I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
Renegades (Recruits) by Thomas Locke Series: Recruits #2
Published by Revell on November 7, 2017
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Science Fiction / Alien Contact, Young Adult Fiction / Science Fiction / General
Pages: 288
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
Amazon|Barnes&Noble|Goodreads
Twins Sean and Dillon are using their transit abilities for good--but not everyone sees it that way. Arrested and imprisoned by a clandestine group within the highest reaches of the Human Assembly, Sean and Dillon are forced to choose sides between those who wish to serve and those who seek to rule.
At the same time within a distant outpost system, a young soldier is coming into his own. Logan has known since childhood that he possessed a special ability--a distinct form of transiting called ghost-walking. Though ghost-walking has been outlawed for centuries, Logan is secretly drawing together a crew for a risky quest.
The fates of these three young men will lead them, along with the entire Assembly, to the brink of destruction in this inventive tale of adventure, honor, and the things worth fighting for.
If you read my review of Recruits, the first book in this duo, then you know I actually read both of these books back in 2019. Read. No review, no notes, nothing to tell me what I thought back then. I’m a very different person now in some ways. The way I react to words has changed considerably, and I expect more. While reading Recruits, there were things I remembered, not strongly, not enough to tell me the story, but glimpses of memory. With Renegades, much less memory. A few whispers, but I honestly read the book ‘fresh’ without much to pull from the recesses of memory. And honestly, I think that hurt more than helped.
I started in this book completely confused. I kept mixing up Landon and Logan, which made me even more confused, since both were new characters in the story, had such similar names, and I wasn’t quite sure why they were there in the first place. While the setup, in and of itself, was good, it was confusing and didn’t help to really get me where I needed to be to prepare for the ride ahead. Really, Landon felt more like a forced segue from the first book to the meat of the second book, while never really filling any role but confusion. And then the meat, I’m back to incredulous disbelief.
There are so many bones here for a really great story that never found the flesh it needed to be great. Even the climactic ending didn’t really deliver a climax that could have been amazing, given the subject matter. There are too many lapses with background work, the descriptions didn’t capture my attention, and overall, the boys (and all those around them) lost their edge to me. Oh, they are edgy, but they just didn’t capture me like before. There is good world-building, but I could have used so much more to make it feel real to me. The only renegade I found in this book was my attention. But . . . I would still love to see another installment with Sean and Dillion.
About Thomas Locke
Davis Bunn is an internationally-acclaimed author who has sold more than eight million books in twenty languages.
Honored with four Christy Awards for excellence in historical and suspense fiction, Davis was inducted into the Christy Hall of Fame in 2014.
His bestsellers include The Great Divide, Winner Take All, The Meeting Place, The Book of Hours, and The Quilt. A sought-after lecturer in the art of writing, Bunn was serves as Writer in Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University.
Davis Bunn also writes under the names Thomas Locke (for his epic fantasy and techno-thriller novels) and T. Davis Bunn (for books published prior to 2002).
Wanna share your thoughts? Leave a comment!