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 Silvara on

4 of 5 stars

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(No actual spoilers I don't think! I'm discussing the love interests a bit, but I don't think I've given anything away.)

I wasn't sure if I'd end up liking this book, but all my friends kept raving about it. I was afraid it would end up too much like The Selection, which I didn't like so much. I'm glad I finally read it! It was a lot better than I thought it would be.

I loved Mare. Her interactions with her family, as well as the Silvers were great. And the intrigue and twists! I thought she was going to end up with the crown prince, because that's how 99.9% of these stories go if a prince is met, right? And then she ends up being betrothed to Maven (his younger brother) instead. I was like, okay, well she's still going to end up with Cal because he's the crown prince, right? But then I started really liking Maven and it didn't look as much like Mare was really going to end up with Cal. Only she had some sweet moments with him, so maybe it was still possible?

But then there was also her childhood friend Kilorn, who seemed like he was crushing on Mare. And suddenly I had no idea who she was going to actually end up with! By the end of the book I'd changed my ship at least 3 times. *nods* All that said, the romance wasn't THE theme. It was mostly politics, intrigue and twists. The love bits just happened along the way.

I also really liked the magic we got to see. The Silvers can do all these really neat and scary things. Though each one only has one power, and the power tends to run in families. But they're all so arrogant and cold. They treat the Reds as beneath them, and don't care that the Reds are living in poverty. They think the Reds WANT to live that way, not giving any thought to the fact that the Reds live that way because the Silvers MAKE them live that way.

Which of course then leads to the rebels. I liked the leader, and I really liked how the techs managed to fool the Silvers about some things.

I loved Mare's little sister, and I just knew there would be some really awesome twist with her brother. So that didn't surprise me at all when it happened.

So the short/condensed version of this review: If you haven't read this yet, you should. I can hardly wait til the next book comes out.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 31 January, 2016: Finished reading
  • 31 January, 2016: Reviewed