[eARC Review] Red Queen
Tuesday, February 10, 2015Title: Red Queen
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Series: Red Queen Trilogy #1
Genre: YA Dystopia, Fantasy
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Release Day: February 10, 2015
Publisher: Harper Teen
Source: eARC received by publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review
Purchase
Amazon | Indigo | TBD | Goodreads
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.
I am always weary about big hyped up books because I always go in with too high expectations and then they always fall short. But I knew I had to read Red Queen because if I didn't I would be part of the amazing discussions going around twitter right now. And I am so glad that I did read Red Queen because this story was amazing from start to finish.
Victoria is an author that I will read for the rest of my days because the way that she fabricates a world is remarkable. I loved how she meshed fantasy and dystopia into one amazing genre that almost didn't even read like them. Her world seemed all too real and the battle between Red and Silvers was a great way to show political undertones and to make for great conflict throughout the book.
Mare out main character was a great narrator for this story. She was born a Red but ultimately finds out that she is so much more. And therefore when the kingdom finds out they fond that she can be of use to them and from then on she is property of the king and queen and boy did that lead to crazy things. Mare was a strong character that yes, made some bad mistakes, but she was fierce and honorable and I loved reading her story. What I think I liked the most about her was that even through she acquired these abilities that she never knew she had, she was still the same person. Her character never changed because she was all of a sudden different because of them.
What made this story so successful in my eyes were the secondary characters. Especially Cal and Maven. These two princes were what drove this story forward, and in the end what made me drop my jar in surprise. They are very simple characters in the beginning, Cal is the future king and therefore he is the favorite and has the most power. Then there is Maven who is betrothed to Mare because of her power and because the future king cannot marry a Red. I loved how these two characters were so similar and yet so different at the same time.
3 comments
SO many mixed reviews of this book! I still have to decide what to do :/
ReplyDeleteLove the review, it's definitely a book I'm going to read soon!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I'm holding on for the sequel as well;)
ReplyDelete