Book Flame: Review: Renegade by J.A. Souders

Renegade by J.A. Souders

Pub. Date: November 13, 2012
Publisher:Tor Teen
Pages:364
Series: The Elysium Chronicles #1
Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

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.

First Line: My life is just about perfect.

Review: This gorgeous cover is so deceptive, I don't know what I was expecting but it definitely wasn't the terrifying world which was created inside the pages of this book.

So we have Elysium which is this underwater utopia ruled by one called Mother, if that isn't twisted enough there is Evie who is considered the daughter of the people and is being trained to take over after Mother, only thing is the Evie we first meet is the conditioned, brainwashed Evie one who doesn't have any recollection of her past and who she really is. Then there are all the brainwashed people who reside in Elysium and let someone not fit the mold of what Mother expects ...they end up "disappearing".

What I loved the most about Renegade was that it wasn't predictable. I thought I knew what was going to happen but when you have a character such as Mother who is one of the most manipulative characters I've read about in a while things are not always what you expect.

As for Evie at first I didn't really care much for her but once she started snapping out of her conditioning I grew to like her a lot. Lets just say she goes from being kind of boring to a complete bad-ass. As for Gavin he was a loyal decent guy but I don't know he just didn't take my breath away or anything like that.

Overall if you love dystopian reads or just have the sudden curiosity to read about a underwater world which involves mind control and other horrific ways of controlling the mass population then check out Renegade.