Nova – The Unseen Library

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Trade Paperback – 29 October 2019)

Series: Renegades – Book 3

Length: 552 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Lies, betrayal, anarchy! Acclaimed author Marissa Meyer brings her epic young adult series, the Renegades trilogy to an end with Supernova, an electrifying and outstanding book that I had an absolute blast reading.

Supernova is the third and final book in Meyer’s Renegades trilogy, which started in 2017 with Renegade and continued last year with the incredible Archenemies. Archenemies had to be one of my favourite young adult books of last year, so I was pretty eager to check out the final book in the series. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, the Renegades books follow the adventures of two teenagers, Nova and Adrian, in an alternate version of Earth where a number of people, known as prodigies, have superpowers. After a period of superpowered destruction and terror known as the Age of Anarchy, the world has entered a time of peace, thanks to the superhero collective known as the Renegades.

Nova is a member of the supervillain group known as Anarchists, the remnants of the followers of the world’s greatest supervillain, Ace Anarchy, who has been living in hiding since the end of the Age of Anarchy, close to death. Nova, or as she is known to the world, Nightmare, is Ace’s niece, and hates the Renegades with a passion, due to the role they played in the death of her parents, and because of the way her friends have been persecuted by the supposed heroes. In order to recover Ace’s helmet, the one item that can restore him to full power, Nova has taken on the persona of Insomnia in order to infiltrate the Renegades as a hero. However, her dedication to the Anarchists and her mission has been shaken thanks to the leader of her patrol team, Adrian.

Since joining the team, Nova has slowly fallen in love with Adrian, a romance complicated by the fact that Adrian is the son of the world’s greatest superhero, Captain Chromium, Ace Anarchy’s arch enemy and the man who Nova hates the most in the world. Adrian also has secrets of his own; while he spends his days as the Renegade Sketch, at night he is secretly the outlaw vigilante superhero known as the Sentinel, who acts outside the rules and codes of the Renegades. He is also pursuing a solo investigation into the murder of his mother, and his primary suspect is Nightmare.

Despite her steadily growing feelings for Adrian, Nova is still determined to take down the Renegades, especially after the announcement of their new secret weapon, the chemical Agent N, which can permanently depower a prodigy. Breaking into Renegade headquarters at the end of Archenemies, Nova was able to successfully recover Ace Anarchy’s helmet; however, her absence allowed Adrian and the rest of their patrol team to accidently find and capture Ace. Now with her uncle captured and awaiting execution and all her lies and deceptions coming apart, Nova must find a way to rescue Ace and bring the Renegades down. However, with new players on the board and old fears resurfacing, can Nova and Adrian survive when anarchy returns to Gatlon City, or will their combined secrets finally overwhelm the two young prodigies?

This was a pretty amazing way to end a trilogy, as Supernova is an excellent and highly addictive read that I powered through in around two days, despite its hefty 552-page length. This final book tells an exciting and compelling story in its own right, and Meyer has done an outstanding job of finishing off her series, producing an epic conclusion that ties together a number of the intriguing storylines that have been running since the first book. Those readers interested in Supernova who have not read the previous books in the series should be able to follow the plot without any issues, but in order to experience the full emotional impact of the various story elements that are concluding, it might be best to at least read Archenemies first. That being said, those readers who choose to read Supernova alone will still be in store for an incredible young adult superhero read that does a wonderful job blending together action, tragic backstory, likeable characters and a very complex and rewarding romance storyline.

One of the most enjoyable things about this series was the cool and unique world of superheros that Meyer has created. The whole background of a world that is slowly rebuilding after an extended period of anarchy is pretty darn fascinating, and it was really interesting seeing the ways that superheros are trying to maintain order in this world. Meyer has done an amazing job filling her world with a variety of memorable prodigy characters, and the sheer number of unique power sets that the author has come up with is truly impressive. All these cool and imaginative powers make for some pretty epic battle scenes when the prodigies end up fighting each other, and Meyer has come up with some thrilling large-scale battle sequences throughout her story. Overall, I found that this superhero filled world to be an excellent and creative setting for this great story, and it is one that I hope Meyer returns to in some of her future works.

