Renegades

Renegades is a 2017 superhero-themed novel by Marissa Meyer, the first in the Renegades trilogy. Renegades tells the story of Nova Artino, a teenage girl with the power to put people to sleep. She masquerades as a superhero—a Renegade—while trying to help the villains, or Anarchists, return to power. She is motivated to avenge her family, whose deaths she blames on the Renegades’ failure to save them. Throughout the novel, she befriends Adrian Everhart, the son of the Renegade leaders, and they both struggle to navigate the moral complexities of life as superhumans with multiple identities. The novel became a number-two New York Times bestseller within two weeks of its release and has maintained its popularity ever since. It was followed by Archenemies in 2018 and Supernova in 2019. 

In addition to dabbling in superhero narratives, Marissa Meyer is also known for retelling fairy tales, as in her series Lunar Chronicles, which places classic princess figures like Cinderella and Snow White in a science fiction universe. Meyer attributes her writing success to her love of the fairy tale and superhero genres. 

This study guide refers to the 2017 Feiwel and Friends hardback.

Content Warning: Both the source material and this guide feature depictions of violence, including violence and abuse toward children.

Plot Summary

Renegades takes place in Gatlon City, part of a world recovering from the actions of Ace Anarchy, a “prodigy”—or person with superpowers—who has united other prodigies against the human governments that oppressed and tortured them. Ace Anarchy encouraged gang violence and chaos but was defeated by a group of superheroes called the Renegades, who have reigned over Gatlon City ever since.

The protagonist, Nova, is Ace’s niece and has the power to put people to sleep with one touch; she also has no need to sleep herself. When she was six, she witnessed a hitman gunning down her father, mother, and baby sister, and she then used her powers to put the hitman to sleep. She was rescued and raised by Ace until his supposed death at the hands of the Renegades. In the present, 10 years later after the fall of Ace Anarchy and his group, a cynical, bitter Nova now lives and collaborates with the few remaining Anarchists, trying to undermine Renegade power in Gatlon City and operating under the code name of “Nightmare.”

Nova and her ally, a bomb-maker named Ingrid, stake out the annual Renegade Parade with the intent to assassinate the Renegade leader, Captain Chromium. On the way to their rooftop vantage point, Nova encounters a boy named Adrian who can bring his drawings to life. (He is later revealed to be Captain Chromium’s adopted son; Chromium adopted Adrian after the death of Adrian’s mother, another Renegade.) Nova lines up her shot to kill Chromium but is interrupted by three teenage Renegades—Smokescreen, Monarch, and Red Assassin. Nova does not manage to make the shot before a fellow Anarchist, the Puppeteer, shows up without permission and starts causing chaos in the crowd below. Additionally, an unfamiliar superhero—an armored man named the Sentinel—suddenly appears, accidentally burning Monarch before Nova can put the Sentinel to sleep, stunning him by uttering the phrase, “One cannot be brave who has no fear” (48).

The Sentinel is revealed to be Adrian, who has adopted this vigilante alter-ego in order to discover the circumstances of his mother’s death; he gives himself tattoos and brings them to life to gain new powers. The phrase that Nightmare said to him was also written on a card that was found near his mother’s body, so Adrian decides to bring Nightmare to justice himself, disapproving of his fathers’ joint decision to pursue the Anarchists through legal channels. He later spends time with his adoptive brother, Max, whose power is to absorb the superhero abilities of others; Max is quarantined behind glass to prevent this from happening.

Meanwhile, Nova returns to the abandoned subway system with the other Anarchists. There, a group of corrupt Renegades led by a woman called Frostbite attacks them and treats them brutally, operating beyond the boundaries of Renegade law. The Sentinel shows up and scares the corrupt Renegades away. 

Nova decides to infiltrate the Renegades by passing their recruitment trials. To implement this plan, her allies help her to change her identity, creating the superhero identity “Insomnia” and altering her fingerprints. At the trials, Adrian accepts Nova onto his team despite opposition by Frostbite. Nova joins Renegades and quickly meets the other members of Adrian’s team—Ruby (the Red Assassin) and Oscar (Smokescreen). They are assigned to do surveillance on the Librarian, a former ally and weapon supplier to the Anarchists who provided Nova/Nightmare with the gun found at the parade site.

Nova returns to her makeshift home and reunites with the other Anarchists. Ingrid agrees to help her warn the Librarian about the stakeout, as this person still sells them weapons. However, Ingrid is convinced that the Renegades will plant evidence on the Librarian to get the conviction they want. 

At the stakeout, Nova begins to bond with the others on the team. In the morning, she notices Ingrid going into the library. Not wanting any harm to come to civilians, the Renegades enter the library and demand to speak to the confused Librarian, who takes them to his basement. There, Ingrid reveals herself amongst the stash of weapons, sets the library on fire, and attempts to kill Adrian and his team in order to weaken Renegade morale. (Ingrid had not told Nova about this plan, because she believed that Nova would lose her nerve and balk at the prospect of harming others.)

Furious at Ingrid for potentially compromising her valuable position amongst the Renegades, Nova manages to keep her true identity secret by taking the Renegades’ side. They rescue innocent civilians from the burning library. The Sentinel appears when Adrian conveniently disappears, offering the Librarian freedom in exchange for revealing Nightmare’s identity. Before the Librarian can betray Nova, Ingrid shoots him through the head. The Renegade Council soon arrives and extinguishes the fire.

The Anarchists flee the subways and reject Ingrid because of her traitorous actions. Back undercover with the Renegades, Nova is put in charge of cataloging weapons. Meanwhile, Adrian gets permission from Captain Chromium and the Renegade Council to interrogate the Puppeteer. He reveals that “Nightmare” spent time at Cosmopolis Park.

Nova has been trying to investigate Max’s situation because she has seen Renegades subjecting him to experiments and is concerned for his welfare. One night, she sees him levitating himself and his glass figurines. When he sees her, he falls and gashes his hand on the glass. She rushes to help him, but his power begins to absorb hers, causing her to fall asleep. Adrian finds her and saves her, and they both realize that Max stole his telekinesis from Ace Anarchy. Max now knows that Adrian is the Sentinel.

Nova later finds a badly made replica of Ace Anarchy’s power-augmenting helmet; she learns that the real helmet is still intact and is kept under tight security. She also learns that Max was able to steal Ace’s power because the Renegades exploited his powers when he was an infant, keeping him alive despite Ace’s persistent attempts to kill him. Shaken to realize that her uncle was willing to murder a baby, Nova returns home and encounters Ingrid, who offers her a deal: They will both fake the deaths of Nightmare and the Detonator, or Ingrid will reveal Nova’s identity to the Renegades.

In accordance with Ingrid’s plan, Nova plants evidence at Cosmopolis Park for Adrian’s benefit. She and Adrian later go there and head to the back of the park, where Nova has set up evidence of a false hideout for Nightmare. She then vanishes from Adrian’s side and reappears as Nightmare to stage a fight with Ingrid, but Ingrid soon betrays Nova by attempting to kill her for real. The Council appears and tries to subdue Ingrid, who reveals that she has scattered bombs throughout the park. Before Ingrid can detonate all of the bombs, Nova shoots her in the head. The Council, relieved by Ingrid’s death, reveals that they have been using Max’s DNA to create a serum that can strip noncompliant prodigies of their powers. This revelation horrifies Nova.

With Nightmare declared dead and her status among the Renegades reinforced, Nova secretly returns to the Anarchists’ old lair in the subway. She delves deeper into the tunnels and succeeds in reaching Ace Anarchy, who is revealed to have been hiding below the city in a luxurious chamber. He tells her that she has done well.