I loved this book so much! I really enjoyed both main characters a lot and this book was about so much more then a school for superheros.. it was about what makes you a hero and what makes you a villain and when do we need to stand up for our own self. I loved the world in this book and felt like she took the time to develop it and it was so good. It was such a fun read with some unexpected twists and turns along the way. I got a new book boyfriend out of the book but it was so good! I can't wait to re-read and see what happens in book 2! ( )

I loved this book so much! I really enjoyed both main characters a lot and this book was about so much more then a school for superheros.. it was about what makes you a hero and what makes you a villain and when do we need to stand up for our own self. I loved the world in this book and felt like she took the time to develop it and it was so good. It was such a fun read with some unexpected twists and turns along the way. I got a new book boyfriend out of the book but it was so good! I can't wait to re-read and see what happens in book 2! ( )

REad this for a book club. The story was slow and had a hard time getting involved. The Lunar Chronicles started out this was as well. hoping the second book picks up the story a big. Someone described this as "cheesy" and I would have to agree.
I do look forward to seeing what lays ahead though. ( )

Great story. Looking forward to book 2. ( )

Representation: Side Asian character, biracial main character
Trigger warnings: Death of parents, near-death experiences, death of a sister, death of a child, gun violence, blood depiction, fire, explosions, building collapse, persecution, murder, death from a fall
Read this review for context. This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

6.5/10, originally I was going to read Cinder as my first book from this author but someone else got it before I could so I settled on this. After reading an epic YA fantasy book that left me wanting more I decided to go for a different kind of book so I picked this sci-fi read up and the concept being about a city with superheroes and supervillains didn't seem like the most original concept ever and I was right, even though I tried to enjoy this it just felt like a slow burn and alongside the other issues I'm not in the mood yet to read the next two books in the series. I will however give this author a second chance to see if I can enjoy some of her other books or not. Where do I even begin? It starts with a little bit of worldbuilding explaining how prodigies were persecuted for so long then the anarchists rose and ruined the whole world until some people came called "Renegades" and stopped them then it cuts to the main character Nova Artino or Nova for short and she was only a child back then, she was living her life until the villains came, she hoped the Renegades would come but they never did thus her parents and sister were killed; after that, it just cuts to present day and that's where the first problems emerge, first off is the worldbuilding, it's not as detailed as the last book I read since it left me a few questions like where did these prodigies come from, were they like experiments or were they just born with powers, I don't know and second of all are the characters, I couldn't relate to them since they didn't experience any development, the writing style felt like it was info-dumpy? Also that one plot twist was predictable, I saw it coming. Nova is part of the Anarchists whose mission is to kill the Renegades and they took down one and almost killed Captain Chromium, causing some chaos but other than that what was the point of that, most likely to make a statement.

The other main character is Adrian Everhart or Adrian for short and he is on the Renegades team and after seeing Nova he wants to find him and he is also the Sentinel but how come no one else knows, after that not much happens for a while and I got to see Nova and Adrian live their lives until Nova decides to apply as a Renegade to spy on them to bring them down later on, that was successful. Afterwards, I felt that the book was building tension over the latter half and some scenes were interesting like when Max finally put Nova to sleep even though she's not supposed to sleep but the payoff was so frustrating to read since it was what, a romance shoehorned in and a battle scene ending this in a cliffhanger. That's it I guess. ( )