Archenemies (Renegades Trilogy, #2)

by Marissa Meyer

A story of superheroes, villains, vengeance and forbidden love, Archenemies by Marissa Meyer is the fabulous sequel to the New York Times-bestselling Renegades.

Time is running out.
Together, they can save the world.
But they are each other's worst nightmare.

Nova's double life is about to get a lot more complicated:

As Insomnia, she is a fully-fledged member of the Renegades, a syndicate of powerful and beloved superheroes.

As Nightmare, she is an Anarchist - a group of of villains who are determined to destroy the Renegades. Nova wants vengeance against the so-called heroes who once failed her when she needed them most.

But as Nova, her feelings for Adrian are deepening, despite the fact that he is a Renegade and the son of her sworn enemies and, unbeknownst to Nova, he has some dangerous secrets of his own.

The line between good and evil has been blurred, but too much power could mean the end of their city - and the world - as they know it.

• ISBN10: 125007830X
• ISBN13: 9781250078308
• Publish Date: 6 November 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Feiwel & Friends
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 496
• Language: English

Reviews

[Berls]

Better late than never! I am glad I reread the first book, since I had forgotten so much and I don't think I would have appreciated all the characters and nuances of this book without that frame of reference.

The last book ends with such a cliff hanger and with so many unanswered questions. This book really fills in so much - the characters develop so much more complexity throughout this book. I buddy read with Lillian, but she was way ahead of me, and I found myself constantly sending her messages of "OMG, Nova ... " or "OMG, Adrian..." etc. I love the way there's so much grey area between what's right and wrong and that it's not as simple as they've tried to make it with heroes and villains.

This book has considerably more action and anxiety about Nova's precarious situation as a spy within the Renegades. And because you can see her struggle between caring for the people that raised her and the good intentions of the people she has met in the Renegades it's so hard to even know what to hope for.

This also ended on a bit of a cliff hanger and I'm really REALLY glad that I can jump right into the final book. I am still listening because Rebecca Soler are amazing narrators! They really transport you into the book.

Qualifies for COYER Fall scavenger hunt item #34 - Nova is a villain, a traditionally evil character.

I liked it, but it wasn’t anything special. It was pretty predictable and it didn’t feel surprised by any of the events.

[adamfortuna]

The Renegades series sounded somewhat shallow at first – from a storyline perspective. A world where various people have superpowers that form up into good and evil groups? I enjoyed how much this one expanded on the first, while starting to advance into how the groups in charge shaped society (or tried to). If I had the third book today I'd start on it immediately.

[lisbethwhite]

Augghhhhh second book in a trilogy and I’m dying!!! Damn cliffhangers! This is why I try to wait for series to be complete before I start them.

That said, dang, SO. GOOD.

[Kat @ Novels & Waffles]

** Buddy Read with my favorite hooman, May**

I think Marissa Meyers just must be better at writing sequels than she is at writing first books. Which is strange, because most authors are the opposite. But I nevertheless enjoyed Archenemies wayyyy more than I did Renegades.

A brief and non-exhaustive list of my random thoughts:
-Oscar and Ruby were legit one of the best parts of this book.
-Nova and Adrien's extreeeemmmmeeelly slow burn is everything.
-My soft boi Callum is a cinnamon roll. I low-key adore his super powers.
-Pretty much all the characters in this book are so fun. Meyers is great at writing characters that I love.
- THAT ENDING. IT KILLED ME. I NEED THE NEXT BOOOK LIKE, YESTERDAY.
-The stakes have been amped and I can't wait to see how it all goes down in book three.
-I loved the themes explored, especially how the difference between revenge and justice is questioned.

[writehollydavis]

This book blew my mind!! I remember loving Renegades, but damn, Archenemies was on another level for me. Marissa created such amazing characters and a high tension, exciting plot the whole way through. I thought my heart would both break from despair and burst with happiness as she took us on Nova and Adrien's journeys. She gets us so emotionally attached to these characters with every perfectly crafted scene. I found myself devouring this book so I could find out what happened, yet wanting to slow down so it wouldn't end. I cannot WAIT until book 3. This series is definitely one I would consider re-reading over time, and I don't say that very often. Also, this series needs to be a movie or tv series like yesterday so I can watch both the action-packed and swoon-worthy scenes on the big screen. 3

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Initial Thoughts: A strong installment, but it felt long to me, and I think Meyer has lost the balance in portraying Nova as someone who works for the Anarchists but has infiltrated the Renegades. She felt like a Renegade to me, and everything she did for the Anarchists rang a bit hollow. Basically, Meyer put her too far over on the side of the Renegades for me to believe Nova was really feeling conflicted about anything.

[Joséphine]

November 25, 2018

My full book review is now up on Word Revel.

_________

November 8, 2018

Initial thoughts: Archenemies is everything I hoped for and more! This is how the second book in a trilogy needs to be — continued build up of a major conflict, peppered with more not-as-major conflicts, while expanding on the characters and world building. Marissa Meyer delivered a book that felt so integral to the plot, and it was anything but a bridge or filler to the conclusion. There's so much going on in Archenemies, I honestly think it trumped Renegades, which is wonderful yet agonising because I cannot wait for the next book. I wish I could continue reading right now. Alas, I'll have to wait for the next one to be released.

[tweetybugshouse]

This is a super hero’s series so they are, of course, the main feature of secret identity’s and that what makes it great you never know when covers will be blown and everything will spiral out of control. Their a major conflict brewing in this second novel and it a moral dilemma in one of the main characters Nova. She conflicted about this new weapon Agent N that can be used to neutralize a superhero. It, not a weapon that sees Anarchist vs Renegades it just sees that you have this superpower and it has the ability to take it away permanently. Now we all know Nova is on the Anarchist side and she only trying to save her Uncle Ace. You can really feel the inner turmoil inside her as she questions how the Renegades are going to use this new weapon. Will there be abuse? What the guidelines for when you take down an Anarchist before you use Agent N on them? What if a Renegade gets caught in the cross fire? I really felt for her cause she really falling in love with Adrian and she adores Max but she feels loyalty to the Anarchist and the death of her family. There are some very plot moving twists that happen to various characters when they come into contact with Agent N and that going to really change up the way things play out in the next book. Now that brings us to the most traumatic part of the book and it at the end. The destruction of the quarantine and Max getting caught up in it. There were two major times in this story when I shed tears, one was when Max and his family really get to interact due to the medal and two was at the end when he fighting for his life. What a tear-jerker ending. I thought this was a two book series tell we got towards the end and I realized their not enough book left to finish off all these loose ends. I excited we get more story heck I wish there was more than just the last book but it rumored to be over 500 pages so their plenty of pages to give us a fantastic mind blowing ending and I expect no less from this author. This is an action packed story that keeps you guessing what the next twist will be a must read for super hero fans.