Renegade by J.A. Souders

Renegade
(The Elysium Chronicles, #1)
by J.A. Souders
Released |November 13th 2012 by Tor Teen|
Edition |eARC|
Source |Netgalley|
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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.

This book was a shocking surprise of awesome! I flew through this book in about a day and a half and really found myself enjoying it. I could not put this book down. I thought the plot was amazing and unique. I think so many people would enjoy this story.

I really enjoyed the world that Souders has created for us. Now, I've read books that have an underwater theme, but to me, this was different. The people in the society is what makes this book. The whole concept with 'Mother' and what she does and the world she's created and just everything in this little underwater society was amazing! The way everything begins to unfold and you start to learn more and more about the society and how it was created was mind boggling! I think the author did a fantastic job with that aspect and I highly enjoyed her writing style. In the beginning I was confused with the repeating of things, but that plays a MAJOR element in this book. It took me a couple of chapters to catch on though...

I truly enjoyed the characters of this book. The main character, Evie/Evelyn, I actually came to like her. At first I thought I wouldn't like her because she was stand offish and seemed to be weak minded, but that was not the case at all! That girl came out her shell and became bad ass! I was like, 'WHOA' where did this girl come from and I loved every minute of it. And there was Gavin :) I thought the relationship that picked up between the two was perfect. They came from completely different worlds, but fit perfectly together.

As I continued to read this book, it never ceased to blow my mind. Each page turned, something new and exciting would happen or there would another twist thrown into the mix! This book was a definite page turner and I could not put it down! It had action, suspense, romance, thrill, and so much more!

The ending was a little unexpected, but what do you expect from a book like this. I can't wait for the sequel! I enjoyed this one so much. And I definitely recommend this to pretty much anyone who wants to read it. I think you'll like it. Thanks so much to Netgalley for a review copy of Renegade. All thoughts are my honest opinion.