Wow, guys! We made it to the end of Renegades! I cannot believe that this is already our very last discussion about this book! What a roller coaster ride. If this is the first time you are hearing about Calendar Girls, it is a monthly blogging event which is hosted by Melanie and myself! For more details, please go to my info page about Calendar Girls!
– The Readalong Book –
Renegades by Marissa Meyer
Title: Renegades
Author: Marissa Meyer
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Imprint: Feiwel & Friends
Publisher: Macmillan
Date published: November 7, 2017
Page Count: 576
Secret Identities.
Extraordinary Powers.
She wants vengeance. He wants justice.
The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone…except the villains they once overthrew.
Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.
– CHAPTERS 33-43 Discussion Questions –
Note: Those of you who have not yet read Renegades by Marissa Meyer and still intend to read it, don’t read beyond this point (including the comments), because there will be spoilers! You have been warned. But if you like spoilers go right ahead…haha.
To participants: It’s not mandatory that you answer these questions! This is not school, haha. The questions are mainly meant to generate conversations in case some of our readalongers are having a hard time picking something to talk about. Also, feel free to mention and discuss anything which I may not have thought of in the questions below! Please, also keep in mind that we are discussing chapters 33-43 at this point only, and that if you have read ahead, that you be conscious about not sharing spoilers. We want to keep this fun for everyone! Please be considerate.
Also! if you do decide to answer the questions in the comments, please number your answers to correspond with the questions. It just makes it easier and less confusing for everyone to keep up! Thank you!
- Was Max’s power what you expected?
- Did you think that Nova, Adrian, or both of them had lost their powers to Max?
- Do you think that Max will play a bigger role in the rest of the series?
- Did you figure that Max was involved in the last battle with Ace anarchy?
- Did you feel suspicious at Nova’s interest in Ace’s helmet?
- What did you think of Ingrid / The Detonator’s plan? Did you trust her?
- What were your feelings about the amusement park?
- What did you think of Ingrid and Nova’s plan when it went into action?
- Did you expect Ingrid to die? Or did you expect her to get away and face our “heroes” again later in the series?
- Did you expect Ace to be alive? Ah! And how do you feel about him being alive?
- What other thoughts do you have about the ending, and the book overall?! Did the book turn out to be what you expected? Will you be reading the next book in the series?
– MY ANSWERS –
- Well, not really. Though thinking back, “absorption” should have kind of given it away. But for some reason, I thought that was just a word that they used to replace Max’s actual power in the paperwork. Haha.
- I was afraid that Adrian had lost his power, actually. But then when they figured out that he hadn’t lost his power, I was afraid that Nova had lost her power…or some of it. But then I was kind of happy that maybe she’d get to sleep again?
- Oh, definitely! I’m not sure which side will utilize him, but I know hat one side definitely will. Or, he’l get messed up somehow, and become a new villain.
- I kind of had a feeling that he’d been involved, once I figured out what his power was, because Ace would just have been too powerful to be defeated otherwise.
- No. I just thought that she wanted the helmet because it belonged to her last living relative. I thought that her motives were purely emotional.
- I waned to…but mostly didn’t trust her.
- I don’t know…I was a little bit bored? I think that I expected more than what we got. I did feel chemistry between Nova and Adrian, sure, but it was nothing like the chemistry that I felt between other couples in other novels. I guess the part with the birthday party and the kids was cute?
- Again, I didn’t trust Ingrid. So I wasn’t too surprised when she kind of went and did her own thing. But I wanted the plan to actually go the way they’d discussed, because in that moment, I wanted Nova to be able to shed her Nightmare persona, and become a Renegade. Sigh.
- I expected her to get away, or become imprisoned, and then cause trouble later on!
- Not really…or rather, every time that I thought about it, I would tell myself “nah, Flavia. That’s not how it’s going to go. Stop thinking that.” Also, I’m kind of excited that he’s alive!
- Just like most of you mentioned in the Twitter chat, the ending kind of made me go “Oh my gosh! What?!” and then also “How do I feel about this book?! I don’t know!” Also, I’m not sure exactly what I expected. Maybe something along the lines of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles books? And it definitely wasn’t a book like that … I don’t think? I’m obviously confused and conflicted! Haha. As for the second book, well, I’m not as excited about it as I’d like to be, but I will definitely be reading it just to see where the story goes!
– Schedule –
| DATE | CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS | DISCUSSION LOCATION |
|---|---|---|
| November 11, 2017 | Start reading! | N/A |
| November 18, 2017 | Preface – Chapter 8 | Here |
| November 25, 2017 | Chapter 9 – 20 | Here |
| December 2, 2017 | Chapter 21 – 32 | Here |
| December 9, 2017 | Chapter 33 – 43 | The post! |
THANK YOU FOR READING AND THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU PARTICIPATING IN THIS READALONG! I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS, AND DISCUSSING THEM WITH YOU! I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT WE MADE IT TO THE END OF THAT THICK BOOK, BUT HERE WE ARE, AND I HOPE THAT YOU WILL ALL JOIN ME AGAIN FOR FUTURE READALONGS!
1. I didn’t have any predictions for Max’s power but it definitely made sense once revealed.
2. I didn’t think they’d lost they’re powers, but I didn’t think Max would have retained some of their powers either.
3. I definitely think he’ll olay a bigger role in the series considering the Council’s plans for him. I think it can also get interesting though if he realizes he can put people to sleep with Nova’s powers?
