Title- Red Queen
Rating– 4/5
Genre- YA Fantasy
POV- Red Queen is one of only present tense stories that hasn’t been jarring for me
Trope- Enemies to lovers, Forbidden love, two brother love triangle, teen revolution leader
Similar/Comps– The City of Brass (I DNF this one), Angelfall (This one seemed darker than Red Queen), Shadow & Bone (This one is more popular than Red Queen but didn’t live up to the hype for me)
My emotions- Torn between the love triangle, excited who she would choose. Aghast from the climax
Characters–
Mare- I wasn’t given enough examples of WHY so many guys like Mare so much. I needed something shown that was missing.
Cal- Prince #1
Maven- Prince #2
I’m purposefully not spoiling info about the males above, read for yourself
Plot/Blurb-
Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood—those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.
To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard—a growing Red rebellion—even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.
Best part-
I loved the morally gray characters and I loved the ironic mirroring aspect of the character and what she hated about her antagonists.
What I’d change-
The way Mare kept complaining about how her parents viewed Gisa compared to her didn’t feel authentic or believable because I didn’t see enough evidence of that early on. Also, the Queen should’ve had more power than she showed. The plan they had shouldn’t have been possible with her specific powers so that part I couldn’t get on board with either. Which is probably why certain things ended up being predictable for me. It ended on a cliffhanger/set up for the sequel, but overall I don’t think I was satisfied with the ending because not enough goals were achieved. Like they did all that work for _____?
Quote-
“Flame and shadow. One cannot exist without the other.”
Pacing-
I read this fast which is always a good sign.
Comments-
I read half of the sequel and had to stop at pg 240ish/440 because it just wasn’t working for me anymore. It felt very flat compared to the first.
Cassie Swindon 