Book Review: Broken Throne (Book #4.5 in the Red Queen series) by Victoria Aveyard (Spoilers)

Right off the bat, I have to say that I definitely went into reading with Broken Throne with a great deal of excitement and anticipation, and I’m thrilled to say that I absolutely loved this book for the most part. Since Broken Throne is a collection of novellas and various other content, I decided to approach reviewing this book by commenting on each novella and section, give each section their own individual score, and my overall score for Broken Throne will be the average of my scores for each individual section of the book; similar to how I approached reviewing Sarah J. Maas’ book of Throne of Glass novellas, The Assassin’s Blade. That being said, here are my thoughts on Broken Throne.

Julian’s Notes

I thought that this section was a very interesting and great way to start Broken Throne, because I felt like Julian’s notes to Cal about the timeline of Norta’s history once again really added to the world building aspect of the Red Queen series; which is something that I’ve always thought that Victoria Aveyard did a great job of executing throughout the course of the series. That being said, I did think that Aveyard’s writing for this particular section of the book was a little dry, and I also felt like she kind of broke the “show, don’t tell” rule of writing with her writing for this part of the book. That being said, I do think that the slightly dry tone of Aveyard’s writing for Julian’s notes to Cal did a pretty good job of adding a sense of authenticity to the idea that this section of the book is supposed to be focused on Julian telling Cal details about the history of Norta, though. Honestly, I wish that this section of Broken Throne had been a little longer, because I really enjoyed it; and it once again added to the aspects of the Red Queen series that played a big part in what made me fall in love with the series, and become low-key obsessed with the series in the first place when I read the book, Red Queen, for the very first time back in November/December of 2018.

My Score: 9 out of 10.

Monarchs of House Calore

I absolutely loved this section of Broken Throne for the most part. I thought that this section of the book definitely added a lot to the history and worldbuilding aspect of the Red Queen series, which is something that I think Aveyard has always done a great job of executing throughout the course of the series. This section of the book and the way it’s executed also reminded me a lot of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book, Fire & Blood; which was all about the history of the Targaryen family, and it was a book that I also really enjoyed. It felt very fitting to me that Aveyard essentially wrote this section as if it was a brief record of the Calore family that was written by Julian Jacos for Cal to have, especially given Julian’s love of books. I was also rather amused by the note that Julian had written to Cal at the beginning of this section. That being said, I definitely think that this section of the book left a lot of room to be expanded upon, because the life of each person in the Calore family was pretty much summed up in just one long paragraph; and in the case of several of the people that were mentioned in this section, only a few sentences.

Book Review: War Storm (Book #4 in the Red Queen series) by Victoria Aveyard (Spoiler Review)

Right off the bat, I have to say that before I even started reading War Storm, I was definitely feeling really nervous about how much I was going to like this book, and feel satisfied with it being the ending of the main part of the Red Queen series; especially since I was very aware of the fact that War Storm has gotten a lot of mixed, if not bad, reviews from the fans of the series before I had even started reading the Red Queen series back in December of 2018. That being said, after having read War Storm, I’m thrilled to say that I really loved this book for the most part. Don’t get me wrong, I do think that War Storm definitely has some flaws that I’ll talk about later on in this review, but ultimately, I still loved it for many reasons.

