Published February 9th 2016 by HarperTeen
Format: Novel
Genre And Themes: Romance, Fantasy, Young Adult, Heroes, Slavery, Rebellion, Superpowers
Length: 464 pages, paperback
Ebook ISBN/ASIN: 1409159353 (ISBN13: 9781409159353)
Characters: Tiberias Calore “Cal” VII, Mare Molly Barrow, Maven Calore
Blurb: If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different.
Mare’s blood is red – the colour of common folk – but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.
The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from the prince and friend who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.
Pursued by the Silver king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red and Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.
But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat. Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?
After the shocking conclusion of the first book where Mare and Cal found themselves betrayed, outcasted and almost dying from the manipulation of the evil Queen Elara and the newly crowned Silver king Maven, the quest to find the “newbloods” became the number one motivation for Mare to become the face of the Scarlet Guard in order to topple the Silver royals and their allies.
I did enjoy the previous book’s intro about the Silvers, Red bloods and the Red bloods with Silver abilities. Here, we get to see more of the newbloods – a number of characters with said enhanced Silver powers. The book focuses mostly on finding these ‘newbloods’ with Mare convincing them to join their cause with the help of the very reluctant Calore.
Although I loved the whole exhibition of each ability from these newbloods, I find the whole narrative of the book a bit repetitive and rather uneventful save for its latter part . We didn’t get any juicy new sub-plots. It’s like more of a set-up for the upcoming events in the series that unfortunately didn’t unfold in this book.
It is still kind of interesting and fascinating discovering the abilities of the new bloods but there was detachment from the main characters.
What saved the whole book from being horrible is the fact that it build up a premise that may or may not break the series in the coming installments.
I don’t mind reading more from this world and these characters. One thing’s for sure, Ms. Aveyard is a very pretty inventive writer. Bravo!
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
I’ve actually finished the second and third book upon writing this review. For the record, I’m not a fan of the brothers. I am 100% #TeamKilorn.
About The Author
Victoria Aveyard graduated from USC, where she majored in screenwriting. RED QUEEN is her first novel. She splits her time between Massachusetts and Los Angeles. You can visit her online at www.victoriaaveyard.com.
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