Title: The Red Queen
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: February 2015
Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Fantasy, Dystopia
Series or Stand Alone: Series, Book One
Synopsis can be found here.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Review:
Let’s start with the cover. It’s gorgeous. This cover promises intrigue, royalty, blood. It promises death, danger and destruction of beauty. I am still loving the cover. I wish there were more covers out there like this.
And Red Queen has all of these things.
Mare Barrow meets a nice stranger one night, trying to pick pocket him. Her family is in desperate need of money and her birthday is coming up soon. When she turns 18, she will be thrown into a war between kingdoms, sent to the front line and like all her brothers before her. She is trying to save her best friend and herself from this fate. Little does she know the man she is trying to pick pocket has a secret job in the kingdom.
Mare thinks this new job that she is given is a blessing. It will save her. That is until a series of accidents happen and she is thrown into danger, thereby showcasing her powers. Powers that no red blood should have. Powers that threaten the silvers.
Interesting premise. I like the new take on segregation between red blood (working class) and silver blood (royalty). The magical powers are all interesting and the court politics that Mare has to weave through are dangerous. The best part about the book is the overwhelming sense of danger and lonliness that Mare is suffering. She is pulled from her life, her family and thrust into court with a new identity, a betrothed and no idea when she will die. Because she can die at any second. She is totally at the mercy of the king and queen.
A lot of books don’t really touch up on the lonliness or isolation of a main character when faced with these events. I think this was done beautifullly in this novel. The real sense of urgency and danger overshadowed the romance, which was fine with me actually. I love romance, but that would have seemed silly if Mare was only content on swooning over boys. No, these two princes are very different. And have different motivations than even she knows about.
That said, I liked both princes equally, but I especially loved one of them. I’m not going to give it away, but I thought this one had so much character and depth. So I was super disappointed in the ending. I can’t say why but you’ll see. It made him cheap and one dimensional. I was really rooting for him!
Overall, the story is predictable. I am interested in knowing what happens next, but there isn’t a lot in here that hasn’t been done before. The characters are a bit basic (except for the one I loved who then I was disappointed in). The story moves fast, but again nothing super shocking or intriguing.
Rating 5 Okay
Kimberly majored in Songwriting and currently works full time in the music industry. When she's not listening to music, knitting or writing, you can find her outside reading her favorite genres: Young Adult, Adult Fiction, Mystery, and Romance.
Yeah, you pretty much nailed my feelings exactly Kimberly. I felt this was an entertaining story, but that it wasn’t much more than that. It was a bit unoriginal and reminded me a lot of some other YA fantasies, and like you said, the twist at the end was definitely a bit predictable.
I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the sequel though! Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! &heartsl
thanks for commenting Zoe! Really appreciate it. Maybe the sequel will be better? #fingerscrossed
Yeah this book was, unfortunately really predictable for me. It was entertaining and I want to know what happens next but it’s not one I need to own. But yes, that cover is fabulous.
i love the cover so much….