Note:
I originally wrote this review after reading Red Queen for the first time in December of last year, but I never
got around to proofreading and posting it. I’m currently marathoning the entire
Red Queen series, and I’m posting
this review after reading this book for the second time. I also read Cruel Crown at the end of last year, but
I didn’t have enough to say about what I thought about that book to warrant
writing a review for the book.
Right off the bat, I have to say that I absolutely loved
Victoria Aveyard’s book, Red Queen,
and I found it to be insanely addictive as I was reading it. Red Queen is definitely one of my top
favorite books out of all the books that I’ve read so far this year; and the
more I think about it, I would say that it has even surpassed Sara Holland’s
book, Everless, as my #1 favorite
book out of all the YA fantasy books that I’ve read this year.
There’s definitely a lot to love about Red Queen, and one of the many great things about this book is
definitely the characters. Red Queen is
definitely a book that’s full of well-written, complex characters; with many of
them being morally gray characters. The fact that a lot of the characters in
this book demonstrated a certain amount of moral ambiguity, while also still
being likable characters, is definitely one of the things that I loved most
about this book; because I’ve always been a huge fan of TV shows, movies, and
books that feature morally gray characters.
Personally, I think that Mare is a great protagonist, and I
thought that Aveyard did a fantastic job of writing her in such a way that
she’s a very complex and nuanced character. I really enjoyed how Mare was very
confident and unapologetic about being a pickpocket, which is something that
really upsets her mother. Mare is also a very bitter person, especially when it
comes to people who are Silvers; but at the same time, I ultimately think that
she does have a good heart. After all, one of the plot points at the beginning
of Red Queen that really kicks off
the overall plot of the book is her trying to help her friend, Kilorn Warren,
avoid being conscripted into the army since there’s a war that’s currently
going on; which Mare’s brother, Shade, had apparently died fighting in. Her
efforts to try and help him avoid conscription led to her sister, Gisa’s,
sowing hand being broken after she (Gisa) tries to pick somebody’s pocket. It’s
not explicitly stated that Gisa’s sowing hand will never be able to properly
heal; but based on Gisa’s emotional reaction and Mare’s guilt over the
incident, I got the distinct impression that her sowing hand being broken meant
that Gisa was going to lose her job as an apprentice to a silk embroiderer.
