{Book Review} Renegade by J.A. Souders

November 23, 2012 Michelle @ Book Briefs Reviews 3

Renegade by J.A. Souders

Hardcover, 364 pages

Published: November 13th 2012 by Tor Teen

Age Group: YA

Source: ARC from publisher

Series: The Elysium Chronicles #1

Buy this Book: Amazon

Summary:

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.

J.A. Souders hit the ground running with Renegade. This was the first book I have had the pleasure of reading of hers and let me tell you, it kind of knocked my socks off. The plot is creeptastic and just plain mind blowing. In my opinion anyways. I enjoyed the characters but I think the real superstar here is the world and the masterful writing of J.A. Souders.

If I had to describe the leader of Elyisum, who is called Mother, in one word it would be twisted. She is power hungry, and ruthless and super twisted! I was so creeped out by her, but at the same time I was so impressed with the way J.A. Souders had everything planned out. She may have been an evil villain, but Mother was a super villain. Mother was grooming Evie as her daughter, which would make you think that Mother would choose someone that would be easy to control, but Evie has a lot of spunk in her when she is not being controlled. Or I would think that Mother would pick someone that was mean spirited or power hungry like her, but Evie had a good heart. I liked her at the start of the book, but by the end of Renegade I loved her. Rounding out the cast of characters was my favorite of all- Gavin. He is my adorable little southern guy. I couldn’t get enough of him. He just seemed so real. His emotions, his reactions, it was all so believable.

The most awesome part of Renegade is the plot. Trust me when I tell you that J.A. Souders is a master at plot weaving. She threw twists and turns at us, kept the plot going at a very brisk pace and gave incredible detail to Elusium. And I loved her writing style. The use of repetition with the chapters was so unique and it grabbed me right away. I was sucked into the creepy world of Renegade and I loved every minute of it. This is such a great dystopian story. It seems like there are so many dystopians popping up all over the place and so many of them are just so-so. Renegade is a cut above the rest. It was twisted, and scary, and one heck of a ride. I kept thinking the book couldn’t get any better and then it did. It just builds and builds and builds. Renegade is a must read for any fan of dystopian.

5/5 gavels

About J.A. Souders:

J.A. Souders was born in the heartland with an overactive imagination and an over abundance of curiosity that was always getting her into trouble.

Because she never grew up, she decided she’d put her imaginary friends to work and started writing. She now lives in the land of sunshine and palm trees with her husband and their two children and is an active member of the RWA, SFWA, YARWA and SCBWI.