Name: Red Queen
Series: Red Queen #1
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: Paperback (available on KU)
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopia, Romance
Noted Tropes: Arranged Marriage, Big Brother is Watching, Cliffhanger, Discovery of New Powers, Rags to Royalty, The Other Man
Steam or Spice: Steam-ish
Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads
Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood—those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. There, before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.
To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess, and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard—a growing Red rebellion—even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays the only certainty is betrayal.
This sweeping story of palace intrigue, class hierarchy, and deception will keep readers hurtling along, desperate to find out Mare’s fate. Her honesty and determination, quick wit, and no-holds-barred attitude will surely make readers fall in love with her.
Review:
This was a re-read! I read this many years ago not too long after its release, when I ran The Reading Pile as part of a reading challenge. At the time I read it in 4 hours and this time it took me slightly longer as I didn’t just have a day I could dedicate to reading it.
I had to deal with the de-ja-vu of do I think I remember something because I read it before? Or because I’m reading between the lines of the book – and I’m pleased to announce that clearly my memory isn’t what it was, because the ending caught me almost completely off guard! I remembered one reveal and then had no recollection of ANYTHING else in the ending.
Of our main characters (Mare, Maven and Cal), I think Aveyard did an awesome job at attaching us to each of them which only made the ending more heart wrenching.
Mare is our Red who ends up protected by the Silvers as she displays that she has a surprising power of her own. I think Mare was a pretty strong FMC and even though I didn’t always agree with her decisions (mostly from a self-preservation point of view) I didn’t find her to be annoying and her reasonings made the decisions bearable.
Click here for a minor spoiler on Mare
Her betrothal to Maven wasn’t a shock given that she’d used these powers in front of a lot of people meant the King and Queen couldn’t just kill her. But I hadn’t expected to like them together, especially with Cal going around kissing Mare when they were both betrohed to other people!
Cal and Maven are the Princes of the story, with Cal being the next in line for the thrown and Maven being the forgotten, younger brother.
Click here for a spoiler on Cal and Maven otherwise keep reading
Honestly I liked both of the brothers, though I absolutely had an inkling that one of them was not who they claimed to be. Aveyard was leading us down the road of Cal being the one not to like given that he seemed to be against what Mare wanted, but the reveal that Maven was the betrayer was well revealed!
And then there is a whole cast of secondary characters, and of course I have a list of favourites. I’m hoping that at least some of them make an appearance throughout the rest of the series! I also have a list of the ones that I hope step on lego bricks in the coming books.
The first time round the sequel wasn’t out yet which was the reason why I then didn’t end up finishing the series, but this time I’m determined to finish this series! I love the world (though don’t sign me up to join it) and I’m intrigued as to how the cliffhanger at the end of Red Queen is going to play out in the sequel.
“I’m a Red girl in a sea of Silvers and I can’t afford to feel sorry for anyone…” – Mare
Reading With Tyler 
Leave a comment