Supernova Review

Supernova by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Buckle your seatbelts everyone, this review is going to be a long one :D.
OMG! I cannot believe it’s over. I cannot believe it. The amazing series… This book… now that its over, I feel… well I can’t even describe it. This book has given me all the feels and now that its over, I just want to curl up into a ball and stay there for years thinking about everything that happened. But I can’t because I have to write my review! Ok, here goes, the conclusion to what has become one of my top five series’…
Spoilers Below (Because this was such a long book I’m going to try to work in chronological order with the notes I made on it)
First of all, I must address the length of this book. 552 pages! Ahh! I have seen tons of bookstagrammers’ photos of it and it is huge! Like almost as big as Renegades and Archenemies put together (almost). But in all seriousness, it took me 11 days to finish this novel which if you do the math is only 50 pages per day. AND! I listened to the audiobook which should have made it go by even faster but no! Even so, I actually am kind of happy I didn’t rush this one. I know a lot of people sped-read Supernova to be the first to finish it, but I’m happy I took my time. I feel this story was best told spread out a bit because (one) it takes place over a long period of time but also (two) because I am still not ready for this series to be over (more on that later). I feel like I tried to preserve this book for the longest time possible, by reading it slowly and taking time to think about everything that happened. That and I had a super busy week so reading was at a minimum.
Starting at the beginning, I’m first going to look at Marissa Meyer’s amazing plotting. The way she planned all the reveals down to the last detail and you can go back and see all the clues and wonder how you didn’t notice, makes her writing beautiful. As I have stressed so many times, I love when that happens, and if I had to compare her plot twist set ups to another author I’d say J.K. Rowling. She was that good. I also liked how Marissa Meyer lets us forget plot elements for just long enough until she pulls them back out again and we’re like ‘ohh!’. For example with Narcissa; she was a character we hadn’t seen since the first book and therefore had kind of forgotten, but she is a perfect explanation for who was threatening Nova and no one would have suspected her. Marissa Meyer’s writing is truly masterful.
I also really liked the audiobook (which was how I read the book). During the scene where Nova has the bomb in her apartment and was trying to save Adrian from it, the reader sped up and totally increased suspense. I also kind of liked how there two readers for when we switched perspectives from Nova to Adrian, but I wasn’t much of a fan of Adrian’s, it just didn’t sound like him in my mind.
OMG! Nova went to Cragmoor! When she was there I thought all was lost and that was it! I never thought that she was going to be able to get out unscathed. I actually thought that the Anarchists were going to try and break her out then use her knowledge of the prison to get Ace as well. I loved how Narcissa pretended to be Nova, and even though I never would have believe it, I’m so glad that plan worked to get her out.
The reason I thought she would never get out though was because I was convinced it would be too complicated in the book, for her to go from good to bad to good again to bad at least in Adrain’s mind. However, I think Marissa Meyer accomplished that by not making the change concrete in Adrian’s mind, the second time Nova was revealed. From my perspective it seemed like Adrian just accepted who Nova was without labeling her as Nightmare, a ‘bad’ person or an anarchist and that is why it worked.
On the topic of Adrian, wow. I was very close to starting to dislike him when he was interrogating Nova at Cragmoor. Although I understand why he had to do it, but I’m still mad. I’m happy that at the end he was able to accept the truth though. Also! Concerning his mothers murderer, I was right in my prediction! I don’t think I’ve ever predicted something so early on before and I’m super proud of myself. For any of you who haven’t read the book yet it was Phobia and also, what are you doing down here? This is the spoiler section, go read the book. On the topic of predictions though, my brother actually thought that Max had done it. He hypothesized that he had taken Lady Indomitable’s power and that was why she hadn’t flown. I actually really liked that idea, but I thought that it would really hurt Max to find out he killed Adrian’s mom.
