When I first saw an ad on YouTube for a new book that had a dystopian feel to it, I couldn’t help but check it out for myself. The book I discovered was called The Red Queen by: Victoria Aveyard.

The book is set in a world where people either have red blood or silver blood. People with silver blood have special abilities, like being able to control fire or being able to read minds or having super strength. Then people with red blood are normal and are considered “lesser” to the silvers, living in slums or serving the silvers in royal or high houses.

The story focuses on a 17 year old girl, Mare Barrow. Her blood is red and she grew up in a red slum called the stilts. When she is sent to serve the royal family, an accident occurs that should kill Mare but instead proves that though she is red, she has silver abilities. The King and Queen hide her in plain sight, disguised as the lost daughter of one of the fallen silver high houses and is then betrothed to the youngest of the two princes, Maven Calore.  

This book is full Mare having to leave her old life behind and learn to be silver, while also aiding a red rebellion, the scarlet guard, and figuring out exactly who she is and what her blood means.

The Red Queen wouldn’t be a proper young adult novel without a love triangle. Mare is betrothed to Maven, the youngest and is drawn closer to him as he proves to be an ally to the scarlet  guard. But then there is Cal, the oldest and heir to the throne. Cal first saw Mare trying to steal from him back in the stilts. He didn’t know then of her ability but felt connected to her somehow. He personally requested for her to be sent to the palace as a server, to help give her family money and save Mare from being sent to the army.

One thing I really like about this book is that it deals with a group of people being discriminated for something completely out of their control, which sounds very similar to our own history books.

This book definitely wins as my new favorite dystopian themed book of all time for the compelling story, the parallels to real life, and just for the mere fact that it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves books like The Hunger Games or Divergent, and with a similar path of success, I am hoping for a movie adaptation very soon.