Archenemies By Marissa Meyer Book Review
“My point is that Ace Anarchy, whatever his motive might have been, was ultimately a destructive force. He destroyed things. But we are so much stronger and better when we put our energy into creating things, not destroying them.”
(pg 265)
About
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Dystopian Fantasy
Series: Renegades Book 2
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Synopsis
The Renegades Trilogy continues, in this fiercely awaited second installment after the New York Times-bestselling Renegades by Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles.
Time is running out.
Together, they can save the world.
But they each other’s worst nightmare.
In Renegades, Nova and Adrian (aka Insomnia and Sketch) fought the battle of their lives against the Anarchist known as the Detonator. It was a short-lived victory.
The Anarchists still have a secret weapon, one that Nova believes will protect her. The Renegades also have a strategy for overpowering the Anarchists, but both Nova and Adrian understand that it could mean the end of Gatlon City – and the world – as they know it.
Review
Spoilers Contained Below
To the enemies and archenemies,
I’ve always loved superheroes from Marvel movies to DC comic TV shows. We all like the idea of a hero being the savior during dark times, but Nova is a hero and a villain all wrapped up into one and she’s back better than ever. I’ll admit, I kind of distinctly forgot what the heck happened in the Renegades, and if you’re like me, this book eases you into the characters and the occurrences of what happened in the last book, so it’s not as hard to follow along or get into. So much appreciation to Marissa Meyer who knows readers read soooo many books within a year and compensates for that.
The book starts in the thick of it all with a good fashioned chase of the bad guy, Hawthorn, who I’m imaging to be a lot like Boo’s costume from Monsters Inc, but more deadly and worse. I liked seeing the action and the teamwork with all the characters from Oscar to Ruby to Danna. I really love Oscar’s wit and humor as the book progresses, it kind of reminds me of Kenji from Shatter Me because they’re both very good fighters and loyal friends. At the same time when they want to, they can be vulnerable instead of using a humorous front.
One of the main things that occurs in this book is the ominous prescience of Agent N. The good mysterious Agent N that rang so many bells for me! Then it hit me that there was this whole project going on from the first book about Agent N and how we had to figure out what this project was. In this book, it really goes straight for it and I was all here for it! 😆 So Agent N is a neutralizing agent that can be injected in the bloodstream or inhaled by a person and that can cause that prodigy to lose their powers with no reversible cure so far. It can work both on the “good” renegades and the bad prodigies who run amuck. Upon hearing about Agent N, everyone is kind of curious and excited as to what it entails because if it works, it can revolutionize how the renegades take care of their villains and it can restore Galton City back to peace and harmony because the “bad” guys won’t have any powers to fight back with. A lot of people are on board with Agent N, but not Nova who sees it as the threat it is.
I think in some respects Agent N would be useful, but at the same time, I completely agree with Nova’s arguments against it. I think that it does take away people’s right to a trial or to prove themselves because who knows, maybe that prodigy can change for the better if given the chance, but if Agent N was injected in that prodigy right away, it takes away that possibility. It takes away power against a person’s will and the essence of who they are because a prodigies power is all they know and to have that taken away, takes away a big part of their identity. That’s gotta suck. It’s also an abuse of power because if the Renegades take all this power away from other prodigies they don’t deem fit, then the Renegades rise to power—literally—-because they are the only ones who might have that. And that’s not fair because it puts the Renegades on this unholy pedestal for people to kind of fear them and bow down to their will. Speaking of their will, there’s this whole honorable Renegade Code of being just. But I don’t see how using Agent N aligns with that code. To me Agent N is a cowardly way to subdue people and doesn’t solve anything. However, at the same time I think maybe Agent N could be useful for the big bad villains in Galton City and should only be used if those big bads are put on trial and are given other methods to help them change.
Nova doesn’t hide her distaste for Agent N and I honestly just wanted her to stamp down her questions sometimes because I felt like people would get suspicious of her if she was so opposed to Agent N as a new up and coming renegade. It really would have blown her cover and I didn’t want Nova to get caught. As much as she’s a villain, I know deep down she’s a hero.
