Red Queen || Where the Powerful Seek To Remain So (Book Review)
If there’s anything I’ve learnt about being a leader, particularly, being a Queen, it’s that the failures you have to face may be abundant, but what makes you a true queen, is never giving up. Never surrendering. But then again, wouldn’t it also be right if a wise leader also knows when to back down?
I’d been in a weird headspace the past couple of weeks, and I’d been dwelling on a genre that seemed to take out much more than I was willing to give, so this morning, when I scrolled through my e-library for books that I’d neglected and found Red Queen, I was a bit sceptical on what exactly to expect. I knew it wasn’t going to be the light-hearted book that my spirit craved, nevertheless, I felt an inner compulsion to read it and read I did.
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Red Queen is a young adult, fantasy fiction novel published in February 2015. It stars the life of Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old girl who is a professional pickpocket and a survivor of her world. The world she lives in is divided into two, the Reds, who are the commoners, poverty-stricken and continuously oppressed by the Silver elites who are their rulers. These Silvers, true to their name possess blood of silver colour and unprecedented powers and abilities which the Reds who are mere humans of red blood do not possess, thus, ensuring that the Reds are perpetually submitted to their cruel power.
It’s this world that Mare finds herself, a young girl constantly be(ing overshadowed by her younger sister, Gisa and a form of mild disappointment to her parents. As Mare is about to turn eighteen, she waits dreadfully for her conscription, which is a compulsory military enlistment for all Reds. But in a sudden twist of fate, following her failed attempt to escape the life placed before her, Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace.
Perhaps her story would have ended rather uneventfully if destiny didn’t have a different path for her. Despite her red blood, she, as well as inhabitants of the Silver Palace discover her startling abilities and a dangerous power that no one of her kind or even the Silvers seem to possess. An ability that threatens their long-standing balance of power and immediately plunges the Silvers into panic. Filled with fear of this mysterious Red’s potential, the royalty declares her their long-lost princess and even gets her engaged to their Prince in a bid to keep her under surveillance.
Even though her life hangs on the edge of a cliff, Mare risks her life by working silently with the Red Guard, a rebel group whose sole aim is to bring down the Silver regime. She encounters help from all around to aid her cause, but in the game of power: lies, betrayals, manipulations and a ruthless cold-bloodedness stand in her path to victory. Whether Mare Barrow can stand her own in the dangerous dance of the Reds and the Silvers hangs on a scale of wit, power and most of all....luck.
Review and Rating
First off, it’s the first time I’m reading a book by Victoria Aveyard. On the Booktok part of TikTok, I came across a video that listed books that have strong female leads and Red Queen was one of them, which is why I downloaded the book in the first place. So even though, I was a bit sceptical since a lot of the books hyped in the Book world are just hype as is implied, this book looked promising.
There were a lot of things left undiscovered for me, in this book. Even though the development of the characters seemed well-built, there was a tad of unfinished quality to the characters that made the two individuals who were supposed to have chemistry just not do it for me. The sacrificial love that should have cemented the work even though that wasn’t what the book was solely about, was bland. Their chemistry seemed rather forced and left with me an aftertaste of dissatisfaction.
I wouldn’t blame the fact that I sort of predicted who the real villains were in this book to the fact that the author didn’t do justice to the suspense or leaving us at the edge of our seats. I can say it’s a hazard of reading too many mystery books and therefore knowing that the least person is a suspect. On that note, I also think that the author didn’t do a great job keeping ot mysterious cause there were a lot of hints lying about to be picked up by fastidious readers. However, whether or not I suspected the level of betrayal that was to unfold, I still wasn’t prepared for the unrivalled degree of plot twists that were eventually revealed.
Overall, I think Blood Queen had an amazing plot regardless. The fact that the ‘Silvers’ blood was silver reminded me a lot about the movie, Gods of Egypt. The suspense and pacing, while not the best was still good in my books. I was rather unhappy about the turn of events and never-ending obstacles but the realistic end made me understand that there might be a part two to this, although I’ve not seen it yet. I give this book a 4.0 out of 5 stars, simply because it rather refreshingly took my mind off a lot of things, the female lead was brilliant, even though too unassuming and how epic the storyline in general was.
Jhymi🖤
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Other image from my e-library screenshot.