Book Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Series: Red Queen #1
Published by HarperTeen on 320
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, Young Adult
Pages: February 10th 2015
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss

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?

So I’m a little late on the bandwagon with this review but I’m sure you guys are used to it by now. There’s been a whole heap of hype surrounding Red Queen and a whole heap of positive reviews. However, I made the discovery that people who have read Red Rising tend to dislike Red Queen. Personally, I absolutely loved Red Queen. I gave it a 5 at first but after thinking about it, it came back down to a 4. Red Queen is set in a world where people with silver blood have X-Men-like abilities and they rule the world.

At the beginning, I had no idea where the book was going and it was rather slow. But then again, it was unpredictable and wonderful in this sense. We meet Mare Barrow, a Red thrown into the world of Silvers. I quite liked the main character but I haven’t fallen in love with her yet. I thought that though the character set up was rather cliché but the characters themselves weren’t. It’s the same with the storyline. A group of rebellions trying to overthrow an Evil King and Queen, princes that aren’t what they seem, bitches tryna get the crown and a hilarious sidekick. I promise that each character has a heap of depth though. It’s impossible to know who to trust.

I loved Victoria Aveyard’s writing style. I can barely believe that Red Queen is a debut novel. I loved the way her writing flowed. She captured Mare’s voice very well. However, I had some difficulty with creating an image of Mare in my head. I feel like the descriptions made a really ugly image when she was meant to be pretty. I had to try and picture her like Morgana from the Merlin TV show to have the story make sense.

Even though this review points out a bunch of negatives, I really enjoyed this book overall. The downfalls really didn’t affect me that much but I thought that it was important to point them out. I’ll have to check out Red Rising too see what all the comparison is about though. All in all, I would recommend Red Queen to anyone on the hunt for an amazing YA fantasy/dystopian book! It brings Dystopian to a whole new level. I can’t wait for the next book! It’s still untitled and coverless so I’m dying right now.

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