I used to think the cover of this was kind of boring, but in person it's actually very beautiful. The roses in the background with the tagline "My life is just about perfect" fits the story perfectly, as does the blond girl on the front and the ocean in the background. 
 The blurb of this was pretty interesting - an under water utopia? Hmm. Just the use of the word "utopia" is enough to make me want to read something. Mostly because there is no such thing as a perfect society in this world, so you can bet that the book is some kind of dystopia where the government is behaving in a sneaky manner. This was no exception - the villain in Renegade, "Mother", is just the type I love in my books. The kind that pretend to have good intentions for their people, their rules, etc, but in reality are sick and twisted. I was very curious about her throughout, and was satisfied with the answers I got. I loved the sense of foreboding in the beginning of Renegade. 
 I wasn't sure I was going to like the narrator in the beginning of the story, mainly because Evelyn seemed fairly emptyheaded. The reason for this, however, is explained, and she becomes a fairly likable heroine when she's not under the influence of her sadisitic "Mother". I felt so sorry for her when she was so confused. The second chapter opens the exact same way at the first, and for a minute I was seriously confused right along with her. Her love interest, Gavin, was a suitable male lead, but I didn't connect with him as strongly as many others I could think of. I'm not sure why, honestly. Maybe it had to do with the fact that they seemed to fall in love so quickly; I think it happened in, like, three days. I remember one passage, in particular, where Evelyn is wondering why Gavin doesn't trust her after he is captured by her people and put in a cell. I can think of several good reasons for why he wouldn't trust her right then. The rest of the characters did somewhat lack substance; I have a hard time remembering any of them even after I just finished this. 
 The writing and world-building are very good. I could easily picture this underwater world in my mind, see its beauty; imagine looking out your window and beeing greeted with a blue whale! I loved the little opening passages in the start of all the chapters; things like that always make a story seem more real. There are still a lot of things I don't quite understand, but I'm sure they will be talked about in the sequel. The ending was somewhat of a surprise; I'm not sure how I feel about it. It made me happy on one hand, but a little irked on the other. 
 Renegade would have worked as a standalone, in my opinion, but I look forward to the second book in the Elysium (still gotta learn how to pronounce that) Chronicles. 
 Last book read in 2012! 4 stars.