Red Queen is a futuristic fantasy novel with similar dystopian elements to Divergent or The Hunger Games series. The main character Mare Barrow is a Red, an ordinary commoner, who is thrown into the world of Silvers, those with unique powers that put them at the top of the hierarchy. This clear distinction between the poor and the powerful spark a revolution, one that Mare lands herself right in the middle of. Full of suspense, thrilling romance, betrayal, and of course, fantasy, this book kept me hooked despite its predictable plot lines. The strong, warrior-like female lead was interesting to read from the perspective of. While reading, you never know who to truly trust, as anyone can betray each other in a given moment. This was a super interesting read, I was excited to delve more into the world of Reds vs. Silvers in the next book of the series.

Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard, is a fantasy novel filled with suspense and excitement. It takes place in a world where social rank is based on the color of a person’s blood- the poor have red blood and the royals have silver blood and possess special powers. The plot follows 17 year old Mare Barrow, a Red commoner who one day finds out she possesses special powers like a Silver. She is forced to go undercover as a Silver princess, concealing her true identity, and learn to control her newfound powers. But Mare is determined to overthrow the Silvers, and restore peace among all groups of people once and for all. Mare is living in a world of secrets and betrayal, and she knows that every move she makes is a matter of life and death. I would definitely recommend this book to someone who likes fantasy and suspense, with some adventure, action, and humor.

I thought this book was slow in the beginning but once you get around 100 pages in, it becomes a page-turner. I love the story and the main woman. With equality, a tough subject in our world right now reading a book with a positive female character as the lead.

{POSSIBLE SPOILERS WARNING}
Overall, I would say this book is pretty interesting. I am personally into love triangle stories, and this book had that perfect plot. Some really unexpected plot twists made the story more exciting. However, it could definitely improve in countless ways. The character developments in the story were absolutely awful. Mare, the protagonist was horribly portraited without any intricate details. I had no problem with her in the first few chapters, but as the story goes on, it is revealed to me that she is nothing but self-centered, prejudiced, and hypocritical. Many characters had no purpose in the story except to continue the plot without it being felt dull. The sensory details were lacking horribly too. If you the type of reader that cares more about the plot than the characters, then this book is for you. If you are the opposite, like me, I suggest you not waste time on this series. The character developments were painful to read.

This is one of those series I wish I hadn't wasted my time on and this is one of my favorite genres so I like most of what I read from this genre. I loved book one but it all went downhill from there. There were times when the story was exciting but mostly it was slow and repetative. I ended up hating the main characters and The King's Cage was downright painful to read. I kept reading because I wanted to see how the series ended which was a real downer. I wish I had read the end of the series first and it would have saved me from wasting hours of my life.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is about a world split into two people: Silvers and Reds. Named for the color of their blood, silvers have magical powers and are seen as the elite. Reds are the common people and are subject to cruel ruling by the silvers. Mare Barrow, the protagonist, is a teenage pickpocket that is destined to get drafted and likely die in a war she does not care about as a human shield for silvers. Mare has accepted that she will have to fight, but her best friend Kilorn suddenly comes and tells her that his employer has died and he must fight now too. Mare fails to get the required gold for them both to flee, but by sheer luck meets a silver named Cal who gets her a job in the royal palace as a servant. Mare is shocked when she arrives and sees that Cal is the prince, and she has come during a competition for silver girls to become his bride. Afterwards, Mare gets attacked, and she accidently uses her unknown powers over electricity. The royal family decides not to kill her, and instead forces her to marry the younger prince, Maven, so that they can keep a close eye on her. The new story is that Mare is a silver, the long-lost child of a powerful couple. Mare must struggle to adjust to her new life and protect the deadly secret about her blood.
This book is written extremely well. One major storyline is Mare's relationship with her favorite teacher, Julian. Julian is one of the few that knows the truth about Mare, and he works with her to develop her powers and learn more. Meeting with Julian is one of the few bright spots in her day. One of the most interesting parts of the story is Mare’s feelings for both Cal and Maven. Mare originally feels attracted to Cal, but she starts to empathize with Mavens feelings of always being the second brother as she was always second to Gia. Mare leads both boys on and has no idea what she wants to do. None of this is overdone like what happens in most books with similar stories and will not bore readers. The most important part of the story is the way that Mare fights back. She joins an organization called the Scarlet Guard, and she works with them to try to overthrow the silvers. This part is especially fun to read because it is nice to see how Mare takes revenge on those constantly bullying her. Overall, this book will be very exciting and you will be sure to put the next book on hold.

Admittedly, I'm about 15 years past qualifying as a "teen" but I've read some really good teen fiction. This one isn't my favorite. The world building is a bit lazy: starving district (they're not called districts, but you'll see a lot of parallels with Hunger Games) with an excessively wealthy capitol, once a month arena demonstration (just...because...?), a 100 year war that isn't clear on why the two sides don't pull together and share the resources they each have that the other needs. I'm only on chapter 8 but I'm losing interest. The regular girl who is special-er than all the other girls and who the handsome boy notices even though she's "regular" is a story trope as old as time, but this one is done clunkily. I don't get much of a sense of who Mare is within the first few chapters except that she's a thief who hates being a thief and mopes about how she's not good at anything.

A minor thing that irritated me about this world. Mare mentions the healers aren't wasted on the commoners fighting the war. Why not??? If they've been fighting this war for 100 years, why not use magic (it's not like they're wasting resources) to cure them so they can have an endless supply of soldiers?

Things I like about this book: female author, female characters depicted as warriors and strong, powerful people, writing style.

I'm on the second book, waiting for the third and fourth. AWESOME BOOKS!!

It was a really awesome read that had lots of suspense and action! I have read the series 6 times now! 5/5 stars - SAPL Teen Read It & Review Contributor

I loved this book, beautifully written ❤️