Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Series: Red Queen Trilogy #3
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: February 10, 2015
Source/Format: Edelweiss (Thanks!) || e-galley
[I received this book from the publisher. This in no way affects my review.]

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.

Oh, Red Queen. While there truly is potential here in terms of story and writing, this book and I just didn’t quite hit it off. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what it is that caused my personal reservations. Perhaps, in part, it’s because it is all too easy to spot the similarities in characters and plot between this novel and many others in its genre. While many fantasy novels have similar tropes or twists, to have a novel that’s easily compared to others as I read bothered me. Maybe, in part, it has to do with the amount of information readers have to sift through from the start. It is a bit of a challenge to remember everything and everyone. But mostly, I think, my reservations lie in one simple truth: I don’t know enough about main character Mare. At least, I don’t know enough to care or be invested in her.

However, Red Queen demonstrates its merits in a couple of other ways. There is the world-building, which is a mishmash of simple concepts (like Reds and Silvers and their history) and more complex nuances (sub-types of Silvers, various motives and goal from different characters). And there is that magical latter third! It contains some intense moments and unexpected twists, which hooked me more than anything in the first 2/3. While it still wasn’t enough to make me fall in love with this story, it definitely made me curious about the sequel. Though it won’t be a priority read, I’m still willing to give it a shot – and having it definitively define my opinion on the series overall.

So, you might ask: what’s your official recommendation for Red Queen? Well, it’s quite simple: if the premise intrigues you, give it a shot! There are plenty of readers I know who really liked it, so the misgivings I have might be simply an individual case. And the fact is, in spite of my misgivings, something about Red Queen has caught my attention enough to make me consider giving the sequel a shot – and that’s no small thing.

How do you feel when a main character has more than one choice romantically?

Ah, the dreaded love shape. Whether it's a triangle, square or some other shape, it's always interesting to read a book where there happens to be more than one potential/actual love interest for the main character. Now, I'm not necessarily against love shapes, but I do tend to dislike when I feel like they're not well done or too contrived. If it makes sense to me that the main character is torn between her feelings (feelings that exist for logical reasons, mind you), then I'm inclined to let her attraction to more than one person slide. But if I feel like one member of the shape is just tossed in unnecessarily or there's no good reason to like or love that person, well, then I'm not a fan.