Perhaps my favourite aspect of this cool superhero world is the significant amount of time spent examining the morality and motivations of the various superpowered characters. Rather than the classic superhero story where all the heroes are pure and good and all the villains are evil, the morality of the characters in the Renegades series is a lot more complex. For example, the Renegades, despite being the heroes, are willing to do anything to preserve the status quo and ensure that the Age of Anarchy never happens again, including some punishments that seem pretty extreme. They are also so strictly bound to the idea that their organisations and their codes of conduct that a vigilante like Adrian’s Sentinel persona is automatically seen as a villain, despite all the good he does, while the faults of certain Renegades who abuse the system for their own aims are overlooked. The Anarchists and other non-Renegade prodigy groups, on the other hand, despite being villains, can in many ways be seen as victims of the current system, especially as they believe that they are mostly fighting for their own personal freedoms.

This is a rather interesting dichotomy that has been fun to unwind throughout the course of the books, especially through the eyes of the series two point of view characters, Nova and Adrian. Nova, who is both an Anarchist and a Renegade, begins the series believing that the Anarchists are in the right, while the Renegades are corrupt and hypocritical. But throughout the course of the books, as she spends time with the Renegades, she begins to see that many of the heroes, especially the members of her patrol team, are good people who are mostly trying to help, and she finds herself drawn between family loyalties and her new friends. However, the heavy-handed actions of the Renegade Council, especially in this book, ensure that Nova’s loyalty to the Anarchists and her uncle remains intact. Adrian, on the other hand, was born into the Renegades and is a major supporter of them. However, when he begins to adventure as the Sentinel, he begins to see how restrictive and rigid the rules of the Renegades are and he begins to question a number of the Council’s decisions, especially when it comes to Nova. All of this leads the reader to have some very serious doubts about which characters are truly in the right, and this entire moral debate is a really fascinating overarching aspect of the book and the series as a whole.

Like the rest of the books in this series, Supernova is being marketed as a young adult novel. While this is a good book for younger readers, this novel is also easily enjoyed by older readers who will really like this clever and inventive take on the superhero genre. Due to the fact that the book contains a large amount of violence, which includes several deaths and even torture scene, Supernova is probably best left to a teenage audience, and might not be completely appropriate for younger readers.

Marissa Meyer’s Supernova offers the reader an amazing and addictive young adult novel that also serves as an exceedingly satisfying conclusion to the author’s fantastic tale of superheroes and villains. In this third and final book in the outstanding Renegades trilogy, Meyer not only does a sensational job wrapping up her series, but she also produces another exceptional story filled with superpowered action, forbidden love, an inventive alternate Earth and some intriguing discussions about morality. A first-rate read, if you have not experienced Meyer’s Renegades series before you are in for a real treat. I really hope that the author returns to this universe at some point in the future, and I will be keeping a close eye out for Meyer’s next release.

Amazon Book Depository

Publisher: Orchard

Publication Date – 9 August 2018

From bestselling author Leo Hunt comes an electrifying and fast-paced young adult science fiction adventure that takes an intriguing look at the future of technology, as well as the crime and consequences these advances could lead to.

In the far future, humanity has built towers and skyscrapers up in a major way, leaving the ground far below. The rich and powerful live in the City, the highest level of construction, far above the poisoned ground. Up in the City, luxuries such as sunlight, clean water, jobs and corpbloc homes are available to its hardworking corporate-owned population. Those who do not have money live in the undercity slums, where the sun never shines and poisoned water is flooding up from the ground.

One of the inhabitants of the undercity is orphaned teenager Nova, who earns a living going up into the City and stealing from the corporate workers. In a world where everyone has technology implanted in their heads, a skilled hacker like Nova can obtain everything from money to information. Nova’s most important tool is Phantom, a powerful program created by the shadowy anticorporation hacker, the Moth, which hides the identity of hackers while they commit their crimes.

