Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

TL;DR The Selection aesthetic but with actual stakes

TBR #934, added Sept 2, 2014

library ebook hold placed on 8/17/16; #60 in queue; received 10/8/16, #4

finished 10/12/16

Yet another review I waited a month to write.

I downloaded a sample of Red Queen from Google Play at some point, and it was interesting enough that I was willing to let it take up one of my ebook request spots for two months. (I can only place holds on six ebooks at a time.)

I think Red Queen was such a good read for me because Mare didn't dig in her heels and make stupid decisions at every move. She realized the position she was in, and more often than not she played the part that the Silvers were forcing her to. She didn't do stupid rebellions like America did in The Selection.

Red Queen definitely had a similar aesthetic to The Selection, but the setup of the world was more interesting. Probably because the Silvers had powers. That's always a plus to the story in my mind. I also got the sense that their world was supposed to be set in a version of ours, so far after a dystopian event that it was obviously nowhere near being anything American anymore.

(Note: there's a map in the cover of King's Cage, book 3 of the series. I saw it on the publisher's twitter. I don't know if it's necessarily a spoiler to the second book.)

Honestly, if nothing else, I want more people to read Red Queen so I can discuss the ending of the book. Holy cow. I think there was one point where I picked up on foreshadowing, but I actually dismissed it. The ending surprised me so much and it was so good. Red Queen was definitely an improvement on The Selection aesthetic in that the stakes were actually legitimate, and not empty threats to create drama. Stuff actually happens.

TL;DR I enjoyed this a lot and I'm definitely going to continue with the series, hopefully sooner than later.