Seventeen-year-old Mare Barrow is a poor Red girl from the Stilts with no job, no skills, and no opportunities. On her eighteenth birthday, she faces mandatory conscription into the military to fight a never-ending war on behalf of the corrupt Silver rulers.
The Silvers rules because they have all the power. That seems like an obvious thing to say, except they actually have powers—from controlling fire to super, strength, to being able to control others’ thoughts.
When a rebel group called the Scarlet Guard starts fighting back on behalf of the Reds, there is hope for Mare’s people, but it puts Mare in a compromising situation.
She finds herself working in the Silver palace serving the Silver nobles, where it is discovered that Mare has the power to manipulate and create electricity. But she’s Red.
Forced to pretend to be the long-lost daughter of deceased Silver nobility and engaged to a prince, she’s swept into a whirlwind of politics, manipulation, and deception. Now known as Lady Mareena Titanos, she must side with the Silvers in public, but finds every way possible to help her people.
Aveyard instills quite the love triangle between Mare and the two princes. Lady Mareena is betrothed to Prince Maven—the second son of King Tiberius and his wife, Elara—but she is drawn to Cal—the heir to the throne and son of King Tiberius and his late wife, Coriane.
Other social dynamics at play were the blatant hatred that the other Silver nobility had for Lady Mareena. Regardless of how hard she tries, she is never really able to fit in with the Silvers.
I definitely loved Red Queen , and I couldn’t put it down while I was reading it. But at the end of the day, I still felt like it was lacking a little substance. I really loved the plot twists and the social strife that Aveyard built into this book, but I did feel a bit like I was reading a teenage soap opera (I know, I know, it’s YA).
ALL IN ALL, this is an amazing YA high fantasy, and if you love high fantasies or dystopians, give this book a try. Red Queen gets four out of five stars in my book.