone who can kick people's behind. She literally stumps Gavin presence in the process. I'm like Gavin who? And the villain in this story, goodness. Souders knows how to get in people's skin, doesn't she? Mother is like the perfect villain. With just enough background to somehow give justice in her actions, well, at least in a villain point of view. She's heartless, manipulative, and cold. Most of all, she's everywhere. 

Renegade manages to stand out from the rest of what I've read this year mainly because it's every bit unpredictable. It seemed like the first half of the book started in a different world then the second half felt like an action movie then the last half seemed like a horror movie slash thriller. It went from tame to gory. It defied all expectations. Just when it's becoming too easy, Souders would begin dropping bombs too keep you at the edge of your seat. 

Also once you realized those little hints along the way, it'd make you just whistle with appreciation with how she handled everything stealthily and sneakily. She savored planting them and when you set one off, everything else just explodes in your face. I think aside from being an author, Souders is a bombranger cause when she chucks one, she doesn't miss.

It takes one girl, a supposedly daft and docile girl, and one banged-up Surface Dweller to get things going and once it started it won't stop. The perfect formula, I daresay. 

Cupid's Verdict:

4 Cupids

An advance copy was provided by the publisher at no cost via Netgalley