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. 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.
My Review
I tend to read books in 3 different ways. First, I will start reading, get bored, put it down, forget about it and then months (sometimes years) later I might pick it back up and finish it out of a sense of duty. Second, I will slowly savour a book. These books I tend to read each night, whilst having a bubble bath or lying in bed before sleep. These are books I enjoy greatly but don’t feel the urge to gallop through. Then there is the third way I read a book: consuming it. This is a much rarer for me but I love it when it happens. I’ll find a book and become obsessed with it – so much so that I have to finish it as quickly as possible. That’s what happened with Red Queen.
I loved this book. While the story of Mare isn’t wholly unique (a seemingly normal girl who ends up in a place of privilege because of a hidden power) the way Victoria Aveyar weaves her story absolutely captivated me. I could not put this book down.
What I loved the most was the character development … no, the action … no the setting … no, the character development. Argh! I actually loved it all. Let’s start with the characters.
The book is written from Mare’s point of view, in first person. And she is completely believable and human. Her worries and flaws are so real. She is the girl you want to be and if you can’t BE her then you want to be friends with her. She is just so genuine.
The other characters in the book are equally complex and real. I like characters that have enough depth for me to really see them in my head, and Aveyar does an amazing job of creating these kinds of characters.
What about romance? You know there is going to be romance in a fantasy novel told from a girl’s point of view and Red Queen doesn’t disappoint. And there’s even the “love triangle” slant to the romance but, probably for the first time ever, I was not annoyed by this development in Mare’s love life. In Hunger Games I was completely irritated by Katniss’s inability to chose between Peeta and Gale but in Red Queen I actually understood Mare’s dilemma. I felt for her and her conflict between the two loves in the story.
Overall, Red Queen is fast paced and full of intrigue and suspense. Aveyar keeps you guessing to the last moment as to what is going to happen to Mare. Will she survive the Silver court? Will the Scarlet Guard succeed in sparking a rebellion? By the end of the book the foremost question in my mind was: where can I get the next book in this series? Luckily Glass Sword came out in February, so you know what the next book on my TBR list is.
