Review: Renegade by J.A. Souders

I have wanted to read Renegade for many months now. Ever since I first saw that gorgeous cover. And truly, the cover is amazing. So pretty in person as well. I'm a sucker for gorgeous book covers ;) But not only the cover drew me to this book. I also liked the summary. Thought this book sounded so good. Then I got accepted for it on NetGalley a week ago, but felt that I wanted to wait for my hardcover to arrive. And yesterday it did. And I decided that I needed to read it right away. I'm glad that I did. Because Renegade is an amazing book :) Some things bothered me, but I did enjoy the book.

At first I didn't think I liked the writing. Because the main character, Evelyn, wasn't thinking right in the beginning. But she got better. And then I started to see that the writing was actually really good. And I'm glad for that, since I'm no good at reading books where I don't like the writing. But with Renegade I did like the writing. And I found the book to be pretty good. I couldn't stop reading it until I had finished it :) Which is good; cause I haven't read in a while. Renegade was perfect for that.

First I want to talk about the world Renegade is set in. I have no idea what time frame it is, if it's in the future, or in the past. It mentions a war, but yeah, there have been a lot of wars, and I'm pretty sure there will be many in the future too. But anyway. While the time frame confused me a bit, I didn't really mind it much. Renegade takes place under water for the most part. On Elysium. This underwater 'resort.' And I loved reading about it, truly. I do love everything underwater :) Wished we had seen more of it all. I really do love things like that. Even if it is creepy and kind of awful ;p

I enjoyed the plot in this book. I did. Really. Kind of liked how little the people who lived in Elysium knew about the 'Surface Dwellers.' How little they knew about anything, really. It was fascinating to read about. I also enjoyed reading about the Enforces; the police in this city. They are just little girls. But they are killing machines. Was a bit disturbing, but I liked it, still. Also enjoyed reading about Mother. The person who rules Elysium. She seems sweet at first. But she's evil. And cruel. And awful.

But Mother was an amazing character, to be honest. A good villain, I think. But she wasn't done entirely perfect, a few things about her annoyed me. But I'm willing to overlook that :) She is also the mother of our main character; Evelyn. At first I didn't like her much. Then I realized she wasn't to blame for it. A lot of bad things are happening to Evie. Her memory isn't right. She thinks everything is perfect. But it isn't. Nothing is. And it's all kind of perfect. Except for a few things, though :\

Evie is a great character. I did like her. But towards the end she changed a lot, and I didn't really see the point of it. I mean, it made some sense, and I did like reading about it, but it also just made her more unfeeling and I didn't like that all. She doesn't remember much. There is a huge reason for that. Won't spoil it ;) But it's amazing. One thing I disliked was that she actually had a boyfriend before Gavin. He's dead now, but still. She kissed him and such. I didn't like that. Also, she didn't seem to care much about him. Granted, she didn't remember him much at all. But still. Wish he hadn't been there.

I did enjoy reading about Gavin. He was a great character. And I did like getting to know him. But like my friend Sam mentioned, the romance wasn't that believable at times. But I did like it, still. The romance is good, just, it could have been even better :) But it's still sweet. And Gavin is amazing. One thing that annoyed me about Evie was that she got an arm injury in this book, but then in many action scenes it was like it wasn't there at all. That didn't make sense. Still. I did enjoy this book :)

The plot in this book is amazing. And I won't spoil it. Because a lot of things happen. And while a few things confused me, and didn't make sense to me, I still managed to enjoy this book a whole lot. I wasn't sure I would read it, because I peeked at the ending, but I have hope. And the ending is still sweet and good. But yeah. Kind of cruel. Anyway. Cannot wait for the next book; and I'm hoping it won't take half the book before something is sorted out :D Also, no love triangle, pretty please. I beg you.

Anyway. I'm not sure what else to say about this book. The writing is great. The characters are pretty amazing. We get to know a lot of people. Some I really liked. Some I really disliked. But the story is good. And I cannot wait to read more of it. Renegade was an amazing book. Romance, action, mysteries. It has it all. Excitement too. It is a great book. And I would recommend for you to read it :)

Goodreads - Buy it