Review : Renegade by J.A Souders

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)
Author : J.A Souders
Publisher : Tor Teen
Publication Date : November 13th 2012
Goodreads - The Book Depository

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.


Personal Thoughts

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect out of Renegade when I first saw the gorgeous blue cover. I was afraid that I would be disappointed by the stunning cover. Boy, was I wrong! Renegade, in the midst of many YA dystopian books, shines. It's a book that totally blew me away.

Renegade is set in Evie's world, Elysium, an underwater utopia, reigned by Mother, Evie's adoptive mom. Evie and the other citizens of Elysium live away from the Surface Dwellers and believe that their lives are almost perfect. When Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, literally stumbles into Evie's life, she realizes that her life isn't as perfect as she initially thought it was and that her whole life has been a giant lie. Together with Gavin, she plans an escape only to encounter obstacle after obstacle set by Mother.

Evelyn was at first sight a very confusing character to figure out. As a reader, I didn't know much about her, but that's because her memory was being erased constantly and she herself didn't know who she really was. Slowly, as her memories start to seep back in, you get to learn more about the kind of person she is. She might have been brainwashed on numerous occasions, but Evie has a good heart and nothing could change her good nature. Her selflessness and generosity was clearly visible when she first decided to help Gavin escape, even though she was aware that it went against the most important law taught to every single citizen of Elysium : Surface Dwellers have to be killed. What really made me like her as a main character was the emotional strength she had. Even will all the crap going on around her, she wasn't one to bow down to fear once it dawned on her that life in Elysium was as impeccable as she thought it was and that there were many secrets being hidden. She was the kind of character who was ready to give up her own life and fight with all that she had for the sake of helping Gavin out. That simply made the respect and admiration I had for her grow by ten fold. Gavin, the Surface Dweller, was an incredibly loveable character. He was neither the famous bad boy portrayed in most YA books nor was he the really sweet love interest. Instead, I would say he was somewhere in the middle. He could be snarky and sarcastic and at the same time be protective and sweet. He was definitely a charmer! Mother, the main antagonist of Renegade, was a very complex character. She was downright evil and gave me the chills whenever she appeared in a scene. She's heartless, cold and manipulative. Mother was the kind of killer who murdered people without any thought, without any qualms of guilt. All she could think about was being powerful. Her character was what really kept me reading the book because I was dying to find out what her next action would be. Thankfully, I was never disappointed. I wish I could have had a better glimpse into the workings of her twisted mind by having a scene written in her POV. That would have been absolutely fabulous!

The world-building was also fairly well-done. My only complaint is that we don't get to hear much about how life on the Surface really is, but I figure the next book will deal a whole lot more on that aspect. With a world set underwater, you expect details on how life goes on in such a community. The author does a great job at depicting the world without overwhelming you with too much information. Slowly, through the discoveries of Evie and Gavin, she showed the reader what the world was like. Looking at the gorgeous cover of Renegade, you would think that Elysium is a beautiful place surrounded by the deep blue and covered with pretty gardens, but that's not the case. However, the world in Renegade wasn't all that pretty. When you go deeper into the story, all you read about is death, death and death. That was one of the major surprises I had from this book. The plot itself was also highly entertaining. It was a constant cat and mouse chase between Gavin, Evelyn and Mother. It kept me on the edge all throughout the book because I didn't know what would happen next. With the the hurdles that Mother put in front of them, the escape definitely wasn't easy!

The romance that developed between Gavin and Evelyn was, admittedly the instant-love kind. There is no doubt that many readers will see it as instant-love and will be frustrated with it. In fact, it might dampen their enjoyment of the book, but not for me. Even though Evelyn and Gavin might have rushed into falling for each other, I felt like they really did get to know each other. Moreover, their immediate attraction to each other was understandable because to Evelyn, Gavin was different and from experience, I personally like different. Their romance might feel rushed, but if you take a deeper look into their relationship you see that the two of them got to know each other sharing their experiences and being compelled to work together as a team. The writing in Renegade hooked me in from the very first line. Throughout the story, the author maintained the action-packed scenes making the book highly entertaining and very addictive. Overall, I thought Renegade was a great book.

To conclude, Renegade was a fast-paced novel with well fleshed-out characters that kept me flipping through the pages non-stop. If you're looking for a new good dystopian series, then you should definitely check out Renegade because it's freaking brilliant!

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5