5 Star Book Review: Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)

Author: Victoria Aveyard

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Edition: Hardcover

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Rating: 5 Stars

Red Queen is one book I've recently seen the bookish-community really split about, with most either hating it or loving it.  I was worried going in that I would hate it, but I ended up being strongly on the latter side.  Even though I had been spoiled about the major twist at the ending, I didn't mind and it was still a fantastic read.

This book follows Mare Barrow, a Red (the lower, human class) who finds out she has the powers of a Silver (a higher, super-powered class) after a series of events literally have her in a life or death situation.  She's then under the public eye and must be hid in plain sight, masquerading as the long lost daughter of a silver.  Through this disguise, she becomes engaged to the second prince, Maven, and falls in love with the crown prince, Cal.

Basically, this book was perfect.  At least, for me.  Let me step back and explain why: it's the sort of story I someday want to tell.  Maybe not in the details, but in the way the twists play out and the events pull at your heart.  Every once in a while I will find a book that makes me motivated to write because it so mirrors what I'm going for without becoming too similar to the stories I've actually created, and this is one of those books.

The plot was fantastic!  From the first page it had me interested, the very first line catching my attention perfectly.  It only continued, never stalling out or getting caught in one place like I feared it might.  In fact, parts of it really reminded me of Shadow and Bone, another book I've really enjoyed lately.

The characters were also amazing.  I loved Mare, I loved Cal, I loved Maven, I loved Lucas, I loved Evangeline, I loved, loved, and loved some more every character pulled onto the page.  Similar to Red Rising (which this book is only slightly like, regardless of the similar names) I found the characters all morally complex and interesting, regardless of whether they were the "good guys" or "bad guys".

One thing I did notice as I was reading were small plot holes that I thought were only messy in the world-building aspect.  Until, suddenly, they weren't plot-holes anymore, but actually little clues left around for the reader to pick up.  They won't point you to exactly what's going on, but they aren't plot-holes, that's for sure.  I loved that everything served a purpose, and that this book wasn't afraid to steer from death and destruction that would happen in a natural way.

Overall, I really recommend you pick this book up!