Red Queen

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Number of pages: 388

Followed by: Glass Sword

“Anyone can betray anyone.”

Victoria Aveyard made her debut with Red Queen, a novel unlike The Hunger Games or Harry Potter, but still in that realm due to the dystopian society and magic.

The world is divided by blood. Quite literally. There are those with Red blood and those with Silver blood.

Mare Barrow, one of the most amazing female characters I’ve ever become attached to, is a Red. Her family and her best friend, Kilorn Warren are also Reds. Reds are destined to serve Silvers, whether it be at war or at their hands. The Silvers are elites with supernatural powers and houses in their names.

It’s very Game of Thrones if you ask me. I love it.

Mare is a thief, and her younger sister Gisa is a seamstress apprentice for some Silvers. Mare, jealous as she is because of Gisa’s beauty and her job (which means no conscription), plans to steal from a Silver in town. Things take a turn for the worse. Gisa is injured and Mare ends up in the palace, where she discovers she is not like the rest of her family.

Mare is put on display for the king and his nobles, where she discovers an ability that no Silver has ever seen before.

Things don’t add up and Mare, the king, queen, and Cal, first in line for his father’s throne are all confused. To keep Mare’s secret, and their own, the king forces her into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his sons.

Spoiler alert: it isn’t Cal.

The book is electrifying from the first page to the last.

Mare is so much more than she seems at the beginning. There’s so much to her that it’s overwhelming at times. She’s got a fire lit inside her and not even the royal family can cool her down.

Every character in the book is complex and has beautiful development, which is what I think makes a good book great.

Aveyard does a fantastic job at creating the world Mare and Cal live in, and her plot twists are fearless. The fight scenes in the novel are incredibly detailed. Not once did I feel like I was just reading it, no, I was watching two characters battle it out in the castle. Seriously, it’s pretty epic.

She just released the title of the fourth book, so go pick up Red Queen and begin the journey. I know you’ll fall in love with Cal and root for Mare until the end.

Might as well join the Red Guard while you’re at it.