Red Queen Review

 

Red Queen

 

Victoria Aveyard

 

Harper Teen

 

February 10th, 2015

 

Goodreads description:

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..

 

This book is definitely one of the most violent and intense books I've read this year. I almost had a heart attack a grand total of no fewer than three or four times. Sometimes, it felt like I was watching a violent TV show or movie (like Game Of Thrones maybe) and I just wanted to shut my eyes during the particularly gruesome parts. It kept me on the edge of my seat for a good part of the book and I seriously enjoyed it.

At the start of the book, it felt extremely boring to me. I had to fight through the first fifty pages or so to get to the good parts. Despite this, the book picked up so much that the slow beginning wasn't such a huge deal to me. These types of stories aren't usually my thing, but I found myself fascinated by Aveyard's beautiful writing. There's just something about her style that felt really authentic and enticing to me. 

Mare was a brilliant lead character. I loved her strength, humor, and sarcasm. She had such a dynamic personality and I loved how she told the story. I'm not going to lie, several of her qualities reminded me a lot of Katniss Everdeen. Some people disliked the story because they felt like it was a rip off of other stories like The Hunger Games and Game Of Thrones. While the similarities are pretty obvious, I still feel like the story had its own unique story to tell. If you ask me, YA could always use more strong female characters so Mare was really awesome and unique to me. 

I'm not going to reveal much else about the other characters and much about the plot. I'll just say that the supporting characters were very dynamic and full of life. I felt like they were each masterfully crafted. The romance here is pretty moderate to low, but there's just so much plot going on that it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. I'm on edge waiting for the next book to come out. It can't get here soon enough!