Oh my god! The arena battle was so epic! I cannot believe that Ruby lost her powers! I listened to that part with my brother and we both were stupefied. Personally I wouldn’t have minded if Danna or Magpie 😉 had lost their powers, but not Ruby! She was my favorite. Seriously, I cannot believe so many Renegades were neutralized! Simon! Thunderbird! and Blacklight died! I’m actually kind of glad about that last one though, Blacklight was a jerk. It was as if Marissa Meyer put everyone’s names on a dartboard then threw thirty darts at it and killed whoever was hit (I am aware that it was definitely not planned like that, but that scene was so crazy with so many people being neutralized it was just pure chaos and kind of seemed like everything was random.)
Frostbite. Ugh I still hate her. How she was trying to be the one to kill Nova and force the council’s hand… Ugh! It just makes me so mad she didn’t die. And! She brought ICICLES to do it!? ICICLES!!! I seriously just cannot believe that girl.
On the topic of Callum, I was so sad when he died. The thing about the Renegades series is that not many important people have died in the story. In the first book, only Ingrid and the Librarian died. In the second, Hawthorn died and I think that was it. In this one Blacklight, Callum, Phobia, Queen Bee, Ace and a few others all died, but no one who the readers were really rooting for, (although we did have a ton of scares). I think the reason the author didn’t kill off too many people, was to preserve the tone of the book, which at least for me is very valiant superhero, shining city, colorful costumes tone, if that makes sense. Back to the point, which was Callum; I feel like his death really surprised and saddened me. It almost seemed to mark a change in the book from a somewhat lighthearted story to something much, much darker. And the cathedral with its dark corridors and pitch black exterior thanks to the bubble only helped push the darker tone. When Callum died, it let all the readers know that no one was safe from Marissa Meyer’s pen anymore.
The only good thing that came from the arena fight was Oscar and Ruby’s kiss. Awwww!! They were so adorable! I have been shipping those two since day one and I was so happy when they finally kissed. Even though it was after Ruby lost her powers I still loved the moment and Oscar’s speech right before was the most amazing thing ever. Seriously, guys nowadays need to read this book so they can learn real class from Oscar XD.
The one thing I didn’t like about this novel was the explanation of how the superheroes came into existence. Before that part, the book was plainly YA but after it seemed like science fiction. Personally, I think the story was better without an explanation; it wasn’t necessary. I do however, understand why the author had to explain it, otherwise the star weapon wouldn’t work.
Now, onto the part we have all been waiting for, the climax!
Wow. That is all I have to say just wow.
I’m kidding, of course I have a plethora of words about the climax starting when Danna and Oscar were neutralized. NO! NOT OSCAR! For a while I thought he was going to die, but thank god that didn’t happen. I wasn’t too disappointed when Danna got neutralized though. I was actually kind of happy about it (but don’t tell anyone that XD). I’ve harbored a resentment against her since she followed Nova and forced her to catch Danna in a jar. Me and my brother equally hate her and we’ve ranted together about how terrible she is.
The thing is though, up until Adrian was neutralized, I wasn’t distraught about the previous neutralizations. I knew he could just tattoo everyone again, so I wasn’t too worried. But when he was neutralized, all bets were off and I was devastated. I feel like maybe giving Adrian the power of magical tattoos made him a tad too powerful.
About the reveal that Phobia was Adrian’s creation. I feel like that was a bit of a stretch. Usually his drawings only survive for a while and I know Phobia was given a food source (fear), but so was Turbo and even he died. It was just a bit hard to believe is all. I loved the battle between Adrian and Phobia though, it was super reminiscent of Frankenstein and his monster. It was awesome and the way Adrian gave up everything to save his friends was extreamly heroic.
I’m wondering what is up with Danna and Narcissa though… I totally felt romantic vibes coming from them, and I would totally love to see them together! Even though I hate Danna, I feel kind sorry for her because she was excluded from the team a lot. Like when she was hurt or trapped in butterfly mode…
About the final big fight, I was so happy that Nova finally chose to stop Ace. I felt like that was the most amazing accomplishment on her end especially because it happened before the big reveal. It really says something about her character.
