Blog Tour: Renegades

Hi there! Welcome to one of today's stops on the blog tour for Marissa Meyer's newest book, Renegades!

It's all about superheroes, about good and evil and the spaces in between. About what pushes us to help or to hinder. About what makes a hero, what makes a villain. To celebrate Renegades, enjoy this post that has both my review and a question answered by the wonderful Marissa Meyer herself. :)

Me on The Rose Society

Title: The Rose Society
Author: Marie Lu
Release Date: October 13, 2015
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers (Penguin imprint)

Adelina Amouteru's heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she flees Kenettra with her sister to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her. But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good when her very existence depends on darkness?

The Rose Society is a series of steps closer to revenge, but as Adelina moves, as she acts, she finds she's falling deeper and deeper into the shadows. Into the whispers. But will she be able to stay in control? Or have they already consumed too much of her heart?

Adelina is dark and dangerous, her mind full of whispers that are not in her own voice. Her heart full of anger and plans for revenge against those who have hurt her, harmed her, cast her aside. Tried to kill her. For her, this is the walk down the stone staircase into the darkness, into evil and obsession. Into, possibly, insanity. She pushes and pushes her illusions, weaving them around those around her, harming them, killing them. What does this mean for her mind?

But Adelina's isn't the only plot, the only plan, the only point of view readers can see. There's Raffaele, still hopeful for the future, still grieving for Enzo, still hoping that he and the Daggers will find a way to save the downtrodden of Kenettra. Perhaps he will, with the assistance of this new Queen of Beldain. As somber as the situation is, as dangerous as it becomes, there's still hope in him. Until a quick discovery of his. There's Teren, still feeding from his obsessions. Queen Giulietta, the woman he's been in love with for years, the woman he would do anything for. Exterminating the malfettos of Kenettra, hating them because of the bad omen they represent, even though he is one of them. Even though he is an Elite with an ability. He hated Enzo, he hates the Daggers, he hates Adelina, and he hates himself.

This is a descent into madness, into anger and sorrow and the hard, cold nugget of desire that burns in Adelina. The desire for revenge, to get her own back at Raffaele and the Daggers for casting her out, for placing the blame for Enzo's death on her shoulders. To get her own back at Teren, the one who at first lured her then betrayed her. A must-read, along with the first book, at what turns a victim into a villain and how destructive and damaging the hot thirst for revenge can be. Adelina is heading towards the end, but will she stay in control? Or will the shadows overwhelm her, turning her into their vessel?

(I received a finished copy of this book as a gift.)

Me on Powerless

Title: Powerless
Authors: Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire (Sourcebooks imprint)

Kenna is tired of being "normal." The only thing special about her is that she isn't special at all. Which is frustrating  when you're constantly surrounded by superheroes. Her best friend, her ex-boyfriend, practically everyone she knows has some talent or power. Sure, Kenna's smart and independent, but as an ordinary girl in an extraordinary world, it's hard not to feel inferior. So when three villains break into the lab where she interns, Kenna refuses to be a victim. She's not about to let criminals steal the research that will make her extraordinary, too. But in the heat of the battle, secrets are spilled and one of the villains saves her life. Twice. Suddenly, everything Kenna thought she knew about good and evil, hereoes and villains, is upended. And to protect her life and those she loves, she must team up with her sworn enemies on a mission that will redefine what it means to be powerful and powerless.

Powerless is quirky, snarky, punchy, and all kinds of intense. It's all teen angst and arguing, all plots and plans and superpowers. All truths and secrets, all good vs evil and the shades of grey we never see until we open our eyes.

Kenna is smart and passionate, she's ready and willing to do the right thing. To help people. To support the superheroes who do battle against the villains. Even if she doesn't have any powers, she can still help. But she learns quickly that the world isn't that black and white, isn't actually that simple in terms of hero=good and villain=evil. It's a smack in the face for her, a massive wake-up call, and it changes everything she thought she knew.

As smart as Kenna is, as thoughtful and compassionate, she's upset that some people around her discount her because of her lack of powers. That leads her to feeling inadequate about her own abilities. She needs a confidence boost, a self-esteem boost. It's not always about extraordinary powers.

As it often happens with books featuring heroes and villains, a lot of this book, of Kenna's thoughts, focus on good and evil. How do we define who is good and who is evil? Is it a mark on their skin, the ability they have? The look in their eye? Who decides? Who defines certain actions as done in the name of good while similar actions are said to have been done in the name of evil? With all the differences between the two, the more it comes to light how similar they are and how twisted the definitions have become.

This book is exciting and fast-paced. Kenna and her friends, old and new, are constantly moving, constantly plotting and planning. There are times when it feels repetitive, times where it seems like Kenna is worrying too much about being around villains, worrying too much about how the heroes are always the good guys. There's a lot revealed in the last half of the book, and considering how it ends, I'm hoping the next book will be just as explosive.

(I received an e-galley of this title from Sourcebooks through NetGalley.)

Me on Vicious

Title: Vicious
Author: V.E. Schwab
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Publisher: Tor

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates, brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find, aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge, but who will be left alive at the end?

Vicious is a dark and twisted tale, a story of two men who started as friends and became something more. Schwab takes the comic book-style battle of hero versus villain and turns it all around in so many different directions you're no longer sure which is which, or if there's even a difference between the two. The complexity of good against evil, the sticky in-between shades of grey, were well-explored in enthralling characters with curious abilities and moments of clever wit.

Victor is determined. Determined to catch up to Eli, determined to stop him, determined to make him understand that those with powers aren't instantly or innately evil. Victor is different than his old friend, I don't think he necessarily sees those with abilities as good or evil. He's more practical than Eli, more calculating, and perhaps more willing to accept what's happened to the both of them. Not good, not evil, but different. Useful, depending on what the ability is. Perhaps that's what draws him to his young sidekick.

Eli is determined as well, but in a different way. He's determined to find every person with superpowers, to search them out, and to stop them. To kill them. To Eli, they're monsters, evil creatures, less than their former human selves. Perhaps more, instead. More dangerous and destructive. What happened to him was terrible, but he sees himself as the saviour of mankind, as a hero, and it's up to him to save society from their evil.

What makes a person a hero or a villain? What defines them? Is it their actions and how those actions affect the people around them, the society around them, or is it something less tangible? Is it instead intention? Is it the belief that what they're doing will save, or destroy, the world? Both Victor and Eli straddle the line throughout the book, caught between intention and action, between what they hope their actions will do and what they actually do.

As dark as this book is, as weird and twisted, it is, I also found it to be fun and hugely entertaining. I do wonder what that says about my own tastes, though. Still, I believe this to be an interesting and intelligent book, one that re-imagines and explores heroes and villains, good and evil, morality, loyalty, and life and death.

(I received an advance copy to review from Raincoast Books.)