So here’s my opinion about Nova. I think she feels like she has to go along with all these Anarchist things and to get her vengeance for her family, when really she doesn’t want to. Being with the Renegades and with Adrian has been good for her and has helped her see how big the world is. There was that one moment when she was with Callum, her co–worker for the artifacts room, and they had this Aladdin moment where he showed her the world. I never knew Callum had powers, but his power of letting people see the best in things or what they wondered was beyond cool. It really matched his personality and explained his optimism. He helped Nova see the world through a new lens and when doing that she could kind of see the good. But in the back of her head, all she could remember was the bad things and how hurt she was. Callum feels her hurt and I liked that he showed her this world as a reminder that they were fighting for a world that was better. The difference between Callum and Nova was that Callum thought it was better when people worked together to create something rather than tear it apart because the world was built on people coming together to create things. But Nova believed that things had to be destroyed so better things could be built. And I just loved this conversation and moment between them because Callum was trying to change her mind about something even if he didn’t fully know who she was, and for a second Nova actually felt that light feeling in her chest of wonder. Then that feeling left when reality and everything she has ever done came back to her: being Nightmare. It hurt a lot because you could see her at this war with herself between duty and doing what she feels is right based on what the Renegades taught her.
That wonder scene also made her see the hope and the love that the Renegades gave to people and even if they didn’t rescue her family or her in her time of need. But she has to understand that not all Renegades are going to know what’s going on at every second of the day and that they can’t be on her beck and call. Renegades are people and they try their best and sometimes they fail, much in the case of her family. I could understand her anger and her hatred though, but I feel like a big part of Nova wants to let go and move on, but the Anarchists are constantly reminding her that she can’t—- that she has to avenge her family.
Part of this undercover plan is getting Ace Anarchy’s helmet back. If there’s one thing I remembered from the first book was Ace Anarchy being alive. You know I would have thought him to be all muscular and conniving like Loki in this book, but it actually makes sense that he’s broken and weak. He’s been in a tunnel for so many years, how could he not? I’m surprised he lasted so long. Nova loves her uncle because he’s family, but I think he’s also part of the reason she can’t let go. She feels like she owes him something too and to help him be what he used to be. I kept thinking to myself that Nova really should stop living for other people and doing what they want from her and she should start living for herself and what she wants to do. I love Nova and I can see the honest to good person in there because sometimes she would do villainous things, but you could tell she truly didn’t want to. So there’s a heart in there that just needs love and to show her that it’s going to be okay.
And you know who that heart is?
Adrian Everheart.
Pun completely not intended, but it works 😆
Adrian Everheart. The Sentinel. Sketch. No matter what you call him, it always manages to sound cool. I still think his powers are the best. To draw and have that drawing come to life? I think that’s a superpower I would want because imagine all the things you could draw and then just pop to life like easy peasy. Imagine how fun that would be. Anyways, he let the Sentinel die when he chased Hawthorn by the docks because no one liked his vigilante ways anyway. He was like a robotic Robin Hood, but for some reason people were scared of him and I think that’s only because they didn’t know who he was and what his intentions were. To the Renegades everyone that’s not with them is a threat. If only they knew the Sentinel was Adrian, their own son. I found it funny how they were talking to Adrian that one night when Nova was over and they brought up this comic Adrian used to write called Project X or some letter in the alphabet, and they were like “the Sentinel sounds a lot like that guy in your comic.” I mean it was staring them right in the face!! 🤪 For two of the most powerful superheroes, they did not put two and two together. Lucky for Adrain though because Nova hates the Sentinel and the Sentinel hates Nightmare (Nova’s evil side).
It’s kind of funny how both their aliases hate each other, but the person they are beneath it love each other. In the first book, Adrian really had a thing for Nova and I remembered it was super cute when he brought her sandwiches or they had that whole balloon day thing. In this book I think because Adrian tried to kiss her and she pulled back, he decided to do the same and not pursue anything more because he kind of got rejected. For most guys when they try to kiss a girl and get turned down, they would try again, but Adrian got the hint and at least and I respect him for that, but gosh it just was agonizing reading how much Nova actually liked him and he didn’t reciprocate it as much. It’s cute how she fell in love with the son of the enemy and her literal enemy. I liked the part where she was in her fake house with Honey and Honey was giving her advice on how to charm Adrian more. For what it’s worth, Honey’s also a nice person and she poses as a mother figure to Nova, so that moment was very special and cute. It was cuter how she advised Honey’s tips and tricks to Oscar when he asked her if Ruby liked him. As much as I’m rooting for Adrian and Nova, I’m also rooting for Ruby and Oscar because their both so cute.
