“There was the potential for evil everywhere, and the only way to combat it was if more people chose goodness. If more people chose heroism.”

Stars (Out of 10): 8/10 Stars

Favorite Character: I honestly really liked both Nova and Adrian, and how they didn’t just fully represent a villain or a hero!

Spoiler Free: I’ve been wanting to read this book since it came out, since I was such a fan of the Lunar Chronicles, and I finally got the chance too! Overall, it met my expectations from Marissa Meyer, and while her writing style isn’t the most beautiful or compelling (overall is good but fairly simple), I still really enjoyed the story!

One of the things I like most about Meyer’s stories is usually her characters. I fell in love with all of the Lunar cast, and the same was true in this story! While there was definitely way more characters to love, I did end up liking most of the ones that had focus within our story (Adrian, Nova, Dread Warden (forget his real name, there are too many!), Ruby, Dana, Oscar, etc.) The only problem I had was liking some of the Anarchists, since some felt too over the top at points (Honey), or hard to like.

I also really enjoyed the plot! It captivated me, and this book went by much faster than most books of this size do! I was hooked on every line, and constantly living in fear of the cliffhanger I heard so many mention! (It was a good one!) I also really enjoyed the inner conflict we saw our two protagonists facing, on whether what they were told as they were growing up was really true, or if both sides of the war have their pros and cons.

I also liked the world that was built, and how even with superheroes in charge (the “perfect” idol), there were still tons of issues in the world. It kinda goes to show that having powers doesn’t fix everything, as the world is much more complex than that.

My only issue with the book was a part of the beginning. We were drowned in names in the first quarter of the book, as we had to learn the superhero name, their real name, and their powers, and I still get confused when council members are called by their first names! However, this did get better as time went on, and we learned who was important to remember and who we could forget.

Reread Review
While this was a reread, I honestly forgot almost all of the plot/twists except for the final one, and all I remembered character wise was

Spoiler

not to fully trust Ingrid

. I reread this book in order to prepare for finally reading the series in its entirety, and I'm honestly really glad that I reread book 1 before continuing on! I was reminded just how much this book focuses on morality and the positioning of good and evil, and what happens when one is entirely in power. This book sets up the series extremely well in my opinion, as there's so much at stake (personal freedom vs. the common good, the often blurred lines between good and evil, are superheroes qualified to be actually in charge?, etc.). The cast of characters also fit these themes extremely well, as the main characters both have such a personal bias to either side yet are still open to questioning the 'truths' that have been fed to them. They're smart enough to think through what they see and not just believe everything they're told (though they are definitely dumb in other ways haha).

I'm still not necessarily super on board with the romance but that might just be because I find everything else about the book so much more interesting! All in all, I really love where this book left the cast, story, and world, and I can't wait to continue right into [b:Archenemies|35425827|Archenemies (Renegades, #2)|Marissa Meyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526668679l/35425827._SX50_.jpg|56802959] !