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4 stars! This is a reread review and will contain no spoilers!
Summary:
This is the first book in the Red Queen trilogy by Victoria Aveyard. In this world, you’re blood defines your class. Red bloods are basically slaves to a Silver elite that is stronger and superior with special abilities. Silver’s have powers that range from elemental abilities to mind control to speed or strength; however their powers don’t stray from the powers passed down through the different royal/noble/common houses. The ordinary Red’s live in the slums and do the hard work that keeps cities running. If not, they get conscripted and have to fight at the war front. Mare Barrow is a girl from the Stilts, a small poor village. She is a thief and she is unemployed, so she knows she’s going to be conscripted. But that all changes when, through extraordinary circumstances, she’s taken from her home to work for the King. During her first shift working as a servant, Mare literally falls into powers that her blood tells her she’s not supposed to have; she has the ability to control lightening. In order to keep the monarchy from crumbling, the King and Queen decide to hide her in plain sight as a lost-Silver princess soon to wed the second prince. They keep a close eye on her as her existence threatens the Silver supremacy. Knowing this, Mare still rebels in her own way helping the Scarlet Guard to bring down the Sliver regime.
Thoughts:
This is my second time reading this book and this time around I decided to give it 4 stars, but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it any less. Even during round two, I found this book to be completely engrossing because it’s so fast-paced and suspenseful. The betrayals were heart-wrenching. The lies made me want to scream in certain characters faces so they could see the truth. The twists and the turns kept coming and coming in the last few chapters. Let me tell you, I LOVE these characters a lot. I love how they’ve grown in this book and how I can see they’ll grow even more in the coming books. I love the magic system, the world, and how this book is set up to expand more in the next books. This book may not have the most original plot, but the writing is what makes this particular adventure so fun! Aveyard knows how to keep your attention rapt.
*I read this book using Audible! The narrator, Amanda Dolan, did a really good job with telling this story as well as the different accents, but I wish she could have done the different voices of the characters a little bit better to distinguish them. I do like how she made Maven's voice though, a little girly like he hasn't hit puberty yet.*
Plot: (warning this may be long)
Like I said before, this book has a pretty standard plot line. What makes this book so interesting to me is the writing and the magic. The Silvers are so used to their powers, there’s never a change in the different types of abilities. There’s more than one water manipulated, there’s more than one strong arm. The Reds power is unique. I like how the Reds abilities are extremely distinguishable because no one else will have that power. There is only one lightening girl. And then we have awesome superpowers coupled with fast-paced, suspenseful writing plus witty sarcasm and a complex romantic subplot. I’m sold. We know Mare is engaged to Maven at the beginning of this book because of the synopsis and I bet you can tell there will no doubt be a love triangle. I actually liked this love triangle. My favorite character is probably Cal, but Mare was winning me over in the end. The romance in this book is not always at the forefront, but when it came to those scenes I was squealing in delight because they were SO CUTE or so heated!
On another note, I think that the funniest part of this book is that these Silver’s that are parading Mare around the palace as a lost-silver princess are literally making their own end. They are training her to be cunning whether they know it or not. They are training her to be lethal while she practices and harnesses her powers. It’s kinda funny to me that they pretty much built her to be so powerful.
Now here comes everything “I’m hoping we get to know more in the next book.” First, I of course have to address the world building. Determining a time period for this book is weird, but I think Victoria mentioned that we will get a better understanding of it in books to come. It’s dystopian in a way, but you can’t tell how far after our time the this begins. They have modern technology, but other things that are considered modern, they’re still inventing or reinventing in this world. I don’t know it’s difficult to explain. Then, there’s a way going on that the Reds are getting conscripted for and you don’t even know why they’re fighting this war. They mention who Norta is fighting against, but why? Or for what? With the way this book was set up, it’s predictable to see where book two could go and how the world is definitely going to expand. I hope that we get to have a lot more aspects of the war and different countries flushed out.
Second there’s the Scarlet Guard. They are a really sneaky group. I believe all we really know about them is that they’re a Red based resistance group and they want to overthrow the King. Granted we only know so much because we're in Mare’s mind, but I think Mare should have gotten more information before getting herself involved with the group’s “plans."
Aside from those things, the ending was amazing. Red Queen is known for that big plot twist that people always talk about. I believe the first time I read this book, I hinted to myself what the big plot twist was going to be though I didn’t believe it until it happened. Even knowing what it was going to be for sure this time, I was still reeling during the reveal. The emotions were high, I was scared for the characters lives, it was getting crazy. Then it gets even crazier after that all the way up until the epilogue! Remember, “Anyone can betray anyone.”
And I know you won’t forget it because it’s repeated so many times I lost count. There were other lines that were being repeated quite a lot, and I don’t know why, but when certain phrases are being thrown at me too many times, I just get irked.
Characters:
The characters and villains are so great in this book!
Mare really knows herself and her strengths. She handles herself really well and you can tell she thinks through her decisions (even when some lead her down he wrong path). I like how she has a sort of “mama bear” quality to her that makes her want to protect anything and everything she loves.
Cal is a born and breed soldier and I love me a man that can be loyal, honorable, and loving all in one. He’s the type of guy that pretty much wears his heart on his sleeve and I like that vulnerability about him.
There’s Maven. He’s the second prince. He’s a sweetie and he’s perfect. He’s Elara’s son. He’s Mare’s betrothed. It’s better if you get to know him reading the book to really understand him.
Kilorn I can’t decide if I like him 100%. Sometimes he acts rashly and sometimes he’s being a good friend. It just depends on the situation.
Farley is one heck of a captain. She is one for the dramatics and that quality in her sparks laughter in me when she’s doing one her big reveals.
Julian is the scholar, the one that sits in the background and guides. I like those types of characters in books because they’re usually the most knowledgable. I would put my money on his judgement any day.
Evangeline and Queen Elara. The biggest b*tches in this entire series. I have a feeling that their reckoning will be extra satisfying when it comes, if it comes, I hope it comes. I know Mare is way more power full than Evangeline, I just wanna see them battle it out all the way to the death already.
Thanks for reading! :)