While Nova is only just scraping by, her skills have caught the attention of the Moth, who has a dangerous job for her. The Moth needs Nova to infiltrate the powerful Bliss Inc and uncover their most treasured corporate secret. Posing as a prospective assistant for the CEO of Bliss Inc, Nova goes deep undercover, changing her identity and her appearance to sneak in. However, her mission is about to get far more complicated then she could have ever imagined. Caught between the dark secrets of Bliss Inc and the mysterious ambitions of the Moth, Nova is going to be lucky to get out of this heist alive.

Phantom is the latest book from young adult author Leo Hunt and represents his first foray into the science fiction genre. Hunt’s previous works have mainly focused on the fantasy and horror genres, with his 13 Days of Midnight trilogy featuring a young man who develops necromantic powers. Phantom is an interesting new direction for Hunt, who has created a fantastic piece of young adult science fiction with strong techno-thriller elements.

This book is contains an intriguing science fiction story that takes the reader through a unique futuristic city and presents them with a thrilling and technology driven adventure. Phantom’s story contains a superb combination of story elements which come together to form an entertaining and fast-paced plot with compelling pieces of betrayal, technologically assisted espionage and corporate intrigue. There are a few good twists throughout the book, but I did find that one of the big reveals towards the end of the book was a little easy to predict as a result of the author only utilising on a small number of characters throughout most of the narrative. This was more than made up for by the shocking and deeply intriguing reveals that followed the protagonist uncovering the hidden secret motivations of the book’s various antagonists. All of these hidden surprises result in some great story elements and have a strong relation with the book’s focus on technology.

Phantom is intended for a young adult audience, and it works well as an absorbing and exciting introduction into science fiction and technology-based thrillers. Younger readers will love the interesting examination of the potential future technology and will find the exciting adventure storyline quite fun. The violence contained within the book is not too graphic whilst also allowing for some strong action-packed scenes. There are some minor mentions of mind-alerting technology and substances, but nothing too inappropriate for the younger audience. There are also some subtle but important LGTB elements that come into play later in the story, and Hunt handles these quite well. Overall, I would recommend this book to all teenagers, and even some younger readers, who will find a lot to enjoy in this wonderful book.

The best and most compelling features of Phantom are the amazing technological elements that form a significant part of the plot and which take a particularly intriguing look into humanity’s reliance on technology and how we are likely to advance in the future. In this potential future, everyone has neural implants inserted in them at birth that act as a mobile connection to the internet as well as a phone, music player, bank card and personal identification all in one. This is an interesting thing to examine, especially as humans are constantly getting closer and closer to incorporating our personal technology into our own bodies. Hunt does a great job presenting some of the potential benefits and problems that humans could experience with this sort of technology, and takes a stimulating look at that the ways that it could impact on our lives. Quite a few things are explored throughout Phantom, from examinations of how this technology will influence human identity to how it could be abused for criminal reasons, such as stealing money, hacking someone to take control of their body or producing technology that mimics recreational drugs. Other technological questions come into play later in the book and result in some deep emotional scenes as well as some interesting questions about ethics and the nature of humanity. These fictional technological elements represent some truly fascinating ideas from Hunt that readers will find very captivating.

In addition to Hunt’s intriguing postulations about future technology, another compelling story element is the inventive and imaginative setting for the story. The entirety of Phantom is set within a fictional metropolis that is constantly being built up and is split between the soaring spires of the rich and the sprawling slum-like undercity where the poor live. Throughout the story, the protagonist journeys from areas of the city flooded with poisoned water and inhabited with humans and animals that have never seen sunlight, to the very top of the city, above the clouds. There is a detailed exploration the city’s disparate economic zones, and significant time is spent interacting with the populace in both these areas, resulting in some fascinating comparisons. This is an amazing setting for this science fiction and technology focused story and represents another intriguing look into the future by Hunt.

Leo Hunt’s latest book, Phantom, is an absorbing and thrilling tale of adventure and crime in a futuristic city. Containing some extremely enthralling technological elements and a fantastic city setting where the differences between the rich and poor have never been more obvious, this is another outstanding release from Hunt that will be perfect for those younger readers looking to break into the science fiction or techno-thriller genres.