Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (Red Queen #1)

I'm a little amazed at the warm welcome Red Queen has received. I really am having a hard time understanding how it’s rated it so highly. I'd like to say this book tried and failed, but did it even try?

There was some potential. The world was certainly new, in a sense. There are two classes, the Silvers and the Reds, separated literally by the color of their blood. The Silvers live a life of comfort and luxury, possessing certain supernatural abilities, such as elemental manipulation, telekinesis, mind reading, etc. The Reds live in poverty, treated as the scum of the earth, and are drafted into a Silver war if they have not found work by their 18th birthdays.

Turns out our Red protagonist Mare has one of these special abilities as well. She is whisked away, hidden, and trained. The only thing the Royals can think to do with her is to pretend she's a Silver separated from them at birth, since it's so unfathomable that Reds should have what they have. She's betrothed to one of the two very eligible princes and has training sessions with a quiet anarchist that gives her immediate information and secrets without her actually having to work for them.

Immediately, I was asking myself, Where have I read all this before?

And I wasn't immediately sure why, but it felt very much as if I were reading The Selection by Kiera Cass. The narrators' personalities are similarly stubborn, they both are plucked out of poverty with the opportunity to become royalty (that neither of them wants), and, oh yeah, I couldn't help but find their names similar (Mare vs. America, who goes by Mer for short). Perhaps this is why my view of the book was tainted from the start (seeing how I read The Selection recently and wasn't terribly fond of it), but there had to be more than that.

It wasn't necessarily stealing ideas from another book or authors (although I've heard more fellow readers compare this to Red Rising by Pierce Brown than I have The Selection). What was most bothersome was the complete lack of originality in this book. Everything was a cliché, from the angst-ridden love triangle to the social outcast status of our narrator to the ability that set her apart from the rest of her kind. It's so frustrating that it turned out this way, because I was so excited for the world, finally a fantasy without the dystopian feel.

Let's talk about the love triangle, or love "square" rather. Within the first few pages, we're introduced to Kilorn, Mare's childhood friend, whom she squabbles and bickers with, but holds the quiet fantasy of their "green-eyed children." Then there is Prince Cal, the crown prince, who is engaged to another and pays very little attention to Mare until quite suddenly he is in love with her. Then there is Prince Maven, Cal's younger and more demure little brother. Maven is Mare's betrothed and, luckily enough, part of the resistance to overthrow Silver government. Mare seems to have feelings for him too, but it's pretty hard to tell with Mare. She falls abruptly in and out of love and kisses whoever will bring her the most benefit.

This love square is tedious and nearly impossible to get through, but what makes it even more frustrating is that the decision is made for her in the end. It becomes something very simple and easy to decide.

Honestly, I found the whole book rather insipid and slow. The hope for the actual story (not the love bits or the palace drama) is what kept me going, but I was pretty sorely disappointed. The Silver war is given next to no attention, the revolution coasts along on the outside but is never explored, and alliances are formed or severed based on little more than petty personal feelings.

There is explicit setup for a sequel (or sequels), but I don't think I'll be standing in line to read it.