4. I hadn’t thought about it before we found out he got Ace’s powers, but it wasn’t surprising.
5. I wasn’t suspicious, I thought she just wanted it because it was her Uncle’s.
6. Definitely didn’t trust her.
7. The amusement park was cute but maybe a little too drawn out. I agree with Flavia, there’s definitely some chemistry there with Sketch and Nova but that scene didn’t play on it all that much.
8. I expected that to fail and I definitely expects Ingrid to screw jr. up.
9. I expected he to die because I expected her to screw up again. My thoughts were kind of like well if you’re gonna screw this up again, it won’t end well for you.
10. Once they said he “fell into the fire” I was like yup, he’s definitely alive. What I wasn’t expecting though, was for Nova to know he was alive. I expected that to be a surprise to her. That part is a game changer and makes me wonder: 1. do the other anarchists know, and 2. if they don’t, I question their signicance to Nova now.
11. So the only part about the ending that threw me off is that Nova has known all this time that Ace is alive so now I have a lot of questions. I also still don’t fully trust Ace’s intentions and the confidential file on Nova’s family makes me even more suspicious of him. I’ve read half of The Lunar Chronicles and Heartless and I wasn’t expecting this to be like any of them, but I was expecting a unique take on heroes vs villains, which I think Marissa Meyers gave us with this story. I definitely plan to read the next book.
1. Right?! I was like “duh Flavia. That was SO obvious.” Haha.
3. Yeahhh that might complicate things for Nova. Max is a smart kid.
7. Yes! I want MORE chemistry. Maybe Nova and Adrian just aren’t meant to be THAT couple for me.
9. Yeah, she kind of deserved it eh? Good riddance!
10. See, I didn’t think that was suspicious! I guess I’m just very gullible haha 😛
11. So glad that you’ll be reading the next book too! I think we both definitely had a lot of questions at the end. But she wouldn’t be Marissa Meyer if she didn’t leave us with a lot of questions, eh? 😛
9. Agreed! As long as all my major questions get answered by series ens I’ll be satisfied! i haven’t finished Lunar Chronicles yet but she’s done a great job of filling in blanks along the way so far, so I expect the same from this series.
Agreed! I haven’t finished the Lunar Chronicles either….and that reminds me I need to get on that cause I requested a review copy of the 2nd book in the graphic novel series that comes AFTER the novels….sigh…hahaha
Dawlyn: Ah I’m so excited to get to Wired and Nerves!
Yes! I actually picked it up from the library and almost read it before realizing that it’s a continuation! I’m so glad that I didn’t spoil myself too much…
Yeah I heard the series is spoiled in the first few pages!
Yeahhh even the synopsis is a spoiler I think haha. I’m too scared to read it again and make sure though
Oh yikes! I know I’ve read the synopsis before but it was so long ago. Like before I even started Lunar Chronicles! Thankfully the only thing I remember is that it’s from Iko’s perspective.
Ahhh that’s lucky! Which book are you at in the Lunar Chronicles now??
I’m on Cress now!
What about you?
I finished Cress a few weeks ago… tried audiobooking Fairest….and got stuck 50% in 🙁
I might DNF it and just go straight to Winter.
If I do read the .5 ones, I’ll wait until I finish the whole series. I haven’t heard great things about Fairest and i’m not all that interested in Levana’s story anyway, so I may pass on that one. I’ve heard Stars Above is pretty good though!
Yeah I audiobooked most of Stars Above and it’s good! I think I would have enjoyed the short stories in it more if I didn’t feel so eager to just get to Winter lmao
Right!! That’s why I just decided to hold off!
Good call! I thought I’d read them chronologically…story-wise…but it’s not working too well for me
For some reason I thought it was the book series being retold in graphic novel format lmao
Me too originally!
Lol! Glad I’m not alone!
1. Well it was kind of what I expected. But I thought he would absorb everything, including Nova’s life. But absorbing their powers is scary and creepy.
2. I thought that Nova had lost her powers since she was in there for so long and she fell asleep. But I’m glad she didn’t.
3. I hope Max will play a bigger role. He seems like an interesting character. But it could be difficult since he can’t leave his box.
4. I thought he had some connection to Ace, like they were related or something, but it makes sense that he was there.
5. I wasn’t suspicious of Nova. I thought she wanted to see the helmet since Ace is her uncle.
6. I didn’t trust Ingrid at all and I was surprised that Nova did. I was sure she would kill Nova.
7. I found the amusement park so creepy. Especially since it’s run by the puppeteer and he’s super creepy!
8. I think the battle went by too quickly. I didn’t really get what was happening until it was too late. I think Adrian felt the same way. And I’m not sure that it was convincing that Nightmare is dead.
9. I didn’t like Ingrid so I was hoping she would get what was coming to her. She couldn’t be trusted by the Anarchists so she didn’t deserve to stay with them. There are enough villains to still battle with the Renegades.
10. I was shocked that Ace is still alive! But when they were describing the final battle they didn’t talk about him dying. There are still so many blank spots in the battle!
11. I was kind of bored with the amusement park scenes, but that ending had me hooked! My mouth dropped when Nova went to see Ace. I wanted to shout “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME?” I will definitely be reading the next book!
Dawlyn: I agree, the barrel happened kind of fast! They did say Ace feel into the fire because he became weak from Max draining his powers. They assumed from that he was dead but that’s what made me think that he was probably alive because other then seeing him fall to his death, they never said they had physical evidence that he actually died.