Red Queen

Red Queen

By Victoria Aveyard

IN SCHOOL,

WE LEARNED ABOUT THE WORLD BEFORE OURS,

About the angels and gods that lived in the sky,

Ruling the earth with kind and loving hands.

Some say those are just stories,

But I don’t believe that.

The gods rule us still.

They have come down from the stars.

AND THEY ARE NO LONGER KIND.

  Guten Morgen! Wait…why are you typing in German…? Well sorry guys, practicing! I’m learning German now!!! And I have a big new for you before we start the review of Red Queen!!! I’m now a college-to-be and major in foreign language!!!! Although some might say this is a horrible major…but who cares? I get to write more and have excellent excuses to read more!!!! Yeah!!!! This is the most exciting of all!!! Reading through my four years collage!!!! And I determine to finish my novel within a year!!!! Ah!!!!!

  Well? Back to the review. Originally, I’ve highly anticipated for Red Queen, since it was the best book of 2015. It seems that everyone love this book! However…here comes the big “BUT.” I don’t feel that enthusiastic while reading this book. Without doubt, this book has great plot twists and characters and all the unexpected scenes. But I just don’t feel so much for it! However, the plot twists, the plot twists…WOW. 

  Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood—those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend is conscripted into the army she gambles everything to win his freedom. A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself, where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a power of her own—an ability she didn’t know she had. Except…her blood is Red.

  To hide this impossibility, the king forces her into 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 her new position to aid the Scarlet Guard—the leaders of a Red rebellion. Her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince—and Mare against her own heart.

  From debut author Victoria Aveyard comes a lush, vivid fantasy series where loyalty and desire can tear you apart and the only certainty is betrayal.

  It seems that I read a lot of betrayal recently…The Heart of Betrayal, Cruel Beauty re-read, and now, Red Queen, all full of betrayal. Can’t your worlds be simpler? It’s so complicated!!! Betrayal after betrayal, blood after blood, lies after lies. All of the protagonists survive because of lies. So as I said, I’m not exactly impressed with Red Queen, but certainly the characters and plots aren’t bad. Why I am not impressed? Well…there is something similar to Hunger Game…and I hate reading same type of genre. This is the very reason why I never pick up Divergent and The Maze Runner. Although I might also blame the translation for this reason as well…I’m just tired of reading the same thing. So between Hunger Game and Red Queen, we get the little lightning girl = the girl on fire; Gale = Kilorn; Maven = Peeta. And the main story…rebellion, society, and blablabla. Oh! And you can add some of The Selection’s plot into the book. Like the queen and princess part, the girls, and…yes, the rebellion. Society with divided system will always has trouble. We can learn that from books. Wait…you say….why I didn’t mention Cal? Because I think he…well kind of fit into neither Gale nor Peeta, a little bit Peeta, perhaps. But he is mostly…right, he is original. Now you understand what I’m saying? Silver always comes before Red…that’s the main idea of this story, and Mare is the lightning girl to stop this. (Lightning girl…am I the only one recall lightning thief from Percy Jackson???) 

  However, it’s not the best book of 2015 for no reason. I must admit, although I’m not so fond of it, the plots still bring us to a wonderful world. When I was reading, I was like…”NOOOO!!! Don’t trust him!!!! He is his mother’s son!!!!!” or “AHHH!!!! How could you do that!” something like that. And I finish this book…with two day? I suppose. Really quick, and a fast pace book. So I will definitely read the second one, even though some might say the second book isn’t as good as the first one. Oh! And the inner cover…beautiful, so very beautiful. Red Queen has one of the most beautiful inner cover I’ve ever seen. It’s a great decoration inside your house. So here are the characters, Mare, our lightning girl. She is…a thief. Survive by being a pickpocket. She hates to be compared with her younger sister, who has an excellent skill at embroidery. Throughout the story, she has a heart full of hatred toward the Silver. Her first motivation might be saving herself and her family, but then she comes to defeat them and creates a new world. That’s a bit different from Hunger Game, cause Katniss never wanted to fight the government, not until the last book, all she wants is to survive. So I think there is still something interesting with Mare, especially when she no longer possess that name. Next, Cal! He…is the prince. (How great the description is, Vivian.) Well…how can I say? I don’t particularly love him or hate him. The interesting thing in this story is that we get Cal, Maven, and Kilorn…but I don’t ship them all. Cal is loyal to his throne, his country, and his father. There might be something between him and Mare…but neither of them can give up what they believe…so…that doesn’t turn out very well. Maven, the second prince, who betrothed to Mare. He…well…a kind one…and with rebel thought. But I can say nothing more, or spoiler hater will come and kill me. Kilorn…sorry man, you’re just as hopeless as Gale. At least to me…best friends seldom turn out well in novel…and I think Red Queen will have no exception. Secretly, I think Maven might be the best of them all…no matter who he is or what he has done. Yet…I try not to put too much hope in the book…since authors now love to torn our favorite ship apart…so…no, I don’t ship them. Not any single one. 

  So will I recommend this book…well…you can read it. It’s kind of between nice and not bad. A good book to spare your free time, but on the top list…well…no. but I do hear a lot of people love it, so if you love this book, comment down and tell me why! Perhaps I’ll full in love with it when I have the time to re-read it.