Red Queen Review

About the book:

Title: Red Queen

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Genre & Age Group: Dystopia, fantasy, young adult

Goodreads Synopsis:

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.

Source: Bought

How I Found Out About It: Blogging/Goodreads

Review:

I bought Red Queen all the way back in May at my school’s Scholastic book fair. It was pretty much an impulse buy- so many bloggers had been raving about it, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt if I gave it a try. With that being said, I put off reading it until recently, as I was so scared I would be disappointed, especially since I’d bought it! Needless to say, it did have its flaws, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

For a brief summary, this book centres around Mare, who lives in a world where you either have silver or red blood. For years, she has known for a fact that she was Red, but then she starts working in the Silver Palace, and turns out to exhibit Silver powers that she didn’t even know she had. The Silvers consider her to be a long-lost princess, and fully integrate her into their side of the world. But the battle is still at large between the two blood types… will she find herself in the middle of it all, or will she have to completely blend in with one of them? And if so, which one will she choose?

I have to say that I really loved Mare. To me, she seemed like she was real- she wasn’t Miss Perfect; she had flaws. These days, it seems like most protagonists in YA are either just totally annoying, or completely posh and perfect, but Mare is not either of those. She is her own, unique character, and that is just one of the many things I like about her. Mare is also super tough– she puts up with her struggles bearing a fierce attitude and a smile on her face, and she is never afraid to stand up for what she believes in. If it were my job to pick a book character who would become the ruler of the world, Mare would definitely be one of my top picks, as I believe she would make a great leader with her strong, infectious spirit!

Unfortunately, one big letdown for me about this book was the other characters. I’m sorry, but they were just not memorable. I’ve heard there is a love triangle in this book… but there were just way too many bland characters to make sense of who Mare bonds with and such. I hope to see some more development in this area in the next books of this series!😉

The plot was pretty captivating (though slow at first), what with Mare having traits of both red and silver-blooded people. This just goes to show that most people just focus on there being two basic sides to everything, and not as much as to what’s in between- whether it be boy or girl when there are gender fluid people, yes or no when there are maybes, or in this case, red or silver.

I definitely really loved Aveyard’s writing style; she had a lot of voice and her words flowed very nicely. I am really looking forward to reading her other works!

Overall, Red Queen was very strong in most areas, but others were simply lacking development. I’m very glad I decided to buy it- I don’t regret it at all! For lovers of action-packed novels in a dystopian world with an amazing protagonist, Red Queen is the one for you!

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars