book review: red queen

I don’t know what it is about new releases for 2015, but they've got some of the prettiest covers I’ve ever seen. *cough* THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, THE LEMONCHOLY LIFE OF ANNIE ASTER *cough* 

And RED QUEEN is no exception. 

I mean…

*points*

As you can see, I was so in love with it, I did a tribute mani.

Here’s the synopsis, from Goodreads:

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

***

As far as synopses go, this one's a little brief, but that’s probably because the book is so full of twists and turns that even a little information could be spoiler-y. Because when I say twists and turns, guys, I mean twists and turns. Just about every chapter had some kind of jaw-dropping game-changer, which is why I read the book in less than a day. It was kind of like the TV series LOST, in that regard. The story moved forward quickly, but took a very winding path to the end. Or to the end of this book, anyway, as this is the first of a series. 

Other reviews have described RED QUEEN as high-fantasy X-Men-meets-THE SELECTION-meets-DIVERGENT, and I’d say that’s pretty accurate. There’s a strong emphasis on power, both from a societal perspective, and the literal superhuman powers that certain characters possess. Mare Barrow was certainly a likable characters, along the lines of Tris, from DIVERGENT, but I found her to be less mature. Mare's naïveté irked me a couple of times, but because she’d lived a fairly sheltered life in The Stilts, it was a forgivable irritant. And, to be fair, once Mare figured out that she could kick some serious ass, she got down to business, in the most major of ways. 

Some criticism of RED QUEEN has included critiques of its “non-original” plot, but since there’s pretty much no such thing as an original plot anymore, and it’s about how the plot plays out—the intricate, unique details that stem from the author’s imagination—RED QUEEN is a home-freaking-run. Cheering for the underdog is totally my bag, along with female-led dystopian rebellions, so I can't freaking wait for the rest of this series. 

So if you like dystopian YA fiction and have daydreamed about what it’d be like to control someone else’s mind, shoot fireballs from your hands, or channel electricity, I think you’ll love RED QUEEN.