Supernova – Marissa Meyer

Supernova by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Supernova is the third and final book in the Renegades trilogy by Marissa Meyer. The series was inspired by the author’s love of superheroes, and specifically her childhood dreaming about the X-Men with her brother. I would say that Supernova is my favourite book in the series and blends the action-packed feel of the first book with the intense character development and plotlines from the second book. But as this is the third book, there may be spoilers for the first and second in this review.

I found Nova to be much more nuanced in this book as she is truly coming to terms with her role in the Renegades and the Anarchists. She is struggling to figure out who she is and what she believes in. I really appreciated that internal struggle and watching her cope with so many conflicting ideas. Adrian must also struggle with his own secrets, like being the man behind the Sentinal – a vigilante that his fathers don’t like or agree with and the good that could be done if they did know some of his secrets.

I really cared about the stories of Nova and Adrian (even Max), but I still felt a lack of connection to some of the side characters. Since Dana, Ruby, and Oscar rounded out the team they should have been incredibly important to the plot and the characters, but sometimes I just wanted their scenes to move along so that I could get back to the interesting parts. There were other characters who seemed predominantly cruel or kind, regardless of their Renegade or Anarchist affiliation and then completely switched personalities during parts of this book and it seemed out of nowhere. As a result, these strange character disconnects made me drop my rating down 1/2 a star.

I felt that Supernova blended the action and the character-driven plot points much more effectively than Renegades or Archenemies. The plot and characters were allowed to grow and learn in a more grey space. There is less good and bad, black and white, heroes and villains, and more nuance, grey, and moral ambiguity. This added welcome depth and dimension to the story. The plotline itself was also fascinating. Overall, it was a fantastic conclusion to the series and was incredibly satisfying (although it felt a little too easy at times, but I’ll give it a pass as a happy YA ending.)

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