14 April 2016

Review #397: Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) by Victoria Aveyard



My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.”

----Suzanne Collins



Victoria Aveyard, the New York Times bestselling author, has penned a stunning and a heart-wrenching debut YA dystopian, Red Queen which marks the onset of an exciting new young adult series, Red Queen, which is a mixture of so many bestselling dystopian series, namely, The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Selection. This series opens with a girl, belonging from a submissive bloodline, that is dominated by the powerful bloodline, who will soon be conscripted for the army to serve the powerful bloodline's frontier.This is her story of how her life changes all of a sudden and has to make terrible choices to save the ones she loves.




Synopsis:

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The poverty-stricken Reds are commoners, living in the shadow 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.

Then Mare finds herself working at the Silver palace, in the midst 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.



Okay firstly, I honestly and absolutely, LOVED this series, which is inspired from all those popular dystopian series that changed the face of the post-apocalyptic world. And Mare, oh boy, she is the star and she is a new member of my list of fictional characters whom I love to fangirl about. This series is absolutely promising and with a movie deal on the horizon, I simply can't wait to get my hands on the next book.

Mare is seventeen, who is a Red living in a poverty-stricken town with her family and siblings. She would be enlisted for the army as soon as she turns eighteen. One day her fate changes when she tries to save her long-time friend's fate from getting conscripted. But with no job, she cannot buy him freedom, and that is when good luck shines upon her as she bags a job offer as royal guard in the palace of Silvers to protect them. But to protect the people she hates, to protect the people who dominates is a difficult task not as difficult for the Silvers when they discover her unmatched power in front of their eyes.

By now, everyone must have read this book as on Instagram, I can see pretty much all the bookstagrammers are fangirling on this series, and I simply couldn't wait to dive into this fascinating series. Well, let's get into proper reviewing now.

The world building is fantastic and as told from Mare's POV, the story is interesting and in-depth. The world created by the author is believable with powerful people harboring magical abilities, whereas the less powerful one suffer the wrath of those who bear the power and are under constant domination by them. This world is strong, sad and beautiful just like Panem. This is done with lots of vivid description and logic so that the readers can easily comprehend with such an imaginative world, well somehow it is unique in its own way.

The author's writing is eloquent and laced with tension, mystery and deep heart-felt emotions. The narrative is highly engaging and is bound to keep the readers glued into the heart of the story. The pacing is really fast as it will keep the readers turning the pages and anticipating till the very end. Yes the story definitely ends with a major cliffhanger that will make the readers look-out for the next book in the series. The story is addictive and immediately from the very first sentence, it is bound to pull the readers into the story. The story is also laced with lots of adrenaline-rushing action scenes that will make the readers feel like riding high on a roller-coaster rides.

The characters are interesting, believable and is inspired from realism. The main character, Mare, is the epitome of teenage girls belonging from poverty as Mare rises against the odd to save the people she loves and cares for, not once thinking for herself. She is brave, more like Katniss, who doesn't need saving even though there are three guys who could do anything for her to protect her. Her demeanor is motivating and worth rooting for. Cal is the next character, whom the readers will fall for, for his arrogance, for his loyalty towards Mare, for his support and definitely for his swoon-worthy looks. He is a complete package of being a Prince Charming. The rest of the supporting cast are extremely well-developed.

The romance, well, let's just say, there is no love triangle, instead there is love square. Yes three boys almost competing for Mare's attention.The romance depicted in the book is sweet, emotional and passionate. I totally ship Mare and Cal, but let's just see what happens in the next series.

Overall, this enthralling story has made me its fan and it is definitely a must read for all YA dystopian lovers. This story has so many layers that kept my mind curious and intrigued till the very end and right now I'm adding the Glass Sword on Amazon India's cart.

Verdict: Go ahead try this fantastic new series.

Courtesy: The book is worth every penny, even though I managed to grab this book on a throwaway price from Amazon. 
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Author Info:
I'm a screenwriter/YA author who likes books and lists. This site is the nexus of my universe.

My book RED QUEEN will be published Winter 2015 from HarperTeen at HarperCollins. I'm repped by the incomparable Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc.

The genres I'm into include YA, Fantasy, Historical, Adventure, Apocalyptic - if people are dying, I'm buying.
Visit her here


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