Red Queen ✦ Victoria Aveyard

A YA dystopian fantasy novel.

Morgan’s rating

Anyone can betray anyone.

Mare Barrow grew up in a world where the color of your blood defines the life you live. Silver means you are born to a live of prosperity and affluence, with abilities beyond imagination. Red blood is born into a life of destitution and hard labor, forced to fight in a rich man’s war.

Anyone can betray anyone.

Mare spends her days emptying the pockets of Silver and Red alike until one day, a stranger takes pity on her and places her in the palace, serving under the Silver king. A twist of fate reveals the impossible in front of the kingdom… Mare is a Red, with Silver abilities.

Anyone can betray anyone.

Forced into the role of a lost royal to hide her newfound talent, Mare is thrust into a game where everyone is a pawn and there are no winners. Using her new position as future princess, Mare becomes ensnared in the fight between Silvers and the Red Guard rebels. It doesn’t take her long to discover that loyalty is just a mirage. After all… anyone can betray anyone.

First of all, in the spirit of transparency, I started this book the first week of August, got distracted, and didn’t pick it up again until last night. What can I say? August is a big month for me this year with my anniversary, my birthday, friends in town, and some work related things. BUT, it was a book I really enjoyed and I finished almost all of it in one sitting.

If you hadn’t gathered from reading the above synopsis, (side note: I should write book synopses because even I’m interested and I already read this book lol) Red Queen is what would happen if the Hunger Games and Harry Potter had a baby, but everyone is from the Avengers instead of having magic powers. Awesome, right?

I like the imagery the author starts with. It can be a little over the top at times, but it’s not terribly overwhelming. I could picture and describe to you exactly what the Stilts look like, how the arena is built, and why the castle palace gleams like a diamond in the rough. This is a good thing. I shouldn’t have to google fan art to get an image of what a character or place looks like.

Mare is everything I want in a heroine. She’s sassy, smart-mouthed, and best of all, flawed. The author didn’t try and make her into something she’s not. She a strong, believable character who is willing to give up everything for her friends and family. I do feel like there could have been more character development for the rest of the characters in the book. I want to feel more from Cal, the older prince who appears to have some less than brotherly feelings about his future sister in law. I want to know more about the motivations for Maven, the shadow beneath the flame. You get to know them on a surface level, but we don’t find out what makes them tick, what encourages them, what inspires their hopes and dreams. You learn just enough to be engaged and root for them and then BOOM. The betrayal hits that much harder for that reason exactly. WHY DO THESE CHARACTERS DO WHAT THEY DO???

The other character I absolutely adored was Lucas, but we won’t talk about him. My feelings are still hurt by the way his part was concluded.

“I don’t need to be a whisper to know we share a thought. I will kill him.”

YAS RED QUEEN. Throw some hands girl.

This book is everything you could want in a YA novel. The love triangle, the downtrodden heroine, the evil villain, a society of secret rebels bent on equality, a massive betrayal, and superhuman abilities. I was hooked! I’m super excited for the next book in the series!

A word to the wise, though. Don’t always listen to the reviews you read on Amazon. I read before I started the book, and one, spoilers, and two, they are rarely an adequate representation of what a book is truly made of. Read it for yourself and discover a whole new world tucked in between the pages.

Until next time friends! xoxo