I cannot believe that Ace killed her family, but at the same time it makes so much sense. I totally believe it, without a doubt in my mind. I don’t know why I’m not very surprise, maybe because we have seen Ace do so many bad things, so unlike the Phobia/Adrian thing, it is not a stretch at all. I think the reason none of us saw it coming was because Nova put Ace on such a pedestal and she never suspected it, so we didn’t either. I think that has become one of the grand plot twists of YA literature. On par with Harry Potter being a Horcrux and Gus Waters dying. It might just be the hype getting to me, but I really think this is going to be one of my favorite books ever, I just have to sit on it for a while longer to be sure.
Lastly, I think this book had the perfect ending (barring chapter 52 of course). I think that giving everyone superpowers was just the most perfect decision. But before that happened, there was the star scene which I have to address.
I liked the concept of the star, but it was just a tiny bit confusing. It was… a supernova? I just didn’t really understand that. The thing that really hit me though, was at the end was when Nova lost her powers to Max and then he started crying gold. That really made me almost cry because we had been with Nova for so long and when she finally chooses to do good instead of bad with her powers, they are taken away. But! What was worse was when for the second time, I thought Max was going to die. He almost died once and I wasn’t ready for that to happen again. I’m just so happy that instead of taking all the superpowers which would have been a plausible ending too, he gave them all away and became the only powerless person in the world. It really says something about how sad he must have been without being in contact with people that he would give his superpowers away to be with his family. It was a happy almost Disney like end and I liked it. Ace was vanquished, Captain Chromium survived and Nova found new family. Except! For the terrible chapter 52…
Now, I am writing this as if Marissa Meyer will be writing another book to explain it all or at least tell more of the story, because if she does not my life will be incomplete, so just keep that in mind. First, I have a tiny story to tell about Chapter 52. My brother and I listened to the last chapter together and I predicted that the narrator was Magpie, but about 3/4s of the way thru my brother suddenly gasps and pauses the audiobook. I’m like “Largo, what?” but instead he runs to another computer and frantically types something saying he’s figured it out. I, being completely confused try to understand what he was talking about then, once he was done writing whatever it was we go back to the book and I still don’t know anything. Then comes the reveal that Magpie is Evie which was the most surprising and perfect thing ever. It answers so many questions, creates so many more and was the most hilarious twist ever since Nova and Magpie hate each other. Once we had finished the book my brother showed me what he had written which was ‘Magpie is Evie’ on the computer. I was dumbfounded and super weirded out that my brother who has only loved reading for three months now was able to predict this huge twist, but at the same time I was so proud of both him and myself. I guess I taught this new reader well…
But now, I need another Renegades book. I need someone to explain everything! Marissa Meyer if you are reading this, I need you to write another book or at least a short story to explain that twist. I have compiled a list of the loose ends remaining (there might be more I can’t remember):
1. What was up between Danna and Narcissa
2. Who was the guy who gave Magpie/Evie the weird look during chapter 52
3. How did Magpie/Evie survive the bullet
4. How didn’t Ace know she survived
6. What is Magpie going to do about Nova and the other Renegades especially with the fact she think’s there’s going to be another war.
7. ADRAIN AND NOVA! I NEED MORE INFO ON WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM AFTER THE BOOK (same goes for Oscar and Ruby)
And most importantly…
8. What happens next!!!!!
I need to know. There is more to this story and I need to hear it. I liked how the final chapter was told from a perspective that wasn’t Nova’s or Adrain’s but now I have a million other questions. I just need more. This amazing series can’t be over. I’m not ready for it yet. There will be more, there has to be… (I hope :D)
So, I hope you made it thru the entire review. I know this one was a long one. In conclusion, I need more of this story; I recommend this series to everyone ever and I have found a new trilogy to stack among my favorites. Also, did I mention I need more? XD



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