*ARC* Red Queen - Review

Red Queen (Red Queen Trilogy #1)

By: Victoria Aveyard

Expected Publication: February 10th, 2015 by HarperTeen

400 pages

Source: Edelweiss ARC from publisher

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction

(Goodreads / Amazon)

Summary:

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.

MY REVIEW:
This is one fantasy story that has a lot of details early on. Sometimes the amount of such detail can overwhelm me to the point of losing interest in the story itself. Coupled with the fact that I had a lot of unplanned distractions while reading this, it took me longer to finish than it should've.

I liked the world that was created by Victoria Aveyard. It's unique and unique ideas for stories are always refreshing. In our story, told from the POV of our heroin, Mare Barrow, we learn that humans were mutated to the point of gaining superhuman powers. And now many years later from what used to be "normal" the people are divided into 2 groups: the Silvers and the Reds. The Reds are the humans with no superhuman powers and their blood still bleeds red. They are the servants to the Silvers and are treated inferior. The Silvers bleed silver blood; they are the government and the military leaders; they are the wealthy; they are the protected; they are powerful and they are feared. Even among the Silvers there are varying degrees of powers and rankings.

Mare finds herself being given a job in the palace, serving the royal family, which for a Red is about the best you can hope for. It's either finding a job serving a Silver in various occupations or be shipped off to war at 18 years old and more likely than not, die on the battlefield. But Mare discovers she too has a power and is then forced to hide her power among the Silvers by pretending to be the daughter of a Silver royal military commander. What she doesn't realize is that she has just entered the most deadly of chess games.

Mare is a strong character. I think many will enjoy that aspect of the story. This is a YA novel, and is 100% "clean". I enjoyed and appreciated that very much in a world of YA fiction that often times is more suited for 17+ year olds. Finally a book I could recommend to my 11 year old to read and feel good about the content.

I waivered between a 3.5 and 4 star rating, but in the end I felt that if I hadn't had so many distractions while reading this book I would've given it 4 stars without a second doubt. So that's my final rating.

If you love fantasy stories with great world building, strong characters and excellent plot twists, then I would highly recommend Red Queen to you!

Favorite Quotes:
I'm special. I'm an accident. I'm a lie. And my life depends on maintaining the illusion.

In the fairy tales, the poor girl smiles when she becomes a princess. Right now, I don't know if I'll ever smile again.

"Thinking all Silvers are evil is just as wrong as thinking all Reds are inferior."

Language Rating: 0
Mature/Graphic Content Rating: 0
Final Rating: 4 stars