Review: "Red Queen" by Victoria Aveyard

Book 8/50 for 2015
☕☕☕.5

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian
Series or standalone? Series
Pages: 383
I read the: UK paperback
Began: March 26th, 2015 // Finished: April 1st, 2015
Where can I buy this? Here! (via thebookdepository)
Goodreads: Right here!
First Sentence: "I hate First Friday."
Favourite quote: "Many things led to this day, for all of us. A forgotten son, a vengeful mother, a brother with a long shadow, a strange mutation. Together, they've written a tragedy." (pg. 355)

Synopsis:

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?





This book seriously deserves the hype that surrounds it. With a simple, yet gripping, writing style, Victoria Aveyard truly makes you travel to Norta. 
The main character, Mare Barrow, an utter Katniss-like figure tries to overthrow a whole government. However, she's playing a game of lies and Mare knows that anyone can betray anyone. I am honestly in awe of how much of a good of a novel this was for a debut novelist. 

Everything, from the beginning to the end, was close to perfection. However, the reason why I gave it a 3.5 out of 5 is because the world seemed underdeveloped and the ending was a bit predictable for me. 
Confession: I kind of maybe spoiled myself. I don't know. It's not my fault. While I was reading, the book slipped out of my hands and when I caught it, it opened on the last page and I read the two last sentences ._. But, that has nothing to do with the fact that I predicted who was going to betray who. It was kind of obvious.

In general, I didn't connect to the characters that much. When something good happened I was like 'ah, how nice' and when something bad happened I was like 'oh, bummer'. I hope that changes in the next books. 
Concerning, the romance... well, there was no romance. Or at least, it seemed like that. The author truly tried to make it as 'light' as she could. And that's one of my favourite things about Red Queen. The supposed romantic triangle, square, hexagon, thing, was under-toned so the actual plot and the beauty of Mare as a character could shine through.

All in all I enjoyed it, and I definitely recommend it to you if you're into fantasy, dystopian, kingdoms and kick-ass powers!


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*WARNING* This next part of my review contains spoilers!! 


Okay, so I assume you've read the book. 

As I said above, I knew Maven was going to be the bad guy since like half way through the book. There was no obvious villain and that just doesn't happen in ya. He was too different from his mother, too perfect. And my suspicions were confirmed in the scene where Elara makes Cal kill the king. 
I really -really- dislike Elara. She's a true monster, a true villain. But, I'd really like to learn how she came to be that way in the next books. 

So, who am I rooting for concerning Mare's love life? Well. At first, I rooted for Cal. He was sweet, kind, a prince. But after what happened between them, all the betrayal and lies, nothing can happen. Now, if Mare were to end up with someone, I would like it to be Kilorn, because, come on. He's the perfect boyfriend (I sound like such a girlie girl omg) and he would be good for Mare too. 
However, I strongly hope that she doesn't end up with someone by the end of the series. I don't know. I just think that would be the best ending. 

However, as every ya book, it's similar to another ya book. I was kind of expecting that, so I didn't have my hopes very high. But the book proved me wrong. Even though, it seems like a mix of the Hunger Games, the Selection (I haven't read this series yet, but that's what I've heard) and it has a confusing love triangle-thing, it isn't at all like that. Red Queen is a whole new story of its own and I was really glad I read it. 

                                The plot twist had me like

                              (Even though, I kind of predicted it)



xox

Helen