One day Nova shows up at Adrian’s mansion on a whim. More like on a mission if she was being honest. As a trusted Renegade, Nova got this position in the artifacts unit because in the last book she saw Ace Anarchy’s helmet on display in the halls, but she knew it was a fake. Someone told her that the real helmet was in the artifacts room, so she filed for a job down there at night and she got it. I found it highly cocky that the Renegades would just leave all those dangerous artifacts lightly guarded like that. I get that they had a good security system and powers to fight back anyone who tried to steal anything, but still, there were tons of artifacts sitting like books on a shelf. I couldn’t believe they could also borrow them too and check them out. They artifacts were really books when you come to think of it. When first working there, Nova got the grand tour from Callum and I found it just odd that he would show her every nook and cranny of that building like nothing. He even showed her the restrictive area. Why don’t the Renegades write STEAL ME all over the building because he just gave her every piece of information she needed. You kind of have to admire her whole undercover tactic though; it’s pretty smart. Get in, earn their trust, and they let you walk all over them.
The helmet sat in a box on a shelf, and I’m imagining a box from Monsters Inc, you know the one that Sully thought Boo got crushed up as, but she actually just ran down the hall. And I know, another Monsters Inc. reference, I don’t know it just seemed fitting to what I saw 😅. Anyway, you would think the Renegade would put these DESTRUCTIVE artifacts somewhere remotely secure, but NOOOO! They put it in a box on a shelf for everyone to look at it if they asked *slaps forehead* I mean Nova just had to ask and Callum showed her the darn thing! What is that?! They really really needed to get off their high horse. What was funny though was that even Nova was like why don’t you guys have better security for this? She’s basically telling them they were dumb because she was going to take that box and destroy it to get the helmet. I couldn’t even believe it when Callum or Adrian or ANYONE just gave her the answers as to how to get inside that box. They want her to steal it.
You know there’s all this big talk about this helmet being the ultimate ruin of Galton City, but what does it actually do? How did Ace Anarchy use it? Curious.
There was one night where Nova was working and she had this whole technological, scientific way to get inside the chromium box. She hooks it up to some cart with wires and pretends to clean and they all of a sudden it bursts and then she has to clean something up and the security monitor people call her to ask if everything was alright. *Facepalm* Couldn’t they have seen what she was OBVIOUSLY trying to do? I was sure she was going to get caught, but I guess not. I swear Renegades are not the brightest.
Except for Max. Good young Max. I love that kid. He’s such a sweet soul that you want to lock up and shelter from the utter horror of the world. Oh wait, they did. 😅 I’m joking. But I mean it in a good way. I loved that moment when Captain Chromium was playing cards with Max like father and son and it was cute. I also liked when Nova would see him because as dark as Nova can be, she has a soft spot for kids, unless it’s Magpie. My absolute favorite moment with Max was when Adrian walked into his little glass city world with that healing medallion thing around his neck and he actually got to touch Max without getting his powers wiped. Max thought Adrian was off his rocker and was going to lose all his powers, but then he told him about the necklace and it was so sweet because as much as Max was scared for Adriaan, he finally got to hug his brother and be with him.
I was laughing though when Nova saw Adrian and Max together like that 😂 and she was like please explain. The dad’s were even shocked when they saw security footage of Adrian and were like “Have you lost your mind?” I could imagine. But I liked how Adrian shared the knowledge and the power of the necklace with his dad’s because they realized that if it really did work, it could change their relationship with Max for the better. To Nova, the necklace was the silver lining she was looking for.
So that brings us to what I started talking about, but never finished. She went to his mansion unexpectedly and for Adrain, it should have read some red flags or something because why would she be there? Even though her presence there was unprecedented, I really liked this part of the book.
