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tbgr_l57l's review against another edition
5.0
Done rereading this work of art. I think it was definitely worth the reread. 💗 4.5 stars. 💫
aireeeka's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
bookdust's review against another edition
2.0
Ah... (spoilers aheaaaad)
The moment I read the first page, my brain was already planning RED QUEEN'S review. Which normally when my brain whips out a critique pen like that it means that the book is basically hydroplaning down a dangerous path that I am not a fan.
This is the first time I have ever experienced such a strange thought while reading a book, but once the idea was there it made complete sense: RED QUEEN would have been so much better if Mare Barrow wasn't in it. I truly mean it. Mare was dry, boring, and she lacked voice and character (very very much like Tris from Divergent, another heroin who I couldn't care less if she fell off a cliff). Mare was interesting enough in chapter 1, a bitter thief who knows her place in the slums that she resides. That impeccable last line of the chapter even got me, but once our main character catches the fatal special snowflake syndrome that so many YA characters die fatally of, the book just crashed and crashed and crashed. I lost count of how many times Mare said, "I'm not normal." Okay we get it. You aren't like other girls. You have three male characters going googly eyed over you and everyone has an epic nickname and destiny in mind for you. You're not like other girls in the here and now, but you sure as hell are like EVERY other girl in YA books. I am actually exhausted over these tropes. (Let me add, I love these tropes quite dearly, but when they're done WELL and FRESHLY. This was like eating a soggy tomato sandwich I found on the floor). RED QUEEN was a sloppy patchwork blanket of THE HUNGER GAMES, SHADOW AND BONE, and of course, X-MEN. I also think a bit of GOT as well (miss whisperer Queenie was that blonde haired incest lady for sure).
Back to Mare. Mare's decisions made sense in the beginning: get out of becoming a soldier, get her friend who was alarmingly similar to Gale from HG out of becoming a soldier, and continue hating Silvers. But once she becomes a spectacle of Red/Silver power, her brain must have been fried when she freaking fell on that electric shield. I never understood her actions. She was an idiot. If the queen lady whisperer could read her mind, of course she saw that Mare had talked to the head of the rebellion, the Scarlet Guard. Though I'm assuming that the queen used that against her in her evil villain plan, it's never clearly stated. And Mare is a dumb ass for reacting like, "Gee wiz! I'm so lucky that this woman who RAKED OVER MY ENTIRE MEMORY BANK didn't somehow see me talking to the rebellion! Haha I am so lucky and special. Weeee electricity."
There was no thought process behind joining the Scarlet Guard. One second she's visiting her family, the next she's making her way to the bad rebellion secret hideout (with the damn Prince, how blind is he??) with her "sign me up" pen. There also seemed to be no thought process behind her sudden infatuation with Maven. That is what baffled me the most. It was the most insta-love nonsense I had seen in a while in YA. I thought we were finally getting away from that. Her feelings for Cal made sense, but I just didn't really care. But for Maven? Nope. Don't get it. One second, he's a very nice guy and then suddenly she's like oh hey I want to kiss you and be your red queen hay hay.
Which speaking of Maven and Cal, let me now get to the pointlessness of Mare Barrow before I get off track again. Maven and Cal, brothers and sons of the king, are the only characters that kept me reading. Not Cal's uncle who raised Mare in the special snowflake lifestyle, not the Scarlet Guard who are tactfully stupid (but more on that later), and especially not damn Mare. Maven and Cal had interesting characterization - I'll give Aveyard that. I liked their balance, or I guess I could call it imbalance. Cal first came off kind and sweet, but fleshed out to the soldier that he is. He's not good with people; he's good with war. Maven on the other hand is charismatic and clever. He lives in his brother's shadow and the resentment flows heavy. RED QUEEN would have been SO much better if this was a third person perspective about Cal and Maven and the tension and struggles between them. They were where any characterization or interesting subplots actually thrived. Mare just stumbled between them like a drunken dame screaming, "I'M SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE!" trying to kiss whoever puckered up.
