ARC Review: Renegade by J.A. Souders

Title: Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles, #1) 

Author: J. A. Souders 

Rating: 4.5 Stars 

Release Date: November 13th, 2012 

Wow. I honestly don’t know where to start when it comes to Renegade. While I was excited beyond measure to first read the synopsis of this novel, and even later when it’s beautiful (and very relevant) cover released, I found myself dreading the moment it would arrive for me in the mail as, with each passing day, I became convinced that Renegade would be “just another” dystopian novel with insta-love, predictability, and downright flat characters. Well, let me reassure you now: Renegade is not “just another” dystopian novel. Although its premises mirrors that of other utopias, only underwater, Renegade is the rare example of that typical dystopian plot done right and believe me, it is spectacular.

Elysium is an underwater utopia, ruled by a woman who calls herself Mother. Evie, the adopted daughter of Mother, has been hand-picked for her set of perfect genes and is the Daughter of the People, training to become the next Mother. Evie’s life is just about perfect, but her world is turned upside down with the arrival of Gavin, a Surface Dweller. Gavin, unknowingly having found an entrance into Elysium, is held as a prisoner in the underwater utopia Mother built away from the wars, famine, and pain that regales the lives of those living above. Upon interrogating Gavin though, Evie slowly begins to realize that not only is everything Mother said about the Surface false, so is everything else about her life: Evie has been brainwashed time and time again, conditioned only to remember what Mother wants her to remember. With this newfound knowledge, Evie sets out to help Gavin escape, but unknown to them all is that Mother still has plenty of deadly cards up her sleeve…

I really have to hand it to Souders – the woman knows how to write. Renegade opens up by introducing us to the extent of Evie’s brainwashing, even from page one. We can see that Evie thinks the thoughts she’s meant to think and whenever she’s just beginning to break free of that mold, her memories are wiped out. It’s all rather horrifying and the glimpses of the real Evie we get to witness in-between her conditioning only make us admire her resilience, strength, and loyalty. Thus, I really liked Evie; she was everything I look for in a protagonist and her story kept me flipping the pages, frantically needing to know what happened next.

Evie aside, I loved the world Souders had created. Not only is Elysium beautiful, but the world-building surrounding it is richly detailed and complete. Souders slowly peels back the layers surrounding this mysterious realm, from its creation, to the inner workings of its independence from the Surface, to the madness that drives its ruler, Mother, to brainwash the members of her land. Yet, what impressed me most of all was that Souders approached her utopia with a new kind of cunning. In the majority of dystopian novels, we are given a faulty utopian society and eventually, the citizens come to realize this and they rebel. In Renegade, however, Mother knows that her citizens will rebel – which is exactly why she brainwashes them and uses genetic manipulation to get her way. It’s all eerily haunting and remarkably cunning at the same time, making Mother a villain to fear.

Nevertheless, despite my enjoyment of this novel, I did have one slight qualm with Renegade: the romance. I’ve heard the romance in Renegade be called insta-love, but it isn’t. Gavin and Evie meet quite by accident and with time, they become friends. Evie is the only person Gavin can trust in the strange realm he’s found himself in and to Evie, Gavin is the one person who seems to truly know what’s happening and help her remember when her brain resorts back to its conditioning. From the moment these two escape though, their friendship turns into romance and I wasn’t really feeling it. I loved Evie as a character on her own and Gavin is a really nice guy, but I never felt as invested in their love story as I wanted to be, perhaps because Gavin could, at times, be extremely cheesy and almost unrealistically male. I have to admit though that I was overjoyed by the ending of this story, which made me realize that while Gavin and Evie’s romance didn’t do much for me for the duration of the action and fast-paced adventure that graced this tale, I ultimately still did really like them as a couple, even if it was only by the very end.

Frankly speaking, Renegade is a novel I might have skipped over if I hadn’t received an ARC, so I’m warning you all now: this is not a book you want to miss out on. Souders creates a deadly utopia, part dystopian and part psychological thriller, which is bound to keep your eyes glued to the page. Furthermore, her characters are well fleshed-out, her romance is realistic, her world-building is absolutely, and her villain deserves a hearty round of applause for her evil schemes. J.A. Souders is a debut author I will be eagerly watching out for in the future and I am already counting down the days until the sequel to Renegade releases. If the first novel was this could, can you imagine how mind-blowing the next installment will be? ;)

I was given a copy of this book from the publisher on behalf of DAC ARC Tours in exchange for a honest review. Thank You!