Series: Red Queen Series #1
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Date Published: February 10, 2015
Genre: Dystopian
Pages: 400 (Hardcover)
Age Range: 14+
Summary:
Graceling meets The Selection in debut novelist Victoria Aveyard's sweeping tale of seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king's palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?
Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood--those with common, Red blood serve the Silver- blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.
To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play 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 everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard--a growing Red rebellion--even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.
Review:
I'm pretty sure that people would kill to get their hands on this book. I have heard nothing except glowing praise, and that kind of scared me away from this book. Very rarely do so many different people love such a book so much- so passionately. But, I grabbed this book at the first opportunity, set on reading it to find out what all the hype was about. Aaaaand, I really just don't see it. Don't get me wrong, some things were great, but they were really scarce in comparison to the not-so-good.
The plot was interesting, but it felt so old and done before. A girl doesn't realize she's a special snowflake until she finds out in some wildly public way. Then, we have the ensuing cover-up act, and the love interests all vying for this selfish, seemingly perfect, doesn't-know-she's-gorgeous, bland girl. Don't get me wrong, I did like the plot, I just didn't find it as original and fresh as everybody else seemed to.
The characters kind of bled into one another for me. Mare was...just kind of meh. She wasn't bad, but nothing really made her stick out from the hordes of other female book characters that I have read about over the years. She was a SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE that didn't understand her true specialness. And then we had our princes- Cal and Maven. First off, I do love their names, and Cal is probably my favorite character out of them all. He was sweet and funny, but he was also... preoccupied with Evangeline for a lot of the book. Kilorn kind of existed? I liked him, but he also got on my nerves, with his stupid decisions and reckless behavior. Maven... he was... there? I liked him around the middle of the book, but my feelings for him kind of ebbed away, and I was left with this great ambivalence. I just couldn't be bothered to care. And Evangeline. I had a hate-love relationship with her. She's a great villain, but I'm supposed to hate her. Kind of like I love Bellatrix from Harry Potter, but just because she is so evil.
Let's discuss the plot twist. That plot twist was actually very well done. It was perfect wrench in the plans with an amazing execution, and my mouth actually dropped open. That being said, it helps me settle on my feelings for two certain characters, and that feeling is hate. Immense hate. Seriously, I cannot fathom why some people still ship Mare and... a certain male lead. That plot twist though! *applause* Brilliantly done, Mrs. Aveyard. And bringing a character back into the plot from the grave... I'm still bowing down to that genius.
One more thing, our love pentagon? Square? Octagon? That needs to go. Mare is going to end up with Cal. End of story.
Review:
I'm pretty sure that people would kill to get their hands on this book. I have heard nothing except glowing praise, and that kind of scared me away from this book. Very rarely do so many different people love such a book so much- so passionately. But, I grabbed this book at the first opportunity, set on reading it to find out what all the hype was about. Aaaaand, I really just don't see it. Don't get me wrong, some things were great, but they were really scarce in comparison to the not-so-good.
The plot was interesting, but it felt so old and done before. A girl doesn't realize she's a special snowflake until she finds out in some wildly public way. Then, we have the ensuing cover-up act, and the love interests all vying for this selfish, seemingly perfect, doesn't-know-she's-gorgeous, bland girl. Don't get me wrong, I did like the plot, I just didn't find it as original and fresh as everybody else seemed to.
The characters kind of bled into one another for me. Mare was...just kind of meh. She wasn't bad, but nothing really made her stick out from the hordes of other female book characters that I have read about over the years. She was a SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE that didn't understand her true specialness. And then we had our princes- Cal and Maven. First off, I do love their names, and Cal is probably my favorite character out of them all. He was sweet and funny, but he was also... preoccupied with Evangeline for a lot of the book. Kilorn kind of existed? I liked him, but he also got on my nerves, with his stupid decisions and reckless behavior. Maven... he was... there? I liked him around the middle of the book, but my feelings for him kind of ebbed away, and I was left with this great ambivalence. I just couldn't be bothered to care. And Evangeline. I had a hate-love relationship with her. She's a great villain, but I'm supposed to hate her. Kind of like I love Bellatrix from Harry Potter, but just because she is so evil.
Let's discuss the plot twist. That plot twist was actually very well done. It was perfect wrench in the plans with an amazing execution, and my mouth actually dropped open. That being said, it helps me settle on my feelings for two certain characters, and that feeling is hate. Immense hate. Seriously, I cannot fathom why some people still ship Mare and... a certain male lead. That plot twist though! *applause* Brilliantly done, Mrs. Aveyard. And bringing a character back into the plot from the grave... I'm still bowing down to that genius.
One more thing, our love pentagon? Square? Octagon? That needs to go. Mare is going to end up with Cal. End of story.
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