The Scarlet Guard failed to be a menacing revolution/terrorist group. I liked Farley, but she was never characterized enough for me to really care about her either. All the Scarlet Guard had was a really good tagline and some cool fashion statements. I didn't mind them, but at that point when damn Maven (Darkling), Kilorn (Gale), Mare (washed out Katniss/Tris), and Farley(multiple older tough woman characters) were planning how to take over the castle, and THAT PLAN was created. That STUPID plan... It was so obviously going to fail. I mean, I already knew it was going to fail because that's how books go. Characters make big revolt plans and fail (see HG, Shadow and Bone, and etc). But this plan didn't even try. Dear God, it was sloppy. It was obvious to see where Aveyard had to hack down her word count. What is it Farley asks? Something like, "You want to put the success of our revolt in the hand of a teenage love story?" I lost it. That was the stupidest thing I had EVER heard in my life. That is unrealistic Twilight dreamy teen-bop bait, and I actually scoffed at it. Actually scoffed. That's something that book characters do, not real people (along with scowling for some reason).
I did actually like the "twist" that didn't really impress/surprise me but was still a nice change for the whole damn book. Maven, of course, lets his baby underdog teeth come out and trades them for fangs as he betrays basically everyone so he and his mother can complete a hot and steamy Freudian concept. To put it in a more clear way, he pulled a Hans from FROZEN (yes the deeply loved and deeply hated Disney movie). He even does the whole, "I didn't actually love you" bit. It was actually a very good scene up until Maven and his mother broke out into a, "As you know, Bob, it was ME all along! I did this! I am EVIL! BWAHAHAHAHA!" speech. Then Aveyard lost me again, and what I thought was permanently until the execution scene (which I don't really care to get into that much. It had good fighting, unconvincing evil Maven, and a nice little impressive special snowflake trick before hoorah! Rebels chilling in a hole in the floor save them from death, and her brother is alive!)
The woman can write good action scenes, I give her that. I guess screenplay writing school doesn't cheat you there where it strips you of all the wrong detail points everywhere else for writing books. Aveyard's writing was strong in certain bits and very weak in others. Where I think she really failed and never captured me was that she didn't have emotional detail. I never believed what Mare felt. When Mare was sad, I wasn't sad. When Mare was nervous, scared, happy, in love, I wasn't. I just didn't care. She didn't appeal to me because Mare barely shared herself. There was just a lot of italicized thoughts coming from a cold, emotionless brain.
The book was way too long. I know the marketing crew made that book abnormally tall to hide it's word count (as they does with the big fantasy sellers. Seriously, go look at your bookshelf.), but it was very obviously over 100k. It didn't need to be. Not very much happened for it to be over 100k. But yes, there was unnecessary detail where there didn't need to be (which I had to force myself to stop skimming over), and where I needed more explanation Aveyard basically swooped in and shrugged saying, "Sorry, but lookie here another pretty description of the sexy and deceiving royalty where no one is trusted and everyone is interested in you!"
Phew, okay. That was a lot. I'm done though. Unless I read this again and decide to fix it, this is the conclusion of my review. Mare is not an amazing feminist symbol because of ONE thing she said about being "no one's woman" or whatever. She's an idiot. A gullible idiot who thought too highly of herself, and yet somehow still achieved being dry and boring. This is just another big shot book series that was copied off of other successful stories, and I don't understand the appeal. But hey, read whatever you'd like. This is just my two scents aboard the sea of a billion lost words on the internet. I probably won't be reading the next book unless someone gifts it to me. Then I'll be back, and we'll see if Mare has any living ounce of redemption to be interesting.
Okay, farewell! And thanks for reading!
The moment I read the first page, my brain was already planning RED QUEEN'S review. Which normally when my brain whips out a critique pen like that it means that the book is basically hydroplaning down a dangerous path that I am not a fan.
This is the first time I have ever experienced such a strange thought while reading a book, but once the idea was there it made complete sense: RED QUEEN would have been so much better if Mare Barrow wasn't in it. I truly mean it. Mare was dry, boring, and she lacked voice and character (very very much like Tris from Divergent, another heroin who I couldn't care less if she fell off a cliff). Mare was interesting enough in chapter 1, a bitter thief who knows her place in the slums that she resides. That impeccable last line of the chapter even got me, but once our main character catches the fatal special snowflake syndrome that so many YA characters die fatally of, the book just crashed and crashed and crashed. I lost count of how many times Mare said, "I'm not normal." Okay we get it. You aren't like other girls. You have three male characters going googly eyed over you and everyone has an epic nickname and destiny in mind for you. You're not like other girls in the here and now, but you sure as hell are like EVERY other girl in YA books. I am actually exhausted over these tropes. (Let me add, I love these tropes quite dearly, but when they're done WELL and FRESHLY. This was like eating a soggy tomato sandwich I found on the floor). RED QUEEN was a sloppy patchwork blanket of THE HUNGER GAMES, SHADOW AND BONE, and of course, X-MEN. I also think a bit of GOT as well (miss whisperer Queenie was that blonde haired incest lady for sure).
