Book Information:
Published: February 10th 2015 by HarperTeen
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Page Count: 383
Amazon: Hardcover – $11.69 / Paperback – $9.87
Barnes and Noble: Hardcover – $12.51 / Paperback – $10.08
Description via Goodreads:
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.
I would like to start out this review saying that I have finished this book roughly an hour ago and my mind is still reeling. I was not expecting this book to blow me away and I am stunned by how quickly it has rocked my world! I was hesitant to start this book since the reviews have been 50/50, and I can completely understand why. There will be spoilers below but they will have their own section and you will be warned. My Goodreads rating and favorite quote will be after the “end of spoiler section” note at the bottom!
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is book 1 of her Red Queen series, and this novel follows the tale of Mare Barrow. Mare is Red who has power within herself. In her world the Silvers are as powerful as gods and control every aspect of Red living. It isn’t until Mare unleashes a power of her own when the royals must do damage control. Mare is then thrust right into Silver society and must act as one of them, going completely against everything she truly is; a Red.
I liked Red Queen. I thought it was engaging and definitely a guilty pleasure read for me. I devoured the book in two days and what kept me going was the plot twists more than anything else! They were around every corner and some of them I could see coming but others completely blindsided me. I thought the plot was interesting, but I did have some problems with the book.
The characters: I wanted so much more out of some of them. Mare, for example, I loved how she was tough but I found she whined a good deal. I was annoyed with her and her decisions very often and when it came to how she handled betrayal I engaged in many eye-rolls. Next up is Cal, the crown prince. I liked Cal but I didn’t feel his character was fleshed out enough in this book. I felt like I had a sense of who he was but I just craved so much more. Lastly we have Maven…. oh Maven. He falls into the same category as Cal, I just had higher hopes for his character to be fleshed out more, but he was the only character I found myself completely connecting with. He had the most interesting moments.
The plot: Like I said I really liked the plot of this story and I thought it was interesting. The whole difference between the Reds and Silvers was intriguing to read, and the various abilities some of the characters had I really liked. I just felt like there were too many holes. I would have loved to read more about Julian or Cal’s mother, but that was lacking. When we reach Mare’s lesson scenes with Julian, I was confused at times because things just weren’t adding up. I also would have loved more scenes with Evangeline. She was one of the most interesting characters for the plot but we didn’t get to see much of her!
Overall, this was a fun read and I am currently starting book 2 Glass Sword right after this review goes up. There was enough “good” to keep me reading this series. I don’t think it was worth the hype it had many years ago when it came out but it was still a fine read. I also own the rest of the books too so I might as well finish the series off, especially since the first book was a fast read for me. If you have read this book or plan to, let me know in the comments, I would love to chat about it some more!
WARNING: THIS IS THE SPOILER SECTION – PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Okay, now for some spoilers! I think the main topic I would like to focus on are the betrayals, since they were pretty jaw dropping. I felt like there were so many betrayals back to back that was the reason I couldn’t put the book down and that is why I classify this as a guilty pleasure read for me.
The last 50 or so pages is where the biggest betrayal occurred and I was very surprised where Victoria Aveyard took the book. I knew that Cal would at some point have to become the enemy but I never expected that Maven would become the true enemy of Mare. I always assumed Cal because of his blatant hatred for the Scarlet Guard but Maven blew my mind. Because Maven is now the cruel king, I don’t know how Cal is going to be in book 2. He too has been betrayed, both by Mare who he has affection for, and his younger half-brother. I don’t know how his character is going to handle all of that change.
I didn’t foresee the king’s death or how exactly he would die. It was shocking how brutal the king’s death was as well, to be taken out by his favorite son Cal was crazy. Speaking of crazy, my hatred for Elara has only risen ten fold because of his death. I thought she was bad in the beginning but I really dislike her now. She was the master orchestrator for this entire situation. Not only was her betrayal to her husband difficult to read about, but also how horrible she truly was.
As I said above, if you have read this book or are planning to please comment below, I’d love to chat some more about it!
END OF SPOILER SECTION
Favorite Quote:
“Anyone can betray anyone.” *I had to pick this one… I couldn’t help it.
This book was given 3.75/5 star rating on Goodreads.
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