After reading Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen, I’m inspired to read the rest of the series.
In a world where the mortal Red bloods suffer oppression under the super-powerful ruling elite – the Silver bloods – Red protagonist Mare Barrow is stoic in the face of her imminent conscription. Like her three brothers before her, on her eighteenth birthday she’ll be sent to the front lines to fight in an age-old war against the Lakelanders – human fodder in a battle where the only winners will be the Silvers.
But, when by quirk of fate Mare finds herself part of the Silver court, she sees an opportunity to engage in a different fight. To bring the Silvers down from within. To liberate Reds from tyranny. But can one girl from the Stilts really outwit the all-powerful Silvers?
Red Queen maps Mare’s torment as she discovers that not only is she surrounded by enemies, but one also lurks inside her own heart. Aveyard does a superb job of balancing action and tension against Mare’s inner conflict as she comes to realise that when the stakes are high, so are the sacrifices required.
5 stars