Synopsis:
Mare Barrow’s world is divided by
blood—those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds,
destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them
nearly gods. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her
best friend is conscripted into the army, she gambles everything to win his
freedom. A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself, where, in front
of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a power of her own—an ability she
didn’t know she had.
Except . . . her blood is Red.
To hide this impossibility, the
king forces her into 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 her
new position to aid the Scarlet Guard—the leaders of a Red rebellion. Her
actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against
prince and Mare against her own heart.
From debut author Victoria
Aveyard comes a lush, vivid fantasy series where loyalty and desire can tear
you apart and the only certainty is betrayal.
Amazon | B&N | iTunes
Review:
Review:
Graceling meets The Selection?
More like Red Rising in the world of Graceling, and some of the characters
are from a lot of different YA books.
There is no The Selection bit in this novel, except the royalties and the
choosing for the next queen. However, where the prince in The Selection is allowed to take his own decisions into
consideration, that is not the case in Red
Queen, not at all. The next queen is already chosen the crown prince, even
before the Queenstrial has begun. There really is more Red Rising in here than The
Selection. I normally don’t compare books by their similarities, but I just
can’t help it with this one.
I didn’t feel that invested in
the characters, but Mare Barrow has an interesting mind. I like the way Victoria
Aveyard wrote Mare, though when it came to the other characters, not so much. Mare’s
“voice” has a poetic feel to it in the monologue. I enjoyed reading her thoughts,
which gives off a dark vibe. I didn’t connect with the other characters, and
most of them blurred into each other until I cannot see the differences in them
at all.
The plot was appealing and
intriguing, but I don’t know what to feel about it. I can say it’s good, but it
lacks the action and intensity I am looking for. Let me tell you that this book
did not make me smile even once, and the dark vibe in everything that’s
happening built my anticipation for what’s coming next. But it just keeps
building and the only action I saw—which is in the climax, about more or less
ten pages—is not enough to do that anticipation justice. It felt like I was
anticipating an exciting, adrenaline-filled hundred-foot drop but instead the
drop was only five feet. That was the only disappointing thing in this book for
me, but it feels like one too many.
The thing I hate the most about a
book series is the questions it leaves me. I have so many, and I can’t complain
that they’re unanswered because there are sequels that have yet to come and those
answers might be in there. I hate it that I can’t rant in my reviews about the
plot holes and confusing things—like that thing with Shade—because it might be
deliberate and I might see why in the coming sequels. I hate it that I have to
wait years before I can complain about what I think are plot holes.
The thing I liked best in here is
the twists and turns of events, which totally deceived me. I love it that
Aveyard switched the readers’ focus in other things so we cannot think much
about the coming twists, which then made it unexpected. I love it that she
wrote in the way that the readers will think what she wants us to think, so we
will all be surprised when she drops the bomb. I love it that even though I
felt like Red Queen is not too
action-packed and intense for my taste, I still like it because the way
Victoria Aveyard wrote it is beautiful and it didn’t give me a choice but to
like it.
I would have liked to see more back-story
about the Reds and Silvers and their abilities and the war—more than the more
or less five pages of explanation we were given. This books is all about moving
forward and thinking of the future, like the history matters very little. I
also did not like that.
Red Queen felt like a mix of several different YA books, but it has
its own charm that will hook you into the story and never let go even after you’ve
turned the last page. It’s a novel where you will count every day left before
the sequel comes out. It’s a book that demands to be read.
~ Zee
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