Red Queen ~ Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is the first book in the series. Aveyard presents a world that’s split in two, those with red blood and those with silver. The silver-blooded people are the elite, all with god-like powers. Mare is red-blooded and lives in a poverty-stricken village until she finds herself working at the palace. There, she finds that she too possesses power, despite her red blood. To protect the power balance, the Silvers decide to hide her in plain sight, as a long-lost silver now engaged to one of the princes.

I recently joined a book club and this is the first book that we’re reading together. It’s been sat on my kindle for upwards of a year and it was nice to have a reason to finally get around to reading it. It is the type of book that I’m trying not to read too many of this year as I explore different genres, but it was definitely a comfort read. 

The plot wasn’t anything new, but Victoria Aveyard definitely executed it in a new and exciting way and I was glued to my kindle screen. It’s very much my cup of tea, a fantasy with political upheaval. The inclusion of the division being due to blood colour is something new to me and I like how it played into the plot.

I liked Mare as a character, she was a badass but not completely cold and heartless as a lot of powerful, YA female protagonists pretend to be. I thought the way she was introduced to the world of the Silvers was done in a way that didn’t feel too expositional. Cal and Maven were also interesting, after being burnt a few too many times, I don’t trust the love interests in these types of books, but I was still rooting for one of them. 

I enjoyed this book and can’t wait to talk about it in book club. Overall, it was a three-point seven-five stars for me. 

C🌙