Red Queen
2015
- love & romance
- ability
- resistance to government
- juvenile fiction
- ungdomslitteratur
- cloth or hardcover
- fantasy & magic
- fiction
- royalty (kings queens princes princesses knights, etc.)
- fantasy
The story
Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood--those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend is conscripted into the army she gambles everything to win his freedom. A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself, where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a power of her own--an ability she didn't know she had. Except her blood is Red. To hide this impossibility, the king forces her into 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 her new position to aid the Scarlet Guard--the leaders of a Red rebellion. Her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince--and Mare against her own heart. From debut author Victoria Aveyard comes a lush, vivid fantasy series where loyalty and desire can tear you apart and the only certainty is betrayal. This description comes from the publisher.
What it’s like
Cold, glittering courtly settings laid over a grimy, hand-to-mouth world: palace halls of marble, chandeliers and silver-trimmed gowns set against the smoky streets and cramped kitchens of the poor. The prose is quick and close, written in the first person with a restless, confiding voice, and its sensory world leans on luxury and grit in equal measure, sweat and cold iron beside velvet and candlelight. Pacing is brisk and cliffhanger-driven, with frequent reversals and secrets revealed in rapid succession, so it reads fast and rarely lets the tension slacken. Its emotional register is romantic and suspenseful, with a teenage heroine caught between loyalty and desire, slowly learning who to trust as alliances crack. Violence is present and fairly frequent, including battle, executions and political killings, with some bloody moments and a steady undercurrent of threat, though it stays more in the realm of action than graphic gore. Sexual content is limited to kisses and romantic tension. It suits a rainy weekend, a long commute, or a reader who wants a dramatic, romance-tinged rebellion story and a heroine who is out of her depth. Best for readers of young adult fantasy who enjoy courtly intrigue, love triangles and a rebellious underdog.
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