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 Stephanie on

3 of 5 stars

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I like the second half of the book better than the first half. I think this suffers from a lot of world-building problems that should have been addressed sooner in the book rather than thrown in later (and then end up looking like a last minute ditch effort to fix a plot-hole problem.) I'm not sure how I feel about this not-love-triangle-square-thing. Eh.

It has potential, and I think that is what is promising.

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  • Started reading
  • 11 November, 2014: Finished reading
  • 11 November, 2014: Reviewed