Red Queen, a dystopian fantasy novel, has rapidly gained popularity in recent times, and for good reason. The book contains an enticing mixture of humor, a Hunger Games-esque society, superpowers, and a bit of social commentary if you squint. I greatly enjoyed it and am currently in the middle of the fourth book in the series.

The novel is set in a dystopian society in which the population is separated into Reds and Silvers, based on the color of their blood. Those with red blood are common people, but those blessed with silver blood possess superhuman abilities, which they use to rule and control the Reds.

Red Queen follows Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl born to poverty and set to be drafted into the war; that is, until she discovers her own Silver-like powers. Mare learns that she has the ability to manipulate electricity, a power not even Silvers possess. Unfortunately, she makes this discovery directly in front of the royal family. Frightened by what a Red girl with Silver powers could mean, the royal family proclaims her to be a Silver princess and keeps her under constant surveillance at the palace. Despite the knowledge that the royal family won’t hesitate to have her killed, Mare decides to join the growing Red Revolution and take down the Silvers from the inside.

Aveyard’s writing truly keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end. I especially appreciated the blend of high-stakes, suspenseful action with a sarcastic and humorous narrator. While fairly common among sci-fi novels, I feel that she executed it beautifully. But the best thing about the novel for me was the twist at the end. I’ve read many books and have become pretty skilled at figuring out the endings, but I really didn’t see this one coming.

I would recommend this book for eighth grade readers and older and I’ll give it four out of five bookworms.

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Red Queen Book: https://amzn.to/4cr8kkv

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