Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard (Cat: Book 75)
I will not lie and say I was excited to read this book. Honestly, before picking it up, I’d heard so many mixed reviews, many of which said it didn’t live up to it’s hype. All in all I’m glad I heard those things because it meant I wasn’t expecting to love this book and yet it managed to win me over anyway.
Red Queen is, I would say, a kind of fantasy dystopian novel. Sure, we have all the marks of classic fantasy - magical powers, unrecognisable country names, a monarchy - but it also has the very unique feel of a rebuilt world and a dystopic patriarchy. There’s also a perpetual war going on and making everyone’s life miserable, and very much in control, which reminded me hugely of Orwell’s 1984. The premise of the book is that there exists two blood types in the world; reds and silvers. Red’s are just like me and you, human in all the senses that we know, and they are enslaved by the silvers. Silver blooded ‘people’ have powers, some control fire like the King and his sons, other’s can control minds, or metal, or heal... think X men and you’ll be on the right track. The lives of red people have become unbearable, with all 18 year olds sent to the war front to die, and everyone else living in destitute poverty. A revolutionary group named the Scarlet Guard has blossomed in this climate, calling for equality, and not afraid to spill silver blood in the process.
Within this tumultuous backdrop, we have our heroine, Mare. Mare is an ordinary red, jobless and expected to be sent off to the front in a matter of months. She steals money and goods to help her family as she feels she is no goodfor anything else. One night she tries to steal from a man who catches her and takes pity, giving her money willingly. The next day she is called to the palace and offered a job as servant; she soon realises the man who took pity on her is the crown prince, Cal. Mare’s first task as a servant is to wait on the noble houses during the Queenstrial. The Queenstrial is a tradition in which all the noble houses are permitted to enter a daughter to perform for the royal family in the hopes that they will be chosen as the future queen. These performances are far from dainty, valuing the strongest amonth the only. In the last performance, Evangeline (who controls metal), pulls one of the metal boxes belonging to a noble house into the air. Mare, serving in that box, falls to what should have been her demise - into the electrical globe surrounding the area to protect the audience. Instead, Mare harnesses the electricity, shooting lightening in a way that no red blood should be able. Mare is both red blooded, but gifted like the silvers. And she is dangerous.
This display in the arena starts a whole sequence of events in which Mare is disguised as the lost daughter of a silver war hero and pronounced the future bride to the second prince, Maven. She is used as a figurehead to control the reds, and taught to be a lady, and to control her lightening. More importantly she becomes the centre of a crazily complicated net of lies and betrayals - firstly by being forced to become a fake silver and manipulate those of her blood, but also in a mixed up love plot between both brothers, and then in the Scarlet Guards own terrorist plot against the crown. One thing can certainly be said for this plot and that is that it escalates very quickly. Sometimes too quickly - it does seem rather absurd at points, but then it is a fantasy land so anything can happen.
Mare is an interesting choice for a heroine. Sure, we have that typical YA line of she’s DIFFERENT to everyone else so she’s SPECIAL, but she’s also young and ignorant and often slow of the uptake. She’s also easily used. But then again, everything isso complicated in the court. Cal has been a confusing character to me - to start with I liked him, and then I didn’t, and then I did again, and I think good things will happen with him in the next book. He is loyal to his beliefs throughout, and I do believe that he loves Mare, and it was extremely difficult for him to balance his love of her and duty to his family throughout the book. It was a lot easier to like Maven (until it wasn’t), because he was made to seem so likable. He was revolutionary - he didn’t believe in silver supremacy and he was kind and supportive of Mare and her struggles. Of course this was all an act. His betrayal in the last few chapters was cold and completely unexpected. I applaud Aveyard for how smoothly she made that happen. The queen is a complete and utter bitch and I totally hope she has a long and painful death in the next book, not only for what she did to Mare, Cal, and the king, but also for how she moulded Maven and poisoned his mind. He could probably have been saved from becoming the evil he did, if only there was someone to take him under their wing earlier. Then, of course, there’s Kilorn, the strong, caring, red blooded boy and Mare’s lifetime friend. You have to love him really. There’s definitely some sexual tension between him and Mare also so it’ll be intersting to see how that plays out and who, if anyone, she’ll choose.
All in all this is a book that completely envelops you in it’s world, and doesn’t let go until you’ve reached the very last word. There are twists and surprises right until the very end (the last surprise was a very nice touch that I am so so so excited to see develop). In short, never ever listen to what other people say about books because really, everyone will read the same book differently and you never know when you’ll find something that will speak to you.
snowghoul
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titsay
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