Renegade Review

352 pages

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.

Review (ARC):
I really thought this book would be completely different from what I actually read. I expected more of a utopian society, and that's what was on the surface, but what lay underneath was instead a horrific world of imperfections. From the first few pages we are thrown into al of the lies and deceit in Elysium. Evelyn thinks everything is perfect in her world yet on another level feels that everything may not be right. I loved seeing the way Evelyn awakened and developed especially after meeting Gavin. Gavin is rough when compared to the people of Elysium but you see his soft side when he's around Evelyn. Mother is just a piece of work. She puts on a perfect front for the people of Elysium but does so many underhanded and evil things its terrifying. I really loved the world built here and the action and adventure just increased as you went towards the end. I absolutely recommend this novel if you love dystopian fiction and I can't wait to read the next novel in this series.