Red Queen

Title: Red Queen (Red Queen #1)
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 10/10

"The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?"

***

Suspend your disbelief. 

That's what we're asked to do every time we so much as pick up a book, especially a fantasy one. But Red Queen takes it a step further, asking us to so much more than just accept the new rules. This might just be the hardest review I've ever had to write, because while hindsight is 20/20, it also permeates everything that came before. Still, I promise no spoilers. I'm keeping those for the GIF review that will be up later on.

The first thing you need to know about Red Queen is it's got the mother of all plot twists. I've seen some people say they saw it coming clear as day, and I have to ask how they managed to do that. I will admit I had my reservations, but by the end, they were pretty much dust, and then... well. Not so much.

And now to the crutch of the business: there's rumours of a love triangle going around. I can't help wondering if those people actually read the end. And even without the ending, let me assure you: there is no seesawing that makes you want to strangle a bitch.

You'll want to strangle many bitches, but for very different reasons. I don't trust myself to talk about the two boys of the not-triangle without any spoilers, so we're skipping that part. Suffice to say, they're hot.

Mare was a delight of a narrator. Her unflinching loyalty and courage, not mention the fact that she is a veritable well of sass (I personally think they should change the title to Sass Queen, but that's just me...) made being in her head no hardship. And speaking of titles, it's very clever, because you go in with certain expectations because of it, so I spent so long just going around in circles in my head, wondering how on earth that was going to work out. But work out it did. Sorta.

Go read it, I promise you won't be disappointed - this is a debut that hints at the amazing quality of books to come this year, and let me tell you, I am so excited for this years' books, it's gonna be quite a year.

Want more of Mare and her world? Check out the GIF review here! As usual, it is full of spoilers, so only click if you're okay with that or have read the book.