Nova was on a mission to steal the medallion from them and to snoop around, but instead she got caught up in Adrian. Of course, she did 😏. I loved the whole part where he showed her the forest room based on her dream. The way Marissa Meyer described the room put me right there and that’s what good writing does. I could hear the tropical birds and feel the raindrops falling from the leaves. I was transported to a Rainforest Café or somewhere deep in the jungle. It was magical. I loved how Adrian put so much detail and care into the room and it made Nova feel like Adrian just knew her so well. Then came the statue with the star in the hand. Adrian didn’t even draw the star and yet it was there like magic. It was magic.In that room, Nova confided to Adrian everything she’s been through with witnessing the loss of her parents and I feel like she let down her guard to him because she saw how much he cared and that she could trust him. That night as someone who didn’t need to fall asleep, she fell asleep in his arms because she felt safe. She felt at home. And I was LIVING.
I loved how she woke up the next night and had dinner with the family and it was kind of weird like did Captain Chromium and Simon know she was in the house the whole time or no? But I loved how she was a part of the family dinner because I don’t think she gets a lot of those.
Because she fell asleep the night before and didn’t do what she set out to do, Nova was more determined this time to find the necklace. So she took Adrian up on his offer to watch a movie and I can tell you they didn’t watch anything when they were making lips. Things were getting hot and feisty and Nova was into it and I was like honey a cute guy is kissing you and you should enjoy it, not be thinking about getting that darn helmet and necklace. Stop thinking about doing Anarchist things! But this time Nightmare won out and she put Adrain to sleep as she searched for the necklace. I mean you were kissing! I swear, her priorities need to be unstraightened.
The charm necklace was in the closet where Adrian’s dad’s kept their commutes. They really made things convenient for her, didn’t they? I feel like in the future Simon’s going to find out that she’s a bad guy because he saw her “accidentally” looking the closet; When the charm is gone and everyone’s looking for it and they know the last place they saw it was at home in that closet, someone’s going to put two and two together. I’m just waiting for the next book where they’re going to find out about her secret identity. It’s inevitable.
When going on her hunt around the house, she found herself in the forest room again because she was drawn to the star. When she reached out to touch it, it morphed into a precious gem on her bracelet. Everyone kind of notices this new gem and they say that it’s not something from this world and it makes me wonder, what is this star? What is it’s powers? Is it going to be the destruction or the salvation of Galton? This star’s going to do something in the next book and it’s going to shine 😉
It’s kind of sad when Adrian wakes up afterwards to realize he fell asleep while kissing her. Or so he thinks. That’s kind of mortifying, but Nova knows the truth. We know the truth.
So Nova had her star, the charm, and now all she needs is the helmet and she’s coming for it.
The ball was where it all went D-O-W-N.
First, Nova had such a stunning moment when she descended the stairs to Adrian after being late. Talk about a show stopper. While there, she danced with Oscar and they had a good friendship heart to heart where she gave him advice as mentioned earlier. It’s all very sweet. It just makes you want to shake Nova and tell her don’t do what she’s going to do. She really does care for Oscar, Ruby, and Adrain and doesn’t want to hurt them, but she keeps choosing wrong—-choosing a side that’s not her anymore. She was even kind enough not to harm Danna who was onto Nova being a villain. I find the whole trapping Danna thing kind of weird though. If you trap one of her butterflies, she can’t reform wholly, but if you burn one, then she’ll only get a cut or something. It kind of doesn’t make sense because if someone burned a butterfly, shouldn’t that burn her somewhere? Or if someone trapped her, shouldn’t just one part of her body not reform? It’s pretty extreme to think that just ONE butterfly and she can’t reform her entire self. That kind of sucks. But that butterfly was a big help in leading Adrian, Oscar, and Ruby to the underground cave where they had a battle with Ace Anarchy himself. During this scene we got to see Ace in power rather than wheezing and coughing. He was still weak and it wasn’t a really epic battle, but I thought it was cool when Adrian drew a bomb out of dust and then tossed it. Drawing powers coming through for sure.
I was kind of waiting for Ace to feel drained because if he was using all that power to fight against the three of them when he could barely walk, he couldn’t hold onto that for so long. And he didn’t. He fainted after the battle and the Renegades captured him. Or more like the Sentinel did. Before getting to Ace, they had to get past Phobia and Adrian thought he was more useful in her Sentimental form so he finally revealed himself to his friends who were shocked, but understanding. I really liked how they gave the Sentinel this capture because it shows the Renegades that he’s on their side, which buys him some good credentials.