Back to Mare. Mare's decisions made sense in the beginning: get out of becoming a soldier, get her friend who was alarmingly similar to Gale from HG out of becoming a soldier, and continue hating Silvers. But once she becomes a spectacle of Red/Silver power, her brain must have been fried when she freaking fell on that electric shield. I never understood her actions. She was an idiot. If the queen lady whisperer could read her mind, of course she saw that Mare had talked to the head of the rebellion, the Scarlet Guard. Though I'm assuming that the queen used that against her in her evil villain plan, it's never clearly stated. And Mare is a dumb ass for reacting like, "Gee wiz! I'm so lucky that this woman who RAKED OVER MY ENTIRE MEMORY BANK didn't somehow see me talking to the rebellion! Haha I am so lucky and special. Weeee electricity."
There was no thought process behind joining the Scarlet Guard. One second she's visiting her family, the next she's making her way to the bad rebellion secret hideout (with the damn Prince, how blind is he??) with her "sign me up" pen. There also seemed to be no thought process behind her sudden infatuation with Maven. That is what baffled me the most. It was the most insta-love nonsense I had seen in a while in YA. I thought we were finally getting away from that. Her feelings for Cal made sense, but I just didn't really care. But for Maven? Nope. Don't get it. One second, he's a very nice guy and then suddenly she's like oh hey I want to kiss you and be your red queen hay hay.
Which speaking of Maven and Cal, let me now get to the pointlessness of Mare Barrow before I get off track again. Maven and Cal, brothers and sons of the king, are the only characters that kept me reading. Not Cal's uncle who raised Mare in the special snowflake lifestyle, not the Scarlet Guard who are tactfully stupid (but more on that later), and especially not damn Mare. Maven and Cal had interesting characterization - I'll give Aveyard that. I liked their balance, or I guess I could call it imbalance. Cal first came off kind and sweet, but fleshed out to the soldier that he is. He's not good with people; he's good with war. Maven on the other hand is charismatic and clever. He lives in his brother's shadow and the resentment flows heavy. RED QUEEN would have been SO much better if this was a third person perspective about Cal and Maven and the tension and struggles between them. They were where any characterization or interesting subplots actually thrived. Mare just stumbled between them like a drunken dame screaming, "I'M SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE!" trying to kiss whoever puckered up.
The Scarlet Guard failed to be a menacing revolution/terrorist group. I liked Farley, but she was never characterized enough for me to really care about her either. All the Scarlet Guard had was a really good tagline and some cool fashion statements. I didn't mind them, but at that point when damn Maven (Darkling), Kilorn (Gale), Mare (washed out Katniss/Tris), and Farley(multiple older tough woman characters) were planning how to take over the castle, and THAT PLAN was created. That STUPID plan... It was so obviously going to fail. I mean, I already knew it was going to fail because that's how books go. Characters make big revolt plans and fail (see HG, Shadow and Bone, and etc). But this plan didn't even try. Dear God, it was sloppy. It was obvious to see where Aveyard had to hack down her word count. What is it Farley asks? Something like, "You want to put the success of our revolt in the hand of a teenage love story?" I lost it. That was the stupidest thing I had EVER heard in my life. That is unrealistic Twilight dreamy teen-bop bait, and I actually scoffed at it. Actually scoffed. That's something that book characters do, not real people (along with scowling for some reason).
I did actually like the "twist" that didn't really impress/surprise me but was still a nice change for the whole damn book. Maven, of course, lets his baby underdog teeth come out and trades them for fangs as he betrays basically everyone so he and his mother can complete a hot and steamy Freudian concept. To put it in a more clear way, he pulled a Hans from FROZEN (yes the deeply loved and deeply hated Disney movie). He even does the whole, "I didn't actually love you" bit. It was actually a very good scene up until Maven and his mother broke out into a, "As you know, Bob, it was ME all along! I did this! I am EVIL! BWAHAHAHAHA!" speech. Then Aveyard lost me again, and what I thought was permanently until the execution scene (which I don't really care to get into that much. It had good fighting, unconvincing evil Maven, and a nice little impressive special snowflake trick before hoorah! Rebels chilling in a hole in the floor save them from death, and her brother is alive!)
