tinker_reads's Reviews (52)

War Storm

Victoria Aveyard

3.5

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A Disappointing Grand Finale

After the buildup of the previous books, War Storm sets out to deliver an explosive conclusion to the Red Queen series. And in many ways, it does —there’s political intrigue, battles, and betrayals. But while the book (somewhat) succeeds in wrapping up the story, it struggles with pacing, and at times, the characters' attitudes left me more frustrated than invested.

War Storm begins with an alliance of mistrust between various fronts - On the one hand, the Scarlet Guard and Monfort's partners, headed by Mare, Farley and Premier Davidson, on the other Cal, his grandmother and his uncle Julian, and finally, the forces of the Rift, headed by Lord Samos and his children Evangeline and Ptolemus.

As the group gathers resources and reinforces their alliance with the Monfort region, their own life is put in perspective through different POV’s. While Mare knows her heart belongs to Cal, she cannot let herself betray the cause she believes in and that the Scarlet fought for so long - a world in which everyone is equal and there is no monarchy or hierarchy between silvers and reds. As for Cal, he hasn’t given up on his brother yet and believes that he can still be brought back from the mess Elara made in his head. At the same time, he cannot abdicate the crown, because he sees it as his last connection to his parents. He wants a fair and just world, but he cannot let go of the family’s legacy. Evangeline feels more and more trapped - she always lived by the rules of someone else’s game, and has denied herself the life alongside her love, Elane. However, when seeing the reality of Monfort, she discovers a world where she could be free, but to achieve it, she has to betray her family. Everyone deals with the realization that if they win the War, they will lose the battle within themselves

Nearing the end, War Storm brings forward a long-expected reunion between the Calore brothers. Growing more maniac and uncontrolled, Maven doesn’t even realize that he has been betrayed by the Lakelander Queens until he’s being handed over to the other side. The plot takes a turn, and the final battle truly lies between Norta and the Lakelands, between the old way of life and the new.

I was pretty undecided about my feelings toward this book when I finished reading it. I can’t say I dislike Victoria’s writing, because in fact I actually think she has a great way with words, and does a pretty good job of world-building. However, the thing that leaves me hanging is the uneven pace and the looped plot. You’re always running on ups and downs, but it isn't done in a careful way. When you hit the lows, it makes you drag the book and put off reading. But suddenly, there’s a plot twist full of energy with tons of information that just shakes you up. At the beginning of the series, I enjoyed her plot twists because the pace of the story was more consistent. The twist only came because it made sense, not because it was needed to shake things up.
Regarding the multiple POV choice, War Storm felt more consistent than King’s Cage, but if I were to choose, I would say go with one style or another, don’t change things mid-run - again, not for the sake of the plot, but for the sake of need. Nevertheless, I think this one relies on people’s preferences. I certainly enjoyed reading Evangeline’s POV, for example.

Now, regarding the plot itself and the conclusion of the series... it just felt so bland. I’ll elaborate more in the spoilers section, but I was expecting more. The book covers many things, and I don’t think it wraps up evenly. For a fact, most characters had indeed an ending - it doesn’t need to be the one that I want to make this point - but at the same time, everything just felt, well, bland.

The following part of this review contains spoilers

As I previously said, this book covers a lot of story. Actually, there are so many things happening that while I was writing this review, I was mixing the books and remembering bits with the afterthought of “yeah, right, this happened, forgot about it”. And really, that’s my major takeaway from this. After I finished, I was frustrated with how mid it felt, but after a while, my frustration grew into forgetfulness, and now I just want to finish this chapter of my TBR for good. The fact that Broken Throne exists, aka a collection of prequels and sequels to the Red Queen series, indeed tells you everything you need to know about how that ending was.

I’m going to jump to the obvious. The book focuses on everybody’s trouble accepting how their lives will be from now on, and although I can be on board with the nature of indecision in making definitive choices, it’s a constant that stays for too long.

So, in the end, Cal and Mare don’t really stay together, and that would be fine if it weren’t for the reasons that made them come up with that decision. By this point, if you don’t already know about my utter hatred for Maven, it’s because I mustn’t have said it enough. After agreeing that it should be Mare to go after him, she finds Maven trying to escape inside the Palace. We read his POV and learn that he has decided to go for all or nothing, embracing the monster that he has - always - been, and in a face-to-face combat, he will kill Mare to ensure his freedom. Naturally, being trapped in a room with him, powerless (since it was a Silent Stone room), Mare’s only escape is to kill him as well. And I mean, it’s only fair after everything that he’s done, especially to her. In the aftermath, Cal cannot find in himself to really forgive Mare for killing his brother. This made my eyes roll to the back of my head so f*cking fast. That little bitch would have killed each and every single one of them, starting with him, and I mean, you love the girl, she endures abuse, and in the end, you’re still sorry about your brother and cannot face her? This is just way too dumb f*ckery for me, I’m sorry. I could empathise with the “oh, but it’s my baby brother”, but ffs, open your eyes. If the roles were reversed, you wouldn’t be breathing since the first book.

As for other endings, I love that Evangeline finally had some justice for herself and went after what she wanted. NOW, FOR HER BROTHER. What do you mean that vicious bastard didn’t die? He killed Shade. He killed several people, and apart from her sister, he was an evil person to everyone around him. Also, now that we’re on this, before I discovered about Elane, I really thought Victoria was going to pull a Cersei and Jamie Lannister on these two. Like, I know sibilings, and that’s waaaaay too much. Even if you both bond over the abuse you endured from your parents. Like, there is a line, and once you cross it, it’s a grey area.

Overall, I think this series started off great, but it got progressively worse. It’s a “thank you, next” book. If I know someone who really enjoys this type of book, I would possibly recommend it, but yeah, it wouldn’t be my first choice. I'm disappointed.

King's Cage

Victoria Aveyard

3.0

challenging tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This could have been an email

This could have been an email. That’s how I describe this book. After Glass Sword, I had a suspicion that this book wasn’t going to be for me, and I was right. It took me so long to finish it, and I even found myself sighing with each turn of the page. After trading herself for the lives of her friends and fellow members of the Scarlet Guard, Mare is now Maven’s prisoner, held in a cage of silent stone, guarded by Arvens. While trapped, Mare grapