[Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard]

"Red Queen"
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Series: Red Queen Trilogy #1
Pages: 320
Genre: YA, Dystopian
Date Published: February 10th, 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format Read: eARC provided by publisher (via Edelweiss) for honest review

---------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

-Goodreads
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Thoughts:

An Open Letter To Red Queen,

You book, are pure crack. I know that you weren't perfect and yet I can't help but love you. I want to tell everyone to read you, cause when you let go and don't look for the weirdness that pops up in you, it's the greatest adventure ever. You seem a bit like other books we've seen before and yet you feel really new at the same time. What can I say: you're crack and I need the next book now.

-The White Unicorn

Everyone read this book. The beginning is messy, but as it goes on it gets so good! Aveyard has built a world, that once you get over a few inconsistencies (that might change in the finished copy) that's full of interesting people and places. Even though Red Queen is the background book of the trilogy, it never slows down. We get handed high action from the very beginning and it only gets more intense as the novel continues on. Aveyard has mastered the twists and turns of novel writing and it's written all over this book. She pulls some plot twists that you can see coming from a mile away, but she uses those things to hide the real plot surprises within them. To be honest, my jaw hit the floor more than once.

The names are weird, but as soon as you get used to the thought that every name is weird, it seems a bit more normal. Our lead Mare is delightful. Well technically she's not, but I found myself relating to her on so many levels that I didn't mind that she wasn't supposed to be likeable. She sees the world for what it is and in the end that doesn't always end up being the best thing for her. 

This book also features a triangle of love (because I'm tired of saying the words love triangle). One girl and two princes. Their doesn't seem to be a clear winner or one that Mare should pick over the other, but lets just say that I picked right for most of the book. Maven and Cal both have issues and good features and I like the fact that Mare acknowledges those things.

The factions of blood were also really interesting. I felt like the novel was part x-men and part royalty. How can you go wrong with that. I'm excited to see what Aveyard does with the blood details and her class divide in the rest of the books. I had a few issues and felt like there were a few holes in her world building on that front, but I'm hoping that they disappear as the series continues.

Yes, this book wasn't the best or most well written book in the world, but I adored it with every fiber of my being and I know that I'll read anything else from Aveyard in the future. 

Rating:

 4 Unicorns = Close to perfect (crack book)