Scan barcode
A review by rlobel
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
So I tried reading Red Queen, but it wasn't for me, and I kind of just felt bored. This book centers around a world in which the impoverished and the aristocrats are separated by blood: red and silver. The silver bloods are these people who have extraordinary abilities, and they're marked with these powers by the silver blood that runs through their veins. The red bloods are just ordinary when it comes to "special abilities," which ultimately makes them powerless: living in poverty and fighting the silver wars.
Throughout the course of events, we follow Mare Barrow, a red-blooded pickpocket. Her views on the silver bloods who rule the continent are very much intransigent. But things change for her when she's discovered as red blood with the abilities of a silver. To hide this phenomenon, the silver king uses her and showcases her off as a "lost silver princess" and marries her off to one of his sons. That's as far as I got in the book.
So I think the world's concept is actually intriguing, and if done well, it could have been so much more. A few of the major reasons why I DNFed this book is first, it's written in a very YA style. So yes, I'm very much aware that this is a YA book, so the straightforward, redundancy, with little to no underlying plot, is expected from the writing style. Usually, when I read that writing style, I tend to just ignore it, but because of the other shortcomings in the book, it was harder to get past. Second, the events in the book had little to no breathing room, like 10 major plot points all happened in the course of a day and a half, which doesn't allow the situations to marinate and really showcase the importance of each event. Third, because of the compression of events, the plot never really revealed it's self. All of these things are happening at once when they should have happened over a longer course. Yet, we still have no idea why we should care and where these events are even going.
The fourth thing I want to add is that the world building could have been 10× better. The world's concept is really interesting, but we barely get insight into the magic system they have. Like: What is the list of abilities, and what can each ability do? What are the ranks of power for each ability? And why do the silvers have abilities, and the reds don't? Furthermore, with that type of information, it could have given us more of a hint on why Mare does have these abilities as a red. Also, a major point is that parts of the continent are at war with each other, but it never explains why. Showing why could have been a great way to add more suspense regarding politics and giving contrast between the reds and the silvers. I think it was a great concept but poorly executed. I give this book 2/5 ⭐️.
Throughout the course of events, we follow Mare Barrow, a red-blooded pickpocket. Her views on the silver bloods who rule the continent are very much intransigent. But things change for her when she's discovered as red blood with the abilities of a silver. To hide this phenomenon, the silver king uses her and showcases her off as a "lost silver princess" and marries her off to one of his sons. That's as far as I got in the book.
So I think the world's concept is actually intriguing, and if done well, it could have been so much more. A few of the major reasons why I DNFed this book is first, it's written in a very YA style. So yes, I'm very much aware that this is a YA book, so the straightforward, redundancy, with little to no underlying plot, is expected from the writing style. Usually, when I read that writing style, I tend to just ignore it, but because of the other shortcomings in the book, it was harder to get past. Second, the events in the book had little to no breathing room, like 10 major plot points all happened in the course of a day and a half, which doesn't allow the situations to marinate and really showcase the importance of each event. Third, because of the compression of events, the plot never really revealed it's self. All of these things are happening at once when they should have happened over a longer course. Yet, we still have no idea why we should care and where these events are even going.
The fourth thing I want to add is that the world building could have been 10× better. The world's concept is really interesting, but we barely get insight into the magic system they have. Like: What is the list of abilities, and what can each ability do? What are the ranks of power for each ability? And why do the silvers have abilities, and the reds don't? Furthermore, with that type of information, it could have given us more of a hint on why Mare does have these abilities as a red. Also, a major point is that parts of the continent are at war with each other, but it never explains why. Showing why could have been a great way to add more suspense regarding politics and giving contrast between the reds and the silvers. I think it was a great concept but poorly executed. I give this book 2/5 ⭐️.