Release Date: February 10, 2015Publisher: HarperTeen
401 Pages
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.
Imagine a world where your status was defined by the color of your blood. I know what you're thinking, isn't all blood red? Well, no. In this world, there are the Reds and the Silvers. Reds are the workers, the poor, and seen as the lower class. Whereas, on the opposite spectrum, Silvers are seen as superior, rulers, and are more often than not, rich. And the Silvers also possess mutant like powers, allowing them to manipulate the elements around them.
17 year old Mare Barrow is a Red. Even worse, she's about to turn 18 and has no job prospects which means upon coming of age, she will be shipped off to the war where most Reds end up dead. When her best friend gets word that he's about to be shipped off, Mare decides it's time to leave. A very good thief, Mare ends up pickpocketing the wrong (or right, depending on how you look at it) persons pocket one night and suddenly finds herself working in the King's palace as a maid. It is there, during the ceremony to find the Prince a bride, that Mare discovers something about herself - she's not quite the Red she thought she was.
Turns out Mare is special, not the first of her kind, but still very rare. Now, not really knowing who to trust, Mare turns to the rebel army in hopes of bringing equality to her country. There's action, love, betrayal, murder, and secrets everywhere. I never knew who to trust and just when I thought I figured it out, something else would happen and I'd have to rethink everything I thought I knew.
I really liked Mare as the protagonist. She knew that she was in a shitty situation, but she kept constantly trying to change that. For the most part, her instincts were dead on. The things she was fooled on, I was as well. And while there was a love story, it didn't overpower the main plot.
Speaking of love story, this one kind of followed the cliched love triangle. There were two guys - princes actually - one she was betrothed to, the other saved her from her fate. Cal and Maven, brothers who are as alike as night and day. I know which one I want her with, but right now, I 'm a little concerned with where this story left off.
There were so many twists and add that to the magical quality and the cliff hanger ending and I just absolutely enjoyed this debut and cannot wait to see how everything plays out.
The world created by Aveyard was cruel and beautiful all at once. If your looking for an addictive read that is full of action and a real page turner I highly recommend picking up Red Queen.
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