The Rainbow Connection

Renegades/Archenemies

Before I begin, a quick Author's Note. I have already decided which franchises to feature during this month but if you have suggestions, I plan on doing a lightning round for the last day of June so feel free to comment!

I present to you, Renegades and Archenemies, the first two books in the Renegades series. They are written by Marissa Meyer, aka the author of the Lunar Chronicles series.

The books take place in a dystopian future where certain people, known as prodigies have superpowers they were either born with or obtained through some sort of major event in their life. The story focuses on the conflict between the Renegades, a group of "superheroes" acting essentially as the government, and the Anarchists, a group of "supervillains" who hate the Renegades and the way they run things.

Now this book is amazing in many ways including unique superpowers, positive representation of mixed race, POC, disabled people and getting the so-called villain's perspective. However, the thing I'm focusing on today is the relationship between two of the Renegades.

Meet Hugh Everhart and Simon Westwood, more commonly known as Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden.

Hugh Everhart, aka Captain Chromium, is the unofficial leader of the Renegades and the most beloved or hated hero of all time depending on who you ask. His powers include invincibility, super strength and the ability to create and manipulate chromium, hence his name.

Simon Westwood, aka the Dread Warden, is the co-founder of the Renegades along with Hugh. His power is the ability to turn invisible.

Now as you may have guessed, Simon and Hugh are in a relationship, otherwise, why would I mention them. However, something that makes these two particularly special is that not only are they MARRIED, but they also HAVE A KID.

That's right, a functional family with gay parents in a community that accepts them. No angsty backstory to validate them, no cop-out where one of them dies (at least not so far) so that "technically there was LGBTQ+ representation but not really". Just a happy healthy gay couple.

MINOR SPOILER ALERT

And they aren't some minor background couple either, their adopted son, Adrian Everhart is one of the main characters and throughout the book refers to them as his dads and mentions a couple of times how happy he is that they were so willing to adopt him after the death of his mom.

SPOILER OVER

I don't know if it's just me but I find it really rare for a book to showcase a family with gay parents and have them act just like an average family without having their sexuality be the main focus. I don't think the word gay is ever even mentioned, they aren't gay superheroes, they're just superheroes who happen to be gay if that makes any sense.

So in conclusion, this is a really great book that I highly recommend. The representation is great for so much more than just the LGBTQ+ community and Captain Chromium x The Dread Warden is really really cute. Also, the books are interesting, not overly predictable but still a fun read.