While all this was going on, Nova was trying to take the box from Renegade headquarters. Then she met Frostbite’s team who tried to stop her and Nova unleashed Agent N in gas form to them, transforming at first Gargoyle into a regular person When that happened, I took a step step back because she voiced how Agent N could be used as a weapon in the wrong hands and here she was exploiting it as so. Hypocrite 😅As Nightmare, I could understand why she would do that, but as Nova, it just wasn’t right. The utter devastation that Gargoyle had after losing his powers was everything Nova talked about in how a person los a big part of their identity and it sucked that after so much progress she saw Gargoyle as weak because he wasn’t his rock body self anymore. Have some sympathy girl!
But GOSHHHHH! This brings me to the second thing that goes D-O-W-N!
The bridge! The bridge that Max was on. I could NOT. She did not. The fact that Nova even felt horrible about it, made me know that she still had a heart worth salvaging somewhere in all that duty and anger. But GOSH, the bridge!
Thankfully Max was alive, just invisible and hiding in his glass city. Frostbite’s team tried to come at her again, mostly Frostbite trying to hurt her. During that whole fight scene, Max was exposed to their powers, so he was gaining some of it for himself. And then when Frostbite was going to jab this pike into Nova’s heart, Nova ducked out of the way and behind her was FREAKING MAX!!!!! No one taught my poor baby to not stand behind someone who’s getting attacked by a big knife!!! I blame the sheltered life! My heart palpitations could not. The kid was D-O-W-N, Nova was D-O-W-N, I was D-O-W-N! Wait until the security footage sees Frostbite stabbing Max, oooooh, she’s gonna get it. I’m sorry, I don’t like Frostbite, but I definitely don’t like her now, even if it was an accident. My heart just hurt because Nova screamed and Max was hurt, but instead of blood were ice crystals . He was a pale, fragile thing and he needed help. The Sentinel was there and Nova wanted to help Max because he cared for him, but she knew she could never give Max the type of help he needed. So she put her sorrow for him aside and saved him by doing the only thing she could do: she left.
Max my FREAKING HEART. Adrian leaped like Inspector Gadget himself to the hospital as the Sentinel and demanded a doctor for Max. Once they heard it was the Captain’s son, they finally gave a darn about Max. But Max has to be okay and has to live. I mean he has to. Marissa Meyer, he HAS TO! Max is too precious for this world!
I can’t express how much I want to hug Max and Adrian. He lost his mother and now he was almost going to lose his brother. Adrian was sad, but he was mostly mad that he wasn’t there for Max, but he was furious at Nightmare because he believed she did this. In some ways, she did do something. I feel like Nova in the next book will come to her senses as being good because she loves Max and that love for him will win out rather than her hatred or vengeance. NOVA IS GOOD.
What I completely think is BONKERS is how after all this goes down, Adrian knocks on her door like NOTHING and she plays the whole INNOCENT card! Like how the heck does she go from ball, to Nightmare, to running away from murder, to nonchalantly sitting at home. I have a feeling I know why she can’t sleep. It’s because she does so many things that her body is on haywire and can’t rest.
Adrian is completely oblivious and has no idea that he’s in the lion’s den with Nova and he tells her about what happened to Max and it just sucked the life out of me. Adrain in the first book was so bubbly and light and full of joy and in this book, he’s very guarded because he has the Sentinel as a secret and he feels like he has to prove himself because he didn’t shoot the Detonator like Nova did. So Adrian just feels so much pressure he has his dad’s name to live up to, and he feels like he owes it to his mom and to himself to figure out what happened. There was this interesting dialogue in the book about revenge versus justice. And I loved it.
“‘You want to find out who did it,’ she said slowly, ‘so you can have revenge.”
‘Not revenge,’ said Adrian. ‘justice.’
She shivered. He said it with such conviction, though she wasn’t sure he would recognize the difference in his own heart. And what of her own heart, she wondered.
Did she want revenge against the Council or justice?”
