The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard  

Publisher: Harper Teen      

Publication date: February 10th 2015
My rating: 5 stars

Graceling meets The Selection in debut novelist Victoria Aveyard's sweeping tale of seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king's palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?
Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood--those with common, Red blood serve the Silver- blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.
To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard--a growing Red rebellion--even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.

Wow! I did not expect much from this book when I first got it, even though I've been excited to read it. Does that even make sense? I've been burned before with over-hyped books so I tried to stay calm while I was reading Red Queen. I ended up freaking out either way. 

Mare lives in a world divided between red and silver bloods. Those with red blood, Mare included, live in terrible condition with little to no electricity while the silver bloods have special powers and  live in luxury . One night while out stealing she meets a strange young man. The next day her life changes completely because she gets a job in the royal palace. She discovers she has a power of her own by accident. To keep her red blood a secret, royals present her as the long lost daughter of a war her who died a long time ago and. Not only her skin is painted white every morning but she's also engaged to a prince. 

The main character, Mare is a tough chick. She's a street rat. She knows how to survive and adapt well to anything. Her powers are still new to her and she's trying to decide who to trust while she's living among people who want nothing to do with her kind. Still, with the help of old and some new friends, she's ready to make a difference and start a rebellion. 

I really liked the secondary characters. They all had their own personalities and were equally important as Mare. I especially liked someone who'll remain unnamed because of spoilers. The twist regarding this person was unexpected. I didn't see it coming. Wish the change in character wasn't so drastic because it didn't seem realistic to me. The character did a 180 so I wasn't so happy about it. 

The romance was so-so. Sure, I saw the connection these characters shared but it wasn't the reason I was enjoying the book so much. 

The pacing was a bit slow at times but only because it was used to describe the whole world of reds & silvers. Like I said, sometimes, it was slow but I liked reading about different settlements, the royal houses and especially, powers. 

Red Queen is a strange mix of The Legend of Korra, The Grisha Trilogy, Spartacus, The Selection and Throne of Glass. If you like any of those things, I'm sure you'll find Red Queen interesting as well.