Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen

Graceling meets The Selection in debut novelist Victoria Aveyard's sweeping tale of seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king's palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?

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.

Synopsis credited to goodreads.com


The concept for this book was good. I've read a lot of reviews that compare this book to The Red Rising, which I can't say I read. Other reviews claim this is the holy grail of everything fantasy and sci-if related. This is going to be a spoiler free review, so do your thing readers and read on.

Let's start with the characters. Mare is a good main character. She's not overpowered and she's not a complete snob either. Cal and Maven were okay. To me, they felt sort of the same and I didn't really prefer either of them. They gained more individual personality later on though, and a warning, there was a love triangle. It's not the type of love triangle that makes you feel like pulling out your hair though.

Was this book focused more on romance or the rebellion? A little bit of both, I think. I didn't really get into the romance and I didn't really care who Mare ended up with. Of course, the ending mixed things up a bit and even if you don't like this book in the beginning, read the ending, because you might be surprised. I was impartial towards the character, but I can see why the ending was massively shocking to those committed readers, if you are one.

What was really cool in the book was the sibling relationships between the characters. There was an older sibling overshadowing a younger one. There was also a younger sibling exceeding an older one. Relationships with other characters more relatable and interesting. I really love when authors put in different types of relationships because a reader can usually connect with at least one.

Now, what about the plot? It was good, but not as good as the hype made it out to be. It revolves around Mare's life as a lost silver princess. It's her struggle to live in the palace even as she worries about her family. She also has a hand in the Scarlet Guard, which I felt could have been written a little better. I didn't get a sense of mystery, darkness or interest in them. They were just a rebellion like the one seen in different books. There's nothing that different that made them that interesting.

Before I end this review, I'd like to make one comparison to another book that's not Red Rising, but to Legend, by Marie Lu. There's actually quite a few similarities. There's a rebellion and a girl who doesn't know who she really wants to help. There's two love interest (eventually). The ending also has its similarities, which I won't really go into.

Overall, I would give this book a 9 out of 10. You should give this book a check out if you ever find yourself without something to read. JC, have you read this?

Thanks for reading!
Kalee