Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)

by Victoria Aveyard

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.

Reviewed by Nessa Luna on

4 of 5 stars

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A while back I heard about Red Queen, and was immediately intrigued by the cover. It just looks gorgeous, wow! It took me a while to actually pick it up, because I heard some mixed things about it, but when I finally did I got pulled right into the story and couldn't stop reading.

Red Queen tells the story of Mare Barrow, who is a Red. In this world, there are two kinds of people - Reds and Silvers. Silvers are the beautiful people with wonderful powers, and Reds are - well, the poor people basically. But then it turns out that Mare has powers too, and she's immediately sucked right into the Silver court, having to pretend to be Silver, pretend she's happily engaged to one of the princes. But you and I both know that will never last.

At first I was a bit cross with the fact that there would be another book series with ANOTHER love triangle, but in the end I must say this one didn't really bother me at all, because I knew right from the start there wasn't really that much of a triangle thing going on. But still, I decided that I want books with love triangle to come with a warning, like 'WARNING: LOVE TRIANGLE' or something like that, so I can proceed with caution.

I really liked the main character, Mare, and her family was amazing as well. I liked her friend, Kilorn, even though sometimes I could just smack him in the face because he did something I didn't want him to do. I wasn't too sure about the princes at first, but I think Cal kind of grew on me in the end. Maven, I am still not too sure what to think about him.. I kind of saw that plot twist of him being the evil person in the story coming from MILES ahead, and I wasn't that shocked when it turned out to be true in the end. I absolutely HATED the king and queen, but I guess that's what the author wanted when she wrote them.

The world building was done very well, but I really wished there was a map of the world they live in so I could imagine it better, because now it was just a tiny bit confusing for me at some points. Maybe there'll be a map in the next book? *fingers crossed*. It was a bit confusing as well, because the setting felt so historical - but then there were mentions of TV screens and security cameras and (I guess) cars and stuff, so then you know it's a very futuristic/dystopian story.

A lot of people had talked about THAT PLOT TWIST so I was expecting something massive to happen. Unfortunately, for me at least, I had guessed both plot twists (or well, the massive plot twist and the reveal at the end) already so it wasn't really that surprising to me, which is just such a shame. But I like the way they were written, and I think the author did a good job! Her writing just sucked me right out of my reading slump and I really hope I will be able to read books at my normal pace again after this!

In the end, I loved Red Queen even though it wasn't that surprising to me. I will certainly read the next two books and hope those will be just as great as the first one!

My opinion on this book in one gif:



(yes it's Nori and Bombur with party glasses.... It's a HobbitCon thing! Gif credit)

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 16 April, 2015: Finished reading
  • 16 April, 2015: Reviewed