Review of Renegade (Elysium Chronicles)

"Greed has poisoned men's souls. Surface Dwellers have destroyed what was once beautiful and turned it into a ghostly illusion of what they call peace. But down here, we have real peace. There will be no fear, or sickness, hunger, hate, or greed. We have created our Utopia. And it is magnificent." - Mother, from Founding Speech

Evelyn Winters has an almost perfect life. Her concerns are few and her privileges many in the beautiful underwater haven known as Elysium. So what if she has problems with her memory? So what if things don't always make sense? One day a Surface Dweller comes and everything changes. Who do you trust when you can't even use your own experiences as a guide?

Renegade was almost perfect. I loved the setting. The underwater city was beautiful and the people just crazy enough to believe. Evelyn is a wonderfully unreliable narrator which led to a thoroughly confusing and fun read. It is told from first person perspective in the present tense which I know some people don't like but it is my personal favorite. The action felt real and the plot made sense without being completely predictable.

Gavin was a breath of fresh air for a romantic interest. He's not dark and brooding and mysterious like so many romantic loves are *cough Edward and Jace cough* but neither is he goofy and awkward either. He is warm and open and while protective he does it in a not controlling manner. He was likeable.

The only real flaw I found I in the book was it's portrayal of sex and the speed at which the characters fell in love. For a people who train their children on the ways of physical love so that their couplings will be successful they seemed very modest. At one point Evelyn even sees Gavin step out of the shower and gives him a once over without ever looking south of the waistline. I'm sure it was to maintain a PG-13 rating but it was unbelievable to me. What made it worse was that the 2 had sex in less than 3 days of knowing each other and were confessing their love shortly after that. I understand that they were in a very stressful situation and that the love was important in the end but it always feels a little rushed to me when that happens. Insta-like is cool. We've all been there. But this felt a little too much like insta-love for my tastes.

Overall excellent book. Recommended for anyone who likes YA dystopia with a little big of gore.