Blog Tour / Book Review: Renegade by J.A. Souders

By: J.A. Souders

Published by: Tor Teen

To Be Released on: November 13th, 2012

Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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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.

A psychological thriller with horrifying twists, RENEGADE is a book you won't be able to stop reading once you pick it up. It's one of those reads that will make your morbid curiosity get the better of you. You'll want to know what in the world is really going on, only to discover the more you uncover the more sick and twisted this world really is. You might also find yourself rooting on the two main love interests, and hoping that their story gets it's happy ending.....

Set in an undersea dome of utopia, this world is anything but the picture of bliss and perfection I first thought it was. The more I got into the story, the more I realized just how brainwashed some of the characters were, and how sick and twisted the world they live in is. What starts off as the perfect place, with it's perfect people and perfect gardens is anything but. The manipulative mastermind behind this place, and the gruesome experiments you'll read about is known as Mother. The "perfect" little world she's created for herself is down right horrifying. You thought Valentine from The Mortal Instruments was bad, wait till you meet this women. Her delusional thinking, and obsession to keep doing what she is doing (not giving away spoilers) is frightening, and not just for the readers. It's down right terrifying for the characters. Mixed into senseless killings, brainwashing, and manipulation, is a romance that gives the story it's hope. 

Evelyn, also known as Evie, or the Daughter of the People, which is what Mother calls her, is a character that took me a bit to warm up to. Evie starts off as a tool, so to speak, though she has no idea what's really happening to her. She's messed up, lost in the sense of she doesn't really know who she is, and doesn't have much of a back broken. She allows herself to be controlled. The thing about all this is, normally it would have bugged me she was that way, but Evie herself is a victim of her environment and has been groomed to be like that with out even realizing it. She has little control over anything she does, what she thinks, and the way she acts, which make the story that much more chilling when you discover that. What I admired about her is she grows into this strong, resilient character who determined   to do what's right and escape all the wrong her Mother has done. Enter the main love interest.

Gavin is not from Evie's world, and what seems like love at first site, is really more of a fascination with one another, that grows into a sense of wanting to protect each other. I liked that while these two were immediately attracted to each other, they also had this wanting to understand each other and their environments, and help each other. Without Gavin, Evelyn may have never seen past everything that was going on. It's through his help that she learns to think for herself, at least when she could, and make her own choice. Together they learn to trust in each other, and through out start to fall for each other. But alas, this perfect romance is not what Mother has in mind for Evie. She can't allow her her perfect Evelyn "coupling" with someone that wasn't meant to be for her. Let's just say Mother likes to shake things up a bit in this book. 

Be warned there are moments that may make you squirm, others will leave your heart broken, hopeful, and in the end you'll be left with the belief that love can conquer all. Even in a world dark, twisted world like this one. If you're looking for something that's outside the YA norm, I'd recommend picking this one up. Can I just add that this cover is the perfect back drop for this story! It's stunning. Don't miss following the rest of this week long blog tour here.