Something that really stands out to me as being one of the things that I loved the most about this book is that I felt like Victoria Aveyard did a really great job of conveying each of the P.O.V. characters’ (Mare, Evangeline, Cal, Iris, and Maven) individual internal struggles that they were dealing with throughout the course of the book. For starters, it was especially interesting to see how Mare was really struggling at the beginning of this book with Cal’s betrayal at the end of King’s Cage. While I really enjoyed Evangeline’s P.O.V. chapters in King’s Cage, I enjoyed her P.O.V. chapters in this book even more. One thing that I especially loved and appreciated about Evangeline’s first P.O.V. chapter (Chapter Two) is the fact that in the opening moments of the chapter, she considers killing Anabel Lerolan, only to quickly feel bad about the fact that she had even thought about doing that when she was simply alone in her own head. Even though I personally haven’t fantasized about murdering someone, that moment still really resonated with me; because there was honestly a period of time in my life when I was really struggling to come to terms with me being bisexual to the point that I didn’t even like simply thinking about the possibility of being bisexual when I was alone in my own head. Honestly, I think it’s perfectly normal for people to have things that they don’t like thinking about, or for people to have things that they feel bad for thinking about when they’re simply alone in their own mind. Plus, I feel like that moment added even more depth and complexity to Evangeline as a character; so, I really love and appreciate the fact that Aveyard included that moment in the book.

Personally, I’m thrilled beyond words that Maven and Iris were both P.O.V. characters in War Storm, but I’m definitely especially thrilled about the fact that Maven was FINALLY a P.O.V. character in this book. That being said, one criticism that I do have about Maven’s and Iris’ P.O.V. chapters is that I don’t think that Aveyard delved as deep into developing them as characters as she probably could have in those chapters. While I do think that Aveyard did a great job of conveying the fact that Maven and Iris’ marriage was essentially nothing more than a political alliance, and that there definitely weren’t any romantic or loving feelings between the two of them; I still felt like Aveyard could have delved a little deeper into developing Iris as an individual character than she did in Iris’ P.O.V. chapters throughout the book, especially since Iris was just introduced in King’s Cage.

Book Review: King’s Cage (Book #3 in the Red Queen series) by Victoria Aveyard (Spoiler Review)

Right off the bat, I have to say that King’s Cage is definitely my favorite book in the Red Queen series so far for many, many, many reasons. That being said, I have to admit that going into reading King’s Cage, I was definitely feeling rather skeptical about how much I was going to enjoy this book. Thankfully, I’m thrilled to say that all of the skepticism that I had been feeling going into reading this book ultimately proved to be unfounded. Victoria Aveyard truly blew me away with the direction that she took the series in in this book. That being said, here are my thoughts on King’s Cage.

Prior to reading King’s Cage, one of the biggest concerns that I had about this book, was how much I would ultimately enjoy it if Mare was going to be Maven’s prisoner in this book. I have to admit that I was half-expecting the pacing of the book’s plot to feel painfully slow, and a big part of me was thinking that I would get really bored reading the book if Mare was Maven’s prisoner for a large portion of the book. In the end, the portion of book where Mare is Maven’s prisoner actually ended up being one of the best and most interesting aspects of this book, as far as I’m concerned. Plus, not only was I very surprised by the fact that Mare was freed from being Maven’s prisoner much earlier in the book than I had been expecting her to be, I was also incredibly surprised by the fact that Evangeline was the one who helped free Mare from Maven’s captivity. I had pretty much been assuming that Cal and the other members of the Scarlet Guard would be the ones who would help free Mare from Maven’s captivity.

Given all of the horrible things that Maven did “off screen” in Glass Sword, I was really left thinking that Maven had lost a lot of depth in that book, since the reader wasn’t privy to any of his thought process, and the reader isn’t given any in depth insight into his emotional state throughout the course of events that take place in that book. If Maven had had more of a presence in Glass Sword, I think it would have let the readers know whether or not Maven still has any sense of humanity, or any redeeming qualities at this point. Ultimately, after reading King’s Cage, I think the reason why Maven didn’t have more of a presence in Glass Sword was because Aveyard wanted to wait until this book to really give the reader some insight into why Maven is the way he is. I’m not sure I completely agree with Aveyard’s decision to save the “understanding Maven” element of the Red Queen series for this book since it’s the third book in the series; but I ultimately loved the writing for Maven in this book. Aveyard’s writing for Maven, and the backstory we’re given for him in this book is definitely one of the things that I loved the most about King’s Cage.

