LibPicks: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Hello, lovelies!
Welcome to LibPicks: where I share my recent reads with you and chat all things, literary love! After constant recommendations to read this series, I FINALLY picked up Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen. Let me tell you… I am KICKING myself for not reading it sooner! The love triangle, the power struggle, the dystopian monarchy, and the magic are just exhilarating!
As usual, an important disclaimer:
I am going to start with a brief summary of the book followed by my perosnal thoughts on the story/writing/characters, etc. I will try my best to not give away any spoilers in my personal thoughts BUT if I cannot help it then I will put a “disclaimer” at the begining of the “My Thoughts” section of the post, so that you can ecide if you would like to continue reading.
Let’s begin!
Details & Specs
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 416 (paperback)
Time to Read: (subjective) - For me, 12 hours spread across 3 days
Topics: Dystopian future, Royalty, Unjust Rulers, Revolution, Class struggle, Super-human Powers, Romance, Betrayal
Synopsis: Heroine Mare Barrow, a Red Blood, gets summoned to the Palace where she discovers an unlikely gift of her own. Until now, these super-human powers were thought only to be possessed by the Silver Bloods. In an attempt to hide the truth, Mare becomes a pawn in the Royal’s game to thwart Red Blooded Revolutionaries. Along the way, Mare finds herself in a complicated love triangle, a web of ever-growing lies, and a secret plot to tear down the system of Red oppression in a Silver-Ruled world.
My Thoughts…
From the second I began this book I knew I was going to love the story, but I was surprised at just how much these characters took hold of me. It had all the tropes that I drool over in a good YA Fantasy: power struggle, self-discovery, steamy romance, and a strong female protagonist. I only had a few moments when I doubted Mare (the female heroine), but overall, she was so well written and loveable that I can’t wait to read more of her story in book two (Glass Sword - currently reading and will post here when complete).
The scene setting and world building are both gorgeously done in this book. I love the authors use of engaging all of our senses as a reader when it comes to scene and exposition. She does a great job at describing the look, smell and sound of the world, so that we feel like we understand how it differs from reality.
As for world building, I thought it was done so expertly. This is set in a future where some humans are red-blooded and powerless (the lower-class work/slave force) and the rest are silver-blooded with extraordinary powers (the high-society elites/royals). What I loved (and can be hard for some authors) is the gradual exposure to the world and it’s quirks, rather than including paragraphs of history, explanation and reasoning for why X,Y, and Z are the norm.
I don’t want to spoil anything with this next point, so I will be vague. The romance element to the story was subtle and perfect for the story. I love that the author chose to have a more slowly-developed love interest/element to the story, so that the overall focus remained on the heroine and her struggles to overcome adversity and develop into a strong protagonist. I know my perspective on this element will be met with come controversy as a lot of YA readers love a heavy handed, steamy romance - and don’t get me wrong, so do I! BUT with this story/subject matter, it allowed the female lead to maintain control over her story, her journey - not just the man she is infatuated with.
Fave Quotes
“Anyone can betray anyone.”
“In the fairy tales, the poor girl smiles when she becomes a princess. Right now, I don’t know if I’ll ever smile again.”
“I see a world on the edge of a blade. Without balance, it will fall.”
Overall…
Red Queen is an exciting book about love, betrayal and overcoming adversity. It will make you laugh and cry and that’s a pretty special quality in a book.
I highly recommend you reading it if you haven’t already and are a fan of YA books!
Let me know in the comments below: have you read the Red Queen (or the whole series)? What were your thoughts?
See you in the next one!
Yours, happily,
Kristyn xo