by TPS reader birlea22
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is an extremely magical fiction novel with a dystopian fantasy genre that is very intriguing. The novel focuses on Mare, stuck in the lower end of a broken society, where humans with red blood are ruled by the noble royalty of the god-like Silvers, who possess exotic superhuman powers that demonstrate their rule over the Reds. She has red blood, not silver, and she lives with her family in a place called the Stilts, where all the poor houses are built on stilts to avoid flooding. Her brothers have been sent off to war, her best friend Kilorn is facing conscription in the immediate future, and her sister, Gisa, is the only legal source of income for the family, as she sells precious hand-sewn silks to the elite Silvers. Mare is forced to steal to provide for her family, which includes a sick father. She plans to save her and Kilorn from conscription by stealing enough money, which is a lot, to smuggle them out of the region through the black market. After her failure, which ends up getting Gisa’s hand broken, she tries to steal from a Silver, who catches her. He takes pity on her, however, and is able to give her a job working as a Red servant at the summer palace. There, a contest called Queenstrial takes place, where princesses from different houses and different abilities compete to earn the hand of a prince, one of which, Mare finds out, is the man who put her in this situation. In a series of accidents and unexplained events, she realizes she has a special ability of her own, but her blood is red. The Royal House, especially the king, try to cover this phenomenon, saying she is a lost Silver princess, and he betroths her to the other prince. She has to learn to live in a strange and unfamiliar world full of enemies, without her family. It is also discovered that there is a Red rebellion on the rise, and she must support them and be their inside hand, without getting caught. She fights for the freedom of the oppressed, though her life and the lives of the ones she loves are at stake with every move she makes.
If you like the supernatural, the unexplained, and the magical, you would love this book, especially if you are a fan of alternate society dystopian theme with social hierarchy and war. The character dynamics with the sibling rivalry and the boy she used to know are very well written. There is also a bit of crazy romance, as Mare tries to figure out who she is and who the princes really are, and how she feels. I love how creative and beautiful but extremely dangerous the world that Victoria Aveyard built is, as she emphasizes that looks can be deceiving. The plot has many exciting twists and turns, you will never be bored, and you will always be longing to know what happens next. I highly recommend Red Queen to all fantasy lovers!
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