Secure The Betrayal Of Renegade X (Renegade X, #3) Written By Chelsea M. Campbell Accessible As Mobi
Obviously, this book was awesome, After loving the first two, this one did not disappoint at all,
There are so many good things to say, but the main thing that stood out to me from this book was sheerly how engaged I was.
Oh my goodness. From about halfway through, I COULD NOT put it down if I tried, I was so, SO engaged, and a story hasnt made me feel like that in a long time,
The reason I gave it four instead of five was that the plot began to feel a little redundant.
It was another story of Damien messing up, not telling anyone, them everything falling apart, Which, while it worked really nicely for the first two books, I wouldve liked to see what couldve happened if Damien communicated better.
Nonetheless, I still adore this book and the others in the series, I cant believe more people havent read it already, and Im REALLY hoping that they will, because it was a fantastic read.
Damien's strong sense of right and wrong is stretched to it's limits in the third offering of this marvellous series.
He's faced with a whole bunch of very public trouble when he does what is right instead of following the rules during a school assignment.
The situation is further exacerbated when his supervillain grandfather persuades him to be the spokesperson for a new supervillain rights group, which has devastating consequences for Gordon and the family.
A betrayal of Damien's trust in his grandfather culminates in a very tense and terrifying action sequence
Some tough questions are examined in this narrative just how 'good' are the good guys and at what point does the line get crossed into 'bad guys' territory Damien thinks he has the whole hero thing figured outhe's getting good grades at Heroesworth and acing all his missionsat least until he zaps an unarmed bad guy he believes tortured and murdered children.
It turns out the “bad guy” was actually a superhero working with the school, The mission was staged, and Damien blew it,
Now his best friend refuses to work with him, his dad is considering getting him professional help, and everyone's questioning whether or not he has a future as a heroincluding his grandpa, who will do anything to ensure Damien's future lies in villainy.
His grandpa creates a villain organization called the Truth, intent on exposing the way heroes really treat villains, But when the Truth launches its plan and the whole city erupts in chaos, Damien is caught between the opposing sides, and his future is anything but certain.
With heroes and villains bent on destroying each other, it's up to him to do whatever it takes to stop the fighting, even if it means betraying the people closest to him.
I enjoyed this book much more than,
I really enjoyed the new faction The Truth and why Damien was drawn to it,
It's interesting seeing parallels between today's politics and this silly fictional world, Where when there are two sides who hate each other nothing gets done, After three books I still love this kid's voice, The banter and wit haven't waned, But the balance of heart and vulnerability is what makes it work so well, He still feels more like a real kid than most of the YA books I've read, He's so raw. He knows it all but at the same time he doesn't know anything and he has no idea what to do next but that never stops him from acting in a crisis.
He's afraid of heights so much for the flying power he got from his hero side of the family, he's afraid to turn left while driving, but he isn't afraid to say anything to anyone at any time or to risk his life to save someone in danger.
He's such a good kid with a big heart, and it keeps getting stomped all over by the people who should be protecting him.
Being a teenage sucks, and being Renegade X really sucks even more sometimes, always caught in the middle of everyone and everything.
I just love this kid,
I appreciated the extra layer of social consciousness that was in this book too, Damien took a strong stand against institutionalized racism heroes versus villains, government endorsed violence and torture of villains, and the need for people to band together to create a change when their rights were being abused.
The stuff that was going on in Golden City was a combination of Guantanamo and the way minorities are often treated by police in the US.
The question of what an appropriate response to that is was a good one for Damien and his friends and family to grapple with, I was happy to see a more serious story arc start.
Damien has been very worried about what he's going to do in the future, since he won't join the hero's League or be a villain, so I suspect that in some way this will lead to his future career as well.
I liked the things that Campbell included with Amelia in this book too, I could see how much she and Damien had become a real brother and sister, finally getting some of the good from their situation to go with the bad, some trust and a basic level of friendship.
And she was more likable allaround, growing up a bit,
The big fight was pretty exciting too, I can't remember previous books very well, were they all that crazy It sounds like they were kinda nuts too, from the references in this one, but this seemed amped up even more, with all of the adults in on the action as well.
Campbell pulled off another great book, mixing lots of action and excitement with a lot of somehow truetolife emotional connections and missed connections and drama.
She really understands that when you have a fantasy element, like superheroes, in an urban fantasy story, you have to anchor it in reality somehow to keep the readers able to relate to the story and the characters.
She does that so well with Damien and his friends and family through their family dynamics and through Damien's efforts at being understood by the people who are supposed to love and care for him the most.
And his anguish when they let him down, Like any teenager, with the major complicating factor of his society being divided into heroes and villains and him being stuck in the middle.
I'm so glad that Campbell is going to continue this series, I can't wait to find out what happens next.
I have to say, thought it all and everything I am very happy with this book, I don't say that very often, I don't get to. More often then not something lacks, Here, only the very end lacks, and only lacks a little, Please understand the very end, after all is said and done it only lacks A LITTLE! Because I wanted to see Grandpa again.
Renegade X, or better know as Damien, has a lot on his mind and plate, Everyone is watching him all the time, Nether side trusts him. Because he is half hero, and half villein, He chose his side in the last book, In heart he is a hero, He will do what he thinks is best, If that
means zapping a killing kidnapper then, hell yeah he'll do it,
Fck the school, This kid has already done some real field work,
In this everything is messed up and he has to do a lot of thinking, What will he do after school Who is going to trust him Why should they
Not to go into more detail and spoilers, I'll stop there.
I really liked on the mother's side Grandpa, He loves his grandson. Even when they don't agree I felt there was more there then there was with the dad, Some characters that were sort of big in the last book were really pushed to the side here, Others I felt that could at least add some pages and depth were never done, Fanfreakingtastic. Each book in this series is better than the last, Reread Novemberstnd,
This was the best one yet! I liked Riley in the last book in the second half, anyway and in this book he grew on me even more.
He's a great friend to Damien and I really enjoy their friendship, Kat also grew on me in this one, She and Damien clearly really love each other, and I'm rooting for them,
This book explored the future and the opportunities and lack thereof facing Damien, I'm looking forward to seeing what he eventually ends up doing, especially with everything that was revealed in this book.
Gordon was okay in this book, but he and Damien are very similar in their stubbornness and nearinability to see/consider someone else's point of view.
With that said, it's clear that he does care about his son, which is way better than Mariana, Damien's mom.
Xavier is seriously annoying.
Amelia and Damien's sibling bond was really nice to see in this book, and it's one of my favorite relationships in the series, as I mentioned in my review of book two.
We see Amelia and Damien continue to grow and trust one another and Amelia gets a bit of character growth.
They manage to trash on each other constantly but occasionally be vulnerable, It's a lot of fun!
On another note, the plot of this book i, e. the Truth vs. the League and all of that was a huge step up from the last two books, The first The Betrayal of Renegade X's plot was rather lackluster, and the second book was fine, but this one added to the world building and built on some things that had come up in book two, which was good.
I really enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing the repercussions in book four!
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and would highly recommend it if you enjoyed the first two books.
It draws you in really quickly and is a fast read despite being over four hundred pages,stars!.