Picking up where “Renegades” left off, “Archenemies” by Marissa Meyer is a daring science-fiction novel that keeps readers guessing throughout the entire book. As the second work in the “Lunar Chronicles” trilogy, the detailed world building and exciting fights written by Meyer keeps readers captivated through all 560 pages. Fair warning: While there are no spoilers for “Archenemies” ahead, there are for the first book in the series, “Renegades.”

“Renegades” ends with Nova- known to the Renegades as Insomnia and to the Anarchists as Nightmare- faking Nightmare’s death to stop Adrian- a Renegade who goes by Sketch and also the vigilante The Sentinel- from hunting her. The book reveals that Ace Anarchy’s helmet is not destroyed, like the Renegades have led the world to believe.

Nova goes back to her villain gang and to tell them of her discoveries, and the novel reveals that Ace Anarchy is very much alive. Weak, but alive nonetheless.

“Archenemies” opens with an intense chase between Adrian and Nova’s Renegade team, and a villain by the name of Hawthorne.

After a conflict with a hostage, the team is left questioning the Renegade code, and Hawthorne runs. Both Nova and Adrian quickly decide to pursue her, and Adrian sneaks away to change into the Sentinel suit.

After Nova hits a dead end, Adrian finds himself fighting Hawthorne in a boat on a river. He loses the fight, and gets thrown into the river. Now, both Nova’s alter-ego, Nightmare, and Adrian’s alter-ego, The Sentinel, are believed to be dead by the world.

The Renegade Council calls all the Renegades to a meeting where they announce a new development they have been working on called Agent N. Through a disturbing demonstration involving Winston Pratt, The Puppeteer, they show how Agent N can permanently erase a prodigy’s extraordinary abilities.

After both Nova and Adrian express how uncomfortable Agent N makes them, Nova is able to sneak a sample of Agent N to the Anarchists. Leroy, an Anarchist proficient in chemicals, begins to research how the villains could weaponize Agent N against the Renegades.

The general public’s opinion of the Council drops as they fight to try and keep all the promises they made, while the Council struggles to get even all the Renegades on their side. With both the Renegades and the Anarchists having access to Agent N and Nova getting closer to Ace Anarchy’s helmet each day, readers are left enthralled throughout the entire novel.

Nova hates the Sentinel. Adrian hates Nightmare. As the two get closer, their dangerous relationship keeps readers on edge as they teeter dangerously close to being figured out not only by each other, but by the Renegades as well.