*RE-READ October 2019*
I still love this book as much as I did the first two times I read it. I’m hoping my re-read of Archenemies goes better than my first read, but I can still safely say that this book is excellent.

*RE-READ November 2018*
I listened to the audiobook for this re-read, and it is excellent. The voice actors are superb, especially Rebecca Soler. They bring emotion to their performance. It feels more like acting and less like reading, and they are able to really make the audiobook an experience.



What a wonderful way to start off 2018!

I truly loved my reading experience. I feel like this is Meyer’s strongest book to date, and this comes from someone who is a total sucker for fairy tale re-tellings. Then again, I’m also a sucker for a good superhero story, so I was pretty much destined to love this book.

What I liked (besides everything):

1. Characters. I love these characters. They are wonderfully flawed and rich and real, which may seem like a strange word to use when describing people with super powers. But it’s true. All of the characters were fleshed-out and unique. They all had distinct personalities and were interesting to learn about. They grounded this story in a way that one-dimensional characters never could.
I would love to see some of the more minor characters get even more attention during the next book, although I have no complaints with the amount they were explored in this story.

Nova and Adrian were great main characters. It was funny, because it didn’t matter whose perspective we were following, I found myself agreeing with that person’s philosophies. They may find themselves on opposite sides of these issues, but they both have principles that are guiding them. It’s like the saying goes: Everyone is the hero of their own story.

2. World Building. I thought Meyer did a fantastic job of creating this futuristic world. I could picture everything so clearly.

3. The writing. There is something so addictive about her writing. It’s not super flowery or metaphorical. But it’s descriptive in a way that is very readable and fun. I just didn’t want to put this book down, and a good part of that is due to her writing style.

4. Pacing/plot. This book is over 550 pages. I never once felt like the book was slow or boring at all. And that isn’t to say that it was nonstop action. There are plenty of quieter, character-driven moments. But it’s balanced so well with more action/plot-oriented scenes that this book just flew by for me.

5. The ending. I had a few things I assumed would happen at the end of this book. Specifically, there were a couple of reveals I figured had to be coming. I was right about one, wrong about a couple more, and one came completely out of the blue. I thought this book ended perfectly, but also horribly, because now I have to wait for months until the next book comes out.

6. The message. In the political climate we find ourselves in today in the United States, the idea that an authoritarian type government or an anarchistic society could take over is scary but not wholly unbelievable. There are many ethical and moralistic discussions to be found in this book, and I really appreciated that. I think one of my favorite quotes is:

“Heroism wasn’t about what you could do, it was about what you did. It was about who you saved when they needed saving.”

This really resonated with me. All the money, power, and influence in the world doesn’t make you a quality human being. It’s how you choose to conduct yourself and interact with other people that will determine your worth.

As you could probably tell, I loved this book, and I can’t freaking wait for the follow up to come out this fall!