Red Queen

Introduction

Red Queen was written by Victoria Aveyard and published as the first of a series on February 10th, 2015, by Harper Teen publishing company. I was looking for a new fantasy series to read for both this blog and my own enjoyment when my friend recommended this to me. It was one she had started but not finished, and she was right in assuming that I would enjoy it. It was an interesting read, and it had a fantasy-dystopian feel to it that was very reminiscent of the Shatter Me series. I will say that this book took me longer to read than I initially anticipated, and much of that had to do with the fact that I began reading it between spring break and finals prep at school, so time to read became scarce, and books that I could normally finish in a few days took me weeks to get through. In any case, this series was an enjoyable one for me to read when I did have time, and this book was a strong start to the series. For those who haven’t read it yet, I would recommend starting at the Spoiler-Free Thoughts section for a general overview of my opinions. Those looking for a deeper conversation can continue on to the Thoughts section. If you have thoughts or opinions on this book that you want to share or discuss, feel free to leave them in the comment section on these posts or in my DMs. I love discussing books with other people, and I am always interested in others’ opinions!

If you want to explore more of Victoria Aveyard’s work, check out her website https://victoriaaveyard.com/ and follow her on social media @victoriaaveyard.

Plot

Mare Barrow has always understood the trajectory of her life as a Red, but when she finds herself an anomaly at the heart of Silver society, she no longer knows what comes next or who she can trust.

Spoiler-Free Thoughts

I’ll explain in greater detail in the Thoughts section, but the beginning of this book definitely felt comparable to The Hunger Games with the prevalence of the themes of privilege between the Reds and Silvers. The way it’s presented, I found even the kindest Silvers harder to sympathize with than the cruelest Reds. It doesn’t help that neither side even views the other as human - the Silvers see the Reds as rats worth acknowledging only as a nuisance to society, and the Reds see the Silvers as gods to fear and resent - which only works to further the divide and the plot.

As for Mare’s character, I really appreciated that she made generally smart decisions. Nobody can make the right choice every single time, but her self-preservation instinct was incredibly strong, and she actually followed it. I find a lot of protagonists to be very defiant and willing to put themselves in danger to protect someone else or support what they think is right, no matter the consequences. Mare, on the other hand, actually wants to stay alive and knows that in a world full of false gods who would rather see her dead, that’s a fight she can’t win just yet. She exhibits a lot of self-control that I really respect, even when it defies her entire belief system.

The seeds for the ending were sown from the beginning. I even got close to figuring it out in my own notes, but I didn’t want to see what was right in front of my face. Even so, the ending was not what I expected it to be. Looking back at my theories and predictions for this book, I had assumed it would end earlier than it did. By the time I hit what I thought would be the ending, there was more story to be told, which was as welcome as it was unexpected. That being said, although I didn’t quite see the ending coming, I did see many of the other plot points teased early on, so I wasn’t surprised by many of the would-be big reveals in this book. I still have questions regarding what happened in this installment and what will happen next, as is expected with an ongoing series, but I was satisfied with the conclusion of this book.

Overall, I very much enjoyed it, but I know there is room for improvement as the series continues. Because of that, I rate this book a 7.5/10, and I’m excited to see how the series grows from here.

Thoughts

I felt like this book almost took on a Hunger Games feel from the very beginning in that the poorest were ignored by those who declared themselves the peak of society. The Reds were constantly reminded how powerless they really were against the Silvers, but instead of the Silvers making them fight, they displayed their own power fighting one another. Not only that, but there was inherent privilege the Silvers granted themselves over the Reds. While most of them know of it - they implemented it - the struggle the Reds endure seems either lost on them, or they believe it’s deserved. It makes it difficult to support any of them, even Cal, when they are either cruel, willfully blind, or unwilling to support the idea of change. It also makes it easier to support even the shadier Reds because nobody deserves to be treated as lesser.

On a much less serious and less thematic note, I sensed an early love knot (there’s no way I can call this a triangle) between Mare, Kilorn, Cal, and Maven, and while I got the feeling she would ultimately end up with Cal at the end of the series, this book did a good job of making me hesitate when picking a side of my own. That is, until the ending, which I - somewhat ridiculously - did not see coming. Or rather, I didn’t want to see it coming. I don’t remember exactly when I made note of this, but I wrote “The first queen - Cal’s mother - seemed good and kind and loving, and Cal seems similar, so what does that make Maven?” I was right there, but he pretended to join the Scarlet Guard shortly after, and I saw only what I wanted to see. I was as manipulated as Mare was by his poor forgotten prince act, and even despite the ending, I am hopeful for some sort of redemption arc by the end of the series.

Julian was an incredible resource for Mare in this book, and I genuinely liked him. Honestly, even though I trusted him more than almost every other Silver introduced in this book, I still found myself in a similar mindset as Mare in my hesitation to heed every piece of advice, especially in regard to Maven. I am intrigued by the blood mutation though, and I want to see it implemented more later on, which I’m sure it will be. I assumed that Shade had it, but Aveyard had me convinced that he was actually dead - despite my theorizing otherwise early on - up until his reveal at the very end. I found it very unfortunate that Julian was wrong about Shade’s death and right about Maven’s character.

When I read these books, I make note of quotes that catch my eye for one reason or another. I think that going on at the end of each Thoughts section, I will include my favorite quote or quotes from the book. For the Red Queen, I had to choose “The gods rule us still. They have come down from the stars. And they are no longer kind.” This quote is given on page 11, and it immediately sets the tone for the rest of the book.