Red Queen

4.4 | 33,529 ratings

Price: 20.47

Last update: 12-23-2024

About this item

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, 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.

Tawney

X-men meets Hunger Games. An intense ride you can't stop unlit the book is finished!

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2015

Red Queen is a book that resembles X-Men meets Hunger Games. A dystopian fantasy world that draws readers into an adventure of Reds and Silvers on the verge of war. At first glance we have a gorgeous cover with a bloody crown. It would definitely make a great movie poster for the upcoming movie! This cover draws the reader’s eye but what lies inside is an action pact adventure that won’t let the reader put down the book. There was a lot of hype around this book and for good reason too, it’s just that good! It smashed all my expectations and gave me a wonderful read that makes me yearn for the second book. I bow to the talented Victoria because it’s going to be pure torture waiting for book 2.

Our main character Mare Barrow lives in the Stilts, a dilapidated muddy village of Reds that serves the Silvers. In this world people are divided by blood. The Silvers live their lives with luxury because of the powers they wield and the color of their silver blood. Due to the fact that they have red blood with no powers, they serve the Silvers. Mare’s brothers fight in a war that never ends. The kingdom of Norta is at war with Lakeland. To make things better she steals to give her family food and electricity. But her time to fight in the war is drawing near as her conscription date arrives. Mare has come to terms with it, that is until her friend Kilorn is being sent to war. She tries to save him anyway she can but soon she finds herself in the palace as a servant until one fateful night it all changes. Mare discovers she has a gift too, a power like the Silvers. Problem is that she isn’t a Silver. The King and Queen attempt to hide Mare and give her a new identity as a long lost Silver Princess.

Yep, she is now a princess and engaged to the second Prince, Maven. She has to train and learn the ways of the silvers and harness her powers. To make matters worse, or a lot better if you think about it, two princes, Maven and Cal, via for her affection. She has enemies who hate her, one in particular is Evangeline, a silver who can manipulate metal…can we say Magneto’s kin?! A rebellion is rising among the Reds and they want Mare to join. They call themselves the Scarlett Guard, revolutionaries who want to change the whole nobility process. Mare has to deceive the world that she is Silver while deceiving the Silver’s for the Scarlett Guard. What’s a girl to do?

Let’s first talk about the abilities. I love the powers. I’m an X-men fan and the ability to control things is fantastic. In Victoria’s world you have the Silver’s who have X-men esque powers. Each one has their own ability. There are the strongarms, tellky, whispers, magnetron, and nymphs just to name a few with one badass lightning girl.

Mare is a wonderful character. She’s headstrong, heartfelt and cares for everyone. Everything she does is in good intention. She wants to protect her people, the Reds, but also finds there are some Silvers she wants to protect too, some that she has grown close to. Mare is so outspoken that I just love that characteristic about her. I couldn’t wait to see what snide remarks she had next for the Silvers. She starts to see both worlds and the repercussions that occur in them because she lives in both worlds. There’s many times she falls down with failure but Mare is so strong she gets back up fighting!

The secondary characters were just as interesting, especially the two princes. There is Maven, Mare’s fiancé, and there’s Cal, the Crown Prince. There really wasn’t much of a love triangle between them. Which I’m glad because I loath love triangles. In reality they don’t exist. Cal wants to protect his people but sneaks out to see how the Reds live. This is where he meets Mare, who pickpockets him. For the would be king, Cal keeps his distance and observes. He keeps to himself but show’s his concern for Mare and his brother in the ways he helps them. He’s brave and strong. Maven is a kind prince who’s easy going and lives in the shadow of Cal. He takes it in stride and helps Mare anyway he can. There are other characters such as Kilron, the king and queen and Evangeline that bring this world to life. You can’t miss them because they spark some anger or concern within you when it comes to their association with Mare.

The world building is fantastic! Victoria’s writing flows with the action and every scene is breathtakingly vivid. Her descriptions puts the reader right into the story. There’s action, suspense, and slight romance that makes an edge of your seat read that you can’t put down. Victoria helps the reader delve into her world with the right amount of information, no info dumping here people. The twist and turns are epic, some you see coming and others just hit you in the gut with surprise. POW! One thing I do hope is the next book is the backstory regarding The Ruins and The Wash. There is some backstories I hope Victoria explores because it’s so interesting in the first book!

Should you read it? Yes! A phenomenal debut from from Victoria! X-men meets Hunger games with action intense scenes that make you turn each page swiftly. You won’t want to put this book down so come see what you’re missing!

Dennis Solomon

Extremely Adventurous, Exciting, and Suspenseful!

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2018

This book, while a simple read, was fantastic. It was descriptive and had advanced plot development, but little character development. It went into the depths of a segregated society and how the hierarchy in the story was corrupted(tropes). The author described the hardships of the lower-class and the glossed over views of the upper class. The wealthier classes were oblivious to the proletariat and showed that those treated poorly were thrust aside and killed to provide a sense of order and fear(tropes). The author did a fantastic job illustrating her ideas, opinions, and futuristic thoughts throughout the book. She created her own original and new world, which was absolutely mind-boggling. It wasn't an average fantastical story. While the poor protagonist is thrust into a world of riches and fame, it seems more of a nightmare than a fantasy. I enjoyed the fact that it showed this segregated world through a lower class citizen as later in the series I will see how her thoughts and ideas develop on this society that she now knows very little about. It puts a twist on everyday fairy tails and adds suspense, mystery, and adventure. The two princes in the book, while well-rounded, changed opinions and were different enough to keep me guessing on each characters' true intentions. I also found that there were many different villains, each with different intentions. The novel showed that not everything was black and white, that there were in-betweens on different issues. Some people did the wrong thing, but for the right reasons and some people did the right things for the wrong reasons. Almost every character red in order to protect their secret or get what they wanted. While it was a dark view on life, it provided depth in the plot. The action scenes are fast paced and exciting. Most of them involve explosions and fast pacing moves, which keep the action at the front of the story and the description in the background. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in fantasy, dystopian, or even futuristic genres. There were multiple cliches and tropes, but then again, who doesn't like a classic cliche or two? TheOne of the only times a cliche doesn't fit into a story is when the writing is of poor quality, but that was simply not the case in this book. Instead, the author may have overused the cliches and tropes. The extreme detail the author uses to paint a picture of each scene is absolutely breathtaking. There was also a love triangle that progressed through the book (or square, depending on how you look at it). It was well developed and caused later events in the story to advance and deepen. Now, after talking about all of the positives of the book, I would like to mention a few things that I noticed while reading it. The book lacked character development. It felt as thought the protagonist/hero was the same person throughout the entire book. She hadn't changed at all, which made it hard to relate to her or connect with. Mare had three love interests in the book. It felt as though every man in the book was falling head-over-heels for her, which was cliche and unsatisfying. In some parts of the book, areas could have been more discriptive and less broad. For example, the author says "I'm standing on a balcony a full ten seconds before I realize it's raining, washing me clean of my boiling anger." I felt that the author could have described the feeling of the rain or the character's anger, but it was lost in the cliche. I also felt as the the book relied on tropes for the plot line; a poor girl who turns out to be special and powerful is thrusted into a wealthy life full of secrets and love, a prince is deeply saddened about being royal and yearns to be normal, a world is segregated and separated into classes and needs to be overthrown by a rebellion of the lower class, etc. Once the author had started to include multiple tropes, it began more of just obvious writing than a possible extension of other things. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading (High Fantasy or Dystopian) and descriptive authors.I would wish for more character and writing depth, but I definitely enjoyed reading the novel. It was a fantastic book and I am ecstatic to read the sequel.

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