The first two thirds of Archenemies were slower, and while I enjoyed the character moments I think they could have been more concise. The other plot threads left at the end of Renegades, like Adrian’s mother’s murder, were left alone too and it just felt a little bit strange after how exciting the end of book one was. After Renegades left us on the cliff-hanger that Ace had been alive the whole time, it’s basically not discussed for ages.

I usually care more about characters than plot, but Archenemies went a little bit too far the other way. I think the reason I prefer Renegades is that it was very action-driven. Note that I still gave it 5 stars, though, because it really, really, picks up in the second half. I’d say that’s because I marathon-read these books, but I had a week’s break between the two and I really do think that Archenemies suffered a bit with middle-book filler.

I ended up making a list of things I remembered post-Renegades and splitting them until I remembered where Archenemies ended. Writing this after finishing the series, it’s hard to separate out the events of Archenemies from the later book. I have to admit that Archenemies was a weaker series entry than Renegades or Supernova. One thing that Nova and Adrian are completely united on is that this secret development could mean the end of both Gatlon City, and the world that Nova and Adrian grew up in. But the Renegades have been hiding something too, something that would destroy not just the Anarchists but any prodigy that doesn’t toe the line. The Anarchists have a secret weapon that nobody in the Renegades could possibly anticipate and they still have Nova hidden in the wings at Renegade HQ. They’re growing closer and even Nova can’t pretend that all of her feelings are just a ruse, but the stakes are only getting higher. In Archenemies, Nova and Adrian’s lives are getting more complicated. Nova’s identity is still a secret and her cover is intact even if her heart isn’t quite so well protected, and the Adrian/Nova/Sentinel/Nightmare twisty secret quadrangle reveal is still looming in the distant future. This review may contain spoilers for Renegades – I will be discussing Archenemies (spoiler free) in the context of the previous book in the series.Īt the end of Renegades (review here) we had the explosive (ha) battle where Nova finally managed to pull the trigger and kill the Detonator to protect her secret (and maybe to protect Adrian too), and the ridiculously cliff-hangery reveal that Ace Anarchy has been alive and well and less than a mile away the entire time. He could go on like this forever, creating a dream within a dream within a dream. It amazed Nova that he could create something real and tangible out of nothing.

Arch enemies by marissa meyer