Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.
But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie.
Her memories have been altered.
Her mind and body aren’t under her own control.
And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.
Ooooh! Why did this book have to dissapoint me so much. It had all of the makings of an AMAZING dystopian - underwater world and brainwashing and a fast paced escape plot and yet it just did not deliver for me. It was yet another case of pretty cover, not so pretty book and after finishing it I came away with this awful sense of unfulfillment and disappointment.
On the surface Renegade seems like the perfect book and it's true that I read it in a day, yet the truth is that underneath the seemingly great story there re so many blindingly obvious plot holes and inconsistencies that I kept feeling like I'd missed things. then there is the fact that though this book is a good 350 pages long and yet by the end of it it feels like you've got absolutely nowhere.
I'm really not the type of person to write completely critical reviews but up there I've told you the good aspect of this novel (the premise) and now I have to say what I felt let this book down. I am a keen reader, I will rush through a book and not completely think things through so whilst i thought this book was okay whilst reading it it wasn't until I finished it and though through the plot that I realised that a lot of things didn't fit. One thing that really stood out is that Elysium is this new world that has existed for fifty odd years, they have this now way of life with the Coupling and the Mother and yet there was a lack of 'slang' that has evolved there. Some of the better dystopians about new civilizations incorporate some new types of slang yet this one didn't and Evie didn't know what a lot of the surface slang meant and so they haven't kept that slang so that confused me a little.
I also had some issues with the romance, there was some chemistry between Gavin and Evie yet it wasn't enough that they'd be totally happy coupling after seeing eachother two times, it made no sense and just served to irritate me. A lot.
I won't go on anymore, but if you're looking for dystopian societies and an action packed plot, i wouldn't recommend this one.
Book released 13th November 2012 by Tor Teen
ARC received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (eBook)
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