Book Review: Glass Sword (Book #2 in the Red Queen series) by Victoria Aveyard (Spoiler Review)

Right off the bat, I have to say that given how much I loved Red Queen, I definitely went into reading Glass Sword with a great deal of excitement and anticipation. That being said, while I definitely think that Glass Sword is a great book, I unfortunately didn’t love it quite as much as I loved Red Queen.

Glass Sword definitely hit the ground running by picking up pretty much right where Red Queen left off, which I really liked and appreciated about this book; especially given the way Red Queen ended. This book as a whole is definitely very action packed, and that’s also something that I really enjoyed about Glass Sword, particularly at the beginning of the book. That being said, while the overall plot of Glass Sword is very action packed and entertaining, I did think that the plot of the book started to feel slightly repetitive after a while; since such a large part of the book’s plot focused on Mare and the others traveling around the world in search of the people on Julian’s list of New Bloods.

On the positive side of things, I really enjoyed the variety of characters that were introduced throughout the course of the book as Mare, Cal, Kilorn, Shade, and the other members of the Scarlet Guard traveled around the world in search of the people who are New Bloods, like Mare and Shade, that were on Julian’s list. I also thought that Aveyard did a great job of coming up with a lot of really interesting and cool abilities for the people on Julian’s list to have. However, I have to admit that Mare really frustrated me at times throughout the book; especially in terms of her reactions to some of the people’s abilities. It really annoyed me that Mare was automatically expecting all of the New Bloods on Julian’s list to have powers that they would be able to use in a fight like she, Cal, Kilorn, and Shade all have. Plus, the fact that she basically automatically assumed that the people on Julian’s list would all join the Scarlet Guard and come with them once they found them also really frustrated me. Don’t get me wrong, I can definitely understand Mare being worried about the possibility that Maven might find the New Bloods on Julian’s list that didn’t go with them and kill them; especially since Maven did indeed kill some of the New Bloods on Julian’s list before Mare and the others had even found them. However, I definitely think that Shade had a point when he pointed out to her that the New Bloods that didn’t join them were capable of defending themselves if Maven found them and tried to hurt them; as well as telling her that joining the Scarlet Guard simply might not be the right thing for them to do, in terms of their happiness, and their lives in general.

Book Review: Red Queen (Book #1 in the Red Queen series) by Victoria Aveyard (Spoiler Review)

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.

Red Queen Series: Victoria Aveyard Reveals Upcoming Short Story Collection

Here's an announcement that Victoria Aveyard made on Epic Reads' YouTube channel about a Red Queen short story collection that she'll be writing. As I previously announced, I've been thinking a lot about binge reading/marathoning the Red Queen series. Since then, I've also been thinking about vlogging about my thoughts on the series as I read it. This announcement definitely has me leaning even more towards doing that than I already was. A part of me has been questioning myself about how relevant vlogging about reading the Red Queen series would be, since I was previously under the impression that the series was truly complete, and the last book in the series, War Storm, was released back in May. Perhaps other people will disagree with me, but I feel like this announcement gives the idea of me vlogging about binge reading/marathoning the Red Queen series more relevance than I had been thinking there would be prior to Victoria Aveyard making this announcement. Regardless of whether or not I ultimately decide to do a vlog about reading the Red Queen series, I definitely want to read the series. 😀

I'm thinking about binge reading/marathoning Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen book series

I’ve never read Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series, but lately I’ve been thinking a lot about possibly binge reading/marathoning the series. That would definitely be an interesting reading goal for me to attempt since the only book series that I’ve ever binge read/marathoned was Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I did the summer after I graduated from high school back in 2006. I think a big part of whether or not I actually end up binge reading the series would depend on how much I end up liking the first book in the series, Red Queen. If anybody who sees this post is a fan of the series, or has at least read some of the books in the series, I would love to know, what's your favorite book in the series? What book is your least favorite book in the series? Please, feel free to leave a response to this question in the comment section below. 😀

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