Series: Red Queen #1
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian/Fantasy
Page Length: 383 pages
Format: Hardcover
About Red Queen (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...
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...
Aveyard's writing style was superb. Despite the fact that I saw a lot of common tropes and typical elements of other popular YA in Red Queen, I thought Aveyard wrote Mare's story masterfully (and better than 99% of those books with similar tropes). It was overall a pretty good read. I'd definitely give it 3 stars.
I have been trying to come up with words to describe how I feel about this book, but I've been struggling a bit since my feelings are a bit all over the place about the book. So I figured today would be the day to have my first ever GIF review!!! *throws confetti*
~ MY THOUGHTS ON THE CHARACTERS ~
Mare
It wasn't exactly like I ever hated Mare, but I wasn't exactly sure what I thought of her at first. I don't think that she's the most amazing protagonist out there, but she definitely has some good qualities and I overall liked her as a character. I feel like she could have had a bit more character development, but I'm satisfied, I suppose.
Cal
I loved Cal, but at the same time he had this rough exterior and also this hidden hatred that kind of scared me. I'm definitely going to have to keep an eye on him in the next book!
Maven
That was... interesting, to put it lightly. I sort of saw it coming, but at the same time I didn't. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FEEL. RIGHT NOW ALL I FEEL IS RAGE AND HATE AND BETRAYAL. BUT HE WAS SO GOOD AT BEING A LIAR *cries*
Kilorn
Kilorn was barely there throughout Red Queen but I really want to see him more throughout the rest of the series because I loved him when he was there.
Evangeline
~ MY THOUGHTS ON THE ROMANCE ~
Mare and Cal
They definitely have an interesting relationship, but I love it. I love it so so much. Probably more than I should. (I guess it didn't help that there was a romantic dance scene though. I am a complete sucker for those <3)
Mare and Maven
MEHHHHHHHH. I was never really invested in their relationship. Not one bit. And by the end I just hated Maven too much to even care. And that last ditch effort to get Mare back... NO.
Mare and Kilorn
I'm not usually a fan of the childhood crush romances, but Kilorn didn't play a huge role in the book, and I really want to see them together. Maybe. I don't really know. It's hard to say. But so far, I really do like Kilorn.
Cal and Evangeline
Because their relationship was totally existent. I mean, the whole Queenstrial thing made sense. But even when they were trying to look like they were actually happy. Nope nope nope. Not convincing at all. (Although maybe it was supposed to be that way because it was from Mare's POV the whole time?? Who knows.) Is this even going to be a thing after everything that happened?!?
The horrible thought that has plagued my mind:
IS THERE GOING TO BE A LOVE-PENTAGON?!?!?!?
~ MY THOUGHTS ON THE PLOT ~
I guess there were supposed to be a lot of twists in the book, but whenever a "twist" came, it felt like this to me:
Okay, so not quite like that. But basically none of the twists completely shocked me the way I think they were supposed to. I guess I was expecting a lot because my friend told me there were a lot of twists involved, so I was kind of coming up with scenarios way before things would happen, so even though I didn't know the exact twists, I was not really surprised when things went awry and people were betrayed by the people they trusted most.
Despite the lack of shock factor, the plot was overall pretty good, although most of the action did not occur until the last hundred or so pages. In fact, those last hundred pages were probably my favorite part of the book. SO MUCH ACTION AND REBELLION AND BETRAYAL AND SO MANY FEELINGS.
