Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (2015)

In a world way too similar to ours, a new kind of racial tension is born- one between blood. At the top of the period lay the Silvers, whose silver bloods allow them to develop unique powers that are connected to the Earth. Predictably, they hold all high government roles, with the King and Queen themselves having the strongest powers, which they were specifically bred for. On the bottom are the Reds, commoners, that besides being completely normal, are seen as a new form of slaves for the Silvers to toy with. To top it off, Reds are automatically sent to fight a Silver war the minute they turn eighteen, unless they have a job, which Mare does not. That is, unless you consider pocket picking a job. But, with a turn of luck, she pocket picks the right person, the prince in disguise. Shortly after, she receives a job at the palace, where everyone, including herself, discovers she has powers similar to a Red’s. Scared for what this could mean for society, the King and Queen decide to consider a Silver, and to make her cover more solid, engage her to the prince. However, nothing is as simple as it seems. While Mare is learning ballroom dancing, a revolution is brewing between the Reds, which leaves Mare to decide: Is her safety in the palace worth placing every Red in a cycle of oppression?

To be honest, I really didn’t like this book. Not because of the plot, because the plot was actually great for the most part. It was full of the unexpected, even though the story itself was a little unoriginal. The only complaint I really had about the plot is that it really skipped around, time wise- sometimes a paragraph would explain four weeks, when other days took up pages. Victoria Aveyard also did a really good job writing her characters. There was a lot of growth for all the characters, not just Mare. I specifically like how Prince Maven grew to acknowledge how unfair the society was that he was leading, and eventually fought for justice. Which bring me to the next point, Red Queen did put racism in a new situation, and really exposed the reality of it in our lives. In both cases, a population was facing discrimination related to a biological factor they couldn’t control. That factor, combined with great characters and plot, make this book out to be pretty good. However, I just couldn’t get into it, and actually just found it boring. In the end, I didn’t really care about what would happen to the characters.

Although I personally didn’t find it brilliant, Victoria Aveyard definitely holds promise for her future works.

2 Stars