RED QUEEN by VICTORIA AVEYARD

Red Queen

by Victoria Aveyard

Published: February 2015

Publisher: Harper Collins

Genre: YA, dystopian

"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?"

As this was on my most anticipated releases of 2015, I was pretty excited about this one. The premise sounded like something I would enjoy and I was intrigued because it was a debut novel and I'm always keen on supporting new authors. 

I will start by saying that I will be continuing on with this series as I felt that this book was a well written one. Once I got into the story at around 50 pages I wanted to keep reading, the plot was fast paced, although occasionally any action scenes did go by in the blink of an eye but I wouldn't say that is a negative. Whilst the plot and characters itself aren't the most imaginative in the world, I think that the actual world of Red and Silvers and their abilities IS original and incredibly interesting. That being said I can see why this book has got a lot of hype, but I am glad I read this without reading too much into the hype as I do think that would have left me feeling slightly disappointed.

You don't know who to trust in this novel, everyone is suspicious and everyone has their own motives. I can't say I loved anyone in this novel but that's not really the point. Mare, the main protagonist was often annoying and made mistakes (so like pretty much all of the protagonists in YA dystopians) but she was made of fire and wit. I can't imagine how she found the will to go on when everything was against her. The Silvers are menacing and so overpowering that it made me wonder a) how they got their abilities and b) why the Red's don't just band together and overrule them, its often hinted at that the Reds outnumber the Silvers, but then I supposed you wouldn't really want to go against someone who has the ability to read your mind and disable your thoughts...

I can see great things in this author's future if this is the standard of her debut novel. Harper Collins did a great job in snapping her up, I am looking forward to the sequel. If you are a fan of dystopians then I would recommend this in a heartbeat. 

4/5 STARS