Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Book Length: 400 pages

Release date: February 2015

Content notes: YA 9th grade up (violence)

“I'm a Red girl in a sea of Silvers and I can't afford to feel sorry for anyone, least of all the son of a snake.” 

Synopsis:

Mare Barrow lives in a world where people are divided into two groups: People with silver blood who have incredible super powers and are in control of everything AND then there are people with plain old red blood who have to survive the best they can. Mare has red blood and helps her family by scrounging and even stealing. Then, right in front of the “Silvers,” Mare discovers that she has a powerful ability too. The queen decides to take Mare into the royal household and hides her in plain sight disguised as a Silver. The King and Queen need to figure out what to do about the situation. Mare hates the Silvers but she is now living right with them. Maybe that will help her in her quest to help the “Reds” rebel agains the “Silvers.”

My thoughts:

This book is pure fantasy and happens in an interesting setting completely built by Aveyard. I always love a book with a great setting and this one has it. Also, there is so much action I could hardly put the book down. I really like Mare because she is devoted to her family and she has a big heart. However, she becomes a little conflicted while living among the silver blooded people especially when it comes to the two silver-blooded princes who both are infatuated with her. These two princes create the love triangle that often happens in YA books, and they have problems of their own. The older prince, heir to the throne, seems to recognize the injustice in their society and he sympathizes with the “Reds.” The younger prince has a problem with being the “not as good-strong-confident-able” younger brother. Also, Mare has this wonderful silver teacher that she grows very fond of (I as a reader like him too).  It becomes hard for her to decide who are the bad silver people and who are the really bad silver people. There are some twist and turns that surprised me and kept me guessing.  When the book ended I was ready to read the second book as soon as possible.  

There are 4 books in this series. The fourth book should come out May 2018.