(pg. 317)
Both of them come from hard pasts. Adrian feels responsible for his mother’s death because he would have dreams of her going out to save the world and never coming home. That’s why as a kid he never liked when she went out. And then it did happen and he lives with that blame and it drives him to get closure for her and for himself. He says that he wants to get justice for his mom, but Nova felt like at that moment he might have not known the difference; she might have not known the difference. To Nova, she witnessed her parents murdered for no reason at all and the Renegades didn’t save her or them. She wanted to get revenge for them. So what made Adrain and her agenda different? Was it both revenge or justice? I think revenge is when you retaliate for something when you feel like you were done wrong, when justice is when you seek the truth when you feel like something is wrong. It’s so interesting how they juxtapose each other in aliases and in goals. Marissa Meyer really did beautifully craft and strategically thought about who these characters are and their motives.
There’s also the fact that Adrain mentioned that if someone killed his mom, the villain would have bragged about it because that’s a big job to do. And it stuck me as “yea, why wasn’t someone bragging about it?” Nova obviously didn’t do it, but I have a hunch that that’s why her parents were killed. Maybe someone found out her parents killed Adrian’s mom and went to get them. Or something? Or maybe Ace or someone close to Nova killed her parents because you know how they say it’s the one show love you that hurt you or betray you? Maybe the Anarchists are hiding that from her and took her in as a kid because they knew her power or something and it’s better to have her on their side then the other side? Maybe that revelation is going to be the turning point for Nova to see art she’s on the wrong side?
There’s also the fact that Adrain mentioned that if someone killed his mom, the villain would have bragged about it because that’s a big job to do. And it stuck me as “yea, why wasn’t someone bragging about it?” Nova obviously didn’t do it, but I have a hunch that that’s why her parents were killed. Maybe someone found out her parents killed Adrian’s mom and went to get them. Or something? Or maybe Ace or someone close to Nova killed her parents because you know how they say it’s the one’s how love you that hurt you or betray you? Maybe the Anarchists are hiding that from her and took her in as a kid because they knew her power or something and its as better to have her on their side then the other side? Maybe that revelation is going to be the turning point for Nova to see art she’s on the wrong side?
Who knows? But I’m just curious as to if the parents had powers or how Nova got hers?
It’s completely weird when Adrian hears that he’s going to destroy Nightmare and how she’s like I’ll help you.
Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Nova.
Nova who?
Nova, did you forget you’re NIGHTMARE!?
How are you going to destroy yourself? Is that some sort of hint that she’ s going to destroy the Nightmare part of herself and become good? I don’t know, the next book is called Supernova and I absolutely love the play on words! She’s really going to burn bright in that book, isn’t she? It’s going to be explosive. I’ll just keep coming with the Supernova puns 😂
Things that are going to happen in the next book is finding out Max is okay because he IS. I know it. I can feel Marissa Meyer keeping him alive 😅. Then Adrian’s going to find out she’s Nightmare and she’s going to find out he’s the Sentinel. They’re going to have to find a way to recover their relationship from that. I think we’re going to break Ace out so that Nova can give him his gosh darn helmet and maybe see a Galton city fight with all the Renegades and villains. The real question here is, which side will Nova fight on?
Adrian’s parents are going to find out he’s the Sentinel. Then we’re going to find out who killed Adrian’s mother and more about Nova’s parents’ past. I believe we’re going to have to get closure or some sort of apology from the Renegades that they weren’t there for her. I think if she got that apology, it wouldn’t completely make things better, but it would help. I also think that Danna’s going to reform. Maybe she’s going to be the first to tell the team about Nova or not. We also have to deal with the repercussions of Agent N and what it did to Gargoyle, Frostbite, and someone else. I think we should only use Agent N under extreme circumstances.
I really can’t wait to see the epic conclusion to this story and how revelations will be made and handled. Let’s see if super- Nova will use her super powers for good or for bad.
If you read this book, what was your favorite part? Least favorite part? If you had a superpower what would it be? Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕
And as always, with love,
Rating
4.74 Full Bloom Flowers
Characters: Such complex characters with addled pasts. I really like how the main characters complement each other in the best way. I also like the super powers of everyone we meet. They sound like genuinely good people, except for a few.
Plot: Kept getting better and better
Writing: Marissa Meyer knows how to create characters that are heart-wrenchingly complicated that you’re just fully invested. She also crafts such an intricate plot that you really can’t predict what’ll happen next.
Action: Never a dull moment.
Romance: I really don’t know how Adrian and Nova are going to work through their relationship once they find things out about each other. Here’s hoping they can figure it out because I love them together.