Red Queen

From a young age, everyone is told not to judge a book by its cover. But, let’s be honest, the cover is the first aspect we see on a book. Red Queen has a unique book cover. It uses the single shade background and one object of focus tactic. The cover is eye catching, but the story itself could use some improvement.

This debut young adult novel, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, is about seventeen-year-old Mare that lives in poverty due to her blood. In this world, people with red blood live in the poverty and work as slaves to those with silver blood. Red blood people have no abilities compared to the silvers who possess abilities of nature and science. The two bloods don’t get along and are currently in war against one another. In a turn of events, Mare finds herself working for the silvers only to discover something unique about herself which that will be the key to red blood fate. The theme for this story is tricky to pinpoint because Mare doesn’t have an exact goal. She just takes things as they come and doesn’t fight back.

The world for this book is developed, and the characters have connections to one another. However, there is an emotional distance between the reader and Mare[RL7] . She represents most teenage girls trying to find their place in the world. However, Mare is indifferent [RL8] throughout the book. She wants to feel emotions, but has trouble showing them or even thinking about them. Some teenage girls can relate to this, but others not so much. Mare’s story goes on a physical journey not so much an emotional one. At times, Mare expresses how she feels, but quickly changes those feelings before the reader can even fathom them.

Triangle romances can be an intriguing plot use[RL10] , but with it being used so often it becomes a cliché. However, Victoria Aveyard has created a love square relationship with Kilhorn, Cal, Maven, and Mare. Although Mare’s relationship with Kilhorn is platonic, Mare seems to have strong emotions for him. She doesn’t explain how she feels for him, but it’s that same emotion between Bella and Jake in The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer. There are times when Kilhorn seems to be in love with Mare, but he doesn't explicitly reveal that he is. Cal is essentially the guy for Mare, but she continually denies her feelings for him since she is betrothed to his younger brother, Maven. The romance in this book is subtle, but there's too many possible partners for Mare to be with, and it clogs the actual romance within the story.

This story is definitely plot driven because each event leads to another without the main character being the reason for transition. With new world fantasy, the best strategy is to ease the reader into the world rather than throwing them into it full throttle. It is better to show how the world works, how it came to be, and who lives in it. In any genre, it is important to have the characters drive the story, so the reader can take a back seat and view the world through the protagonist’s or the other character's view. However, Mare already knows everything about the word, so there’s little for her to question and discover. The reader needs Mare to ask their questions, so they can understand more about this world.

There are a lot of characters in this book, but half of them are not developed or that important to the story. Stock characters are important to fill the gaps for major city locations in a story, but not if the story takes place in a single room. There are a lot of characters in this book that don’t fully contribute to this story. In Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, there are a ton of characters, but each is fully developed to where the audience/reader can connect with them, and they serve a purpose to the story. Characters go in and out during this book, so there’s not enough time to build an emotional bond for these characters. Cal seems to be the most rounded character because he is strong and confident when he needs to be, and tender and understanding when he wants to be. His personality, needs, and goals are developed the most.

At times, the story is a real page turner, but other times the story seems to drag on. There are a lot of excessive details and thoughts that slow the story down, and it drives [RL16] the reader’s patience. The fighting scenes are the most difficult to keep up with because some important details go missing. Aveyard experiments a lot with her syntax and wording, so readers will need to reread sentences to understand what they just read. There a few twists and turns in this book, but they don’t come as a huge surprise.

There are some similarities with this story and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Mare goes on a journey by volunteering her place for another. She trains herself for this new world, and is forced into a relationship. She is the hope and essentially face for the rebellion, and she must find a way to beat the authority that controls her fate. The Hunger Games might have been an inspiration for this book.

Red Queen is an intriguing story to read, but with more character development and a character driven story, the next book should be just as good. Every story will render differently with each reader, but the story of Mare in Red Queen is everything they will expect for a new world fantasy book. Bottom line, I give the story three out five for a well-developed world, but lack of character development.

#book #fantasy #newworld #mixedemotions