“Anyone can betray anyone.” ~Red Queen
The idea and storyline of the Red Queen is genius. It was a slow start, BUT THEN I kept going, and the longing to keep reading hit me hard in the face. But don’t worry, nothing’s broken yet.
~Review~
(SPOILER FREE)
4/5 Stars
(Briefing)
In a world where humans are separated by the color of their blood, Red and Silver, there’s one girl who isn’t one or the other, but both.
Mare Borrow has only ever known life as a Red until, suddenly, she’s watching that life from the window of the Silver Palace. After discovering she’s neither Red nor Silver, Mare is thrown into the world of Silvers, forced to learn the court rules, how to be the perfect lady, and to keep in the shadows of her superiors. Through the various training she partakes in, she discovers more about herself than she ever dreamed possible, all the while still wondering what her heart wants as it fights between the two Silver princes. Along the path of her precarious life to finding a place where she belongs, Mare falls into a plot twist no one saw coming. A twist she may never escape from.
(First Impression 4/5)
I immediately loved the whole concept of red and silver blood. That’s such a neat idea and creates so many unexpected twists and turns. Again, the beginning was slow, and it took me a few chapters to soak in all the details. Then, I was thrust into a world of war and hardship, love and fear. Betrayal and vengeance. “Anyone can betray anyone.” *laughs mischievously*
(Character Development 5/5)
WOW. Okay. I say this a lot, but Mare and Cal, Maven… They all grow and change so much. Skyrocketing growth. There is so much complexity built into each character, and you can’t help but try to guess what they’ll do next, only for them to do the exact opposite, leaving you wondering how you can possibly wait to read the next chapter.
(World-Building 4/5)
Both the world of Reds and the world of Silvers are tied together with beautiful imagery perfectly fitting for the story. It’s somewhat dystopian with the technology and advancements in science, yet fantastical and mysterious with all the unique abilities the characters have. I do wish there were a map attached to the book, for the world Victoria created is so vast I found myself getting lost in the beauty of it. (I’m awful with directions.)
(Emotions 4/5)
I’m sure I cry from every book I read. I did with this one as well. Mare has such a sweet relationship with her family and her friends. It’s hard not to cry when a cloud of difficulty befalls them all. The ending certainly twisted my emotions, squeezing until I gasped in outrage.
(Style 4/5)
Victoria’s way of writing is lovely. She drops just the right amount of information at the perfect moments. The words link together as they were made to. Though, again, I found it hard at times to be transported into the setting, but eventually I drowned in my imagination.
(Cleanliness 4/5)
Red Queen was surprisingly one of the cleanest YA books I’ve read in a long time concerning romance. There is kissing, but it doesn’t go any farther than that. The violence takes the stars of cleanliness down, for it is on the darker side of the scale. Language isn’t too crude.
(Conclusion 5/5)
If the ending of the first book in a series doesn’t make you buy the next book, I’m not sure what went wrong. Red Queen ended in a way no one saw coming. A cliffhanger I almost fell off of. Perfectly suspenseful and dramatic.
!TRIGGER WARNING!
Violence, gore, enslavement, death
“The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Matthew 26:24 ESV
Julia Rose Books 