Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Pages: 383
Intended Audience: Teens and mature tweens
Genre: Dystopian / Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Notes for Parents: Contains some violence.

The Inside Cover

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 itself, 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.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

This is the author’s first book, and the first in a series.

What’s good?

This dystopian, sci-fi/fantasy adventure has a lot to offer. There is a good flow (once you get past the first 100 pages – see “What isn’t good?”), and the main characters are well-drawn. The plot is simple but has twists and turns that keep things fast-paced and engaging. There are a lot of great action sequences and tension is kept taut throughout. There is plenty of romance, betrayal, danger, and adventure to make up for the fact that it’s a bit predictable.
Best Part: The twist near the end. I did not see that coming!

What isn’t good?

The cover description tells too much of the story so the first 100 pages or so are boring because the reader already knows what’s coming! I would have liked to see more world building, more character development, and more attention paid to the revolution, but perhaps these are coming in subsequent novels. There were many of the usual dystopian tropes (rich vs. poor, oppression, prince choosing bride, love triangle, etc.) which made the overall story a bit predictable, but the elements were used well enough.
Worst part: Kilorn. I felt no connection to him, or between him and Mare.

Recommendation þþþoo

Consider this three and a half checkmarks. If you mixed The Hunger Games, Divergent, Selection, Red Rising, Mean Girls, X-Men, and Game of Thrones in a pot, you would get Red Queen soup. While there’s nothing original here, it still manages to be well-paced and entertaining. Recommended.

Aveyard, Victoria. Red Queen. New York: HarperTeen, 2015.