Red Queen ♥ Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen
Victoria Aveyard

• Publisher: HarperTeen 
• (February 10, 2015)
• Genre: Fantasy
• Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Nobles
• Source: Personal Purchase
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• Synopsis: 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.
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• 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.
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• Red Queen is the most hyped novel right now, I really did want to like this novel as the concept was rather unique and different, well, it was until I read a similar novel called Red Rising..  Mare Barrow is a red-blooded, thief, and she resides in the village - however, she is discovered and is chosen to serve the king. We learn that she has supernatural abilities of her own, only people with silver blood have supernatural abilities. Well.. apparently, Mare has a combination of both red and silver blood! Not literally though, her blood is still actually red, however, she has supernatural abilities like the Silver elite. Her journey is just getting started afterwards.

•  I wouldn't consider this a dystopian novel, the government is corrupt and divides the people with it's selection with blood, but supernatural abilities? This is more of a fantasy novel. Red Queen sounded like an average read when I first began to read it - I actually skimmed a lot of the pages. This has a cliche concept of the ordinary girl who somehow is special. Later, she sets out to save the world, and now everyone wants a piece of her. I do like cliche sometimes if the author can pull it off. However, the story didn't impress me. It didn't offer me anything unique about this novel, as I was reading it - I kept wondering I've read this before then it clicked. It reminds me of the Selection, and the concept of the red blood and rebellion reminded me of the series Red Rising. Both of the titles itself are about revolution, why red though? I like purple.

• I did like the character of the protagonist Mare Barrow.. for the most part. I did love her character when she's with her family. I thought she was strong, courageous, and quite hard headed sometimes. I did like that she fights for what she believes is right, although, she should re-think some of her choices more than once. She trusts people too easily. The romance was sweet, and I think this is actually the first book where I actually liked both the male characters. It does have a love triangle, but it's kept light and not extreme. Sometimes, the romance felt like a four square which was annoying .. Yes, don't ask. I couldn't decide who I thought she should end up with(like I have any say in it), I'm glad Mare does make her choice, although, it's not yet her true choice yet. I think love triangles are getting better in YA novels now, but I still dislike most of them.

• The fantasy aspect of Red Queen was amazing - I could literally imagine what was happening. This could make a good fantasy movie, I would really like to see the fantasy part live - the action was intense, and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. The power elements reminded me a bit of X-men. The actual plot of the novel is what fell short for me -  I did enjoy the romance part of the novel, but I felt it was taking away from the actual action and plot. I thought the plot was slow and it bothered me .. a lot. The people planned, and planned of what they would do to rebel - I skimmed at that part, I needed MORE reasonable action. I didn't think the rivalry between Mare and Evangeline was necessary. I'm so over girls fighting one another just because they're jealous. It reminds me of high school drama. I don't like skimming in novels, it makes me lose interest in the actual book then. I did however finish the book, the last 20% of the novel is the BEST part of Red Queen. It's what saved the book for me, otherwise it would've been a big fail for me. 

• Overall, I didn't love this novel, I am disappointed in it; it is an overrated novel. Maybe my expectations are too high.. but I like quality, and I can't help comparing it to some of the books of the past. It's as if it's a combination of all the novels I've read before, my rating is kind of generous, I wanted to give this a one at first. However, I thought about it and looked into the good as well - I liked the romance, fantasy/action, and the concept. I'm intrigued enough to see what happens next in the trilogy due to the stellar ending. Is Red Queen worth checking out? If you happen to like the Selection series, this would probably appeal to you - If you liked Red Rising, it probably won't. If you haven't read either series, then I could suggest checking this out for that epic ending alone. I'm not sure where I would fall, since I didn't fully like either one - yep I'm always the odd ball out *hides* although, I never finished Red Rising, but I'll give it another try now. I liked the original idea of Red Queen better in Red Rising.

Shukran for reading this! Leave your blog links in the comments & I'll be sure to check them out & follow :) Stay in tuned pretty creatures..

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” —Nora Ephron 

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