The woman can write good action scenes, I give her that. I guess screenplay writing school doesn't cheat you there where it strips you of all the wrong detail points everywhere else for writing books. Aveyard's writing was strong in certain bits and very weak in others. Where I think she really failed and never captured me was that she didn't have emotional detail. I never believed what Mare felt. When Mare was sad, I wasn't sad. When Mare was nervous, scared, happy, in love, I wasn't. I just didn't care. She didn't appeal to me because Mare barely shared herself. There was just a lot of italicized thoughts coming from a cold, emotionless brain.
The book was way too long. I know the marketing crew made that book abnormally tall to hide it's word count (as they does with the big fantasy sellers. Seriously, go look at your bookshelf.), but it was very obviously over 100k. It didn't need to be. Not very much happened for it to be over 100k. But yes, there was unnecessary detail where there didn't need to be (which I had to force myself to stop skimming over), and where I needed more explanation Aveyard basically swooped in and shrugged saying, "Sorry, but lookie here another pretty description of the sexy and deceiving royalty where no one is trusted and everyone is interested in you!"
Phew, okay. That was a lot. I'm done though. Unless I read this again and decide to fix it, this is the conclusion of my review. Mare is not an amazing feminist symbol because of ONE thing she said about being "no one's woman" or whatever. She's an idiot. A gullible idiot who thought too highly of herself, and yet somehow still achieved being dry and boring. This is just another big shot book series that was copied off of other successful stories, and I don't understand the appeal. But hey, read whatever you'd like. This is just my two scents aboard the sea of a billion lost words on the internet. I probably won't be reading the next book unless someone gifts it to me. Then I'll be back, and we'll see if Mare has any living ounce of redemption to be interesting.
Okay, farewell! And thanks for reading!
vikkk_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
goodyeargoodbooks's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars. I am conflicted. Review to come (perhaps)
earkjgahgrsertjsyr's review against another edition
2.0
Found it lacklustre and cliché. I struggled to connect with the characters, but I liked the word-building and concept. Just felt it could have been executed better.
monameow's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
liliaberryx's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
authorcharlottee's review against another edition
5.0
"Power is a dangerous game" is the tagline for this book, but after reading this amazing novel, I believe it should be "Any once can betray anyone"
This book blew my mind away in so many directions, it broke my heart, made me feel like staring a rebellion, and wanting to have X-men like powers all at the same time! I could not put this book down and I loved every minute of it!
I loved how Victoria strayed away from the tides of typical teen fiction, adding a love story with actual purpose and not making a massive deal about it, not making it the centre of the story, as well as being able to create a character who is, in fact, humanly flawed. It is one of the things I love about the main character, Mare, the fact that she is sooo easy to relate to and it is the fact that she is not perfect that allows me to connect with her. Also the world is fantastic, a true taste of fantasy as well as holding some very dystopian qualities that remind me of the Hunger Games (mainly because of the political side of things).
I recommend this book to people like me, who are beginning to lose faith in teen fiction... this book may just save it. Red Queen has truly risen bolding, "as red as the dawn"...
This book blew my mind away in so many directions, it broke my heart, made me feel like staring a rebellion, and wanting to have X-men like powers all at the same time! I could not put this book down and I loved every minute of it!
I loved how Victoria strayed away from the tides of typical teen fiction, adding a love story with actual purpose and not making a massive deal about it, not making it the centre of the story, as well as being able to create a character who is, in fact, humanly flawed. It is one of the things I love about the main character, Mare, the fact that she is sooo easy to relate to and it is the fact that she is not perfect that allows me to connect with her. Also the world is fantastic, a true taste of fantasy as well as holding some very dystopian qualities that remind me of the Hunger Games (mainly because of the political side of things).
I recommend this book to people like me, who are beginning to lose faith in teen fiction... this book may just save it. Red Queen has truly risen bolding, "as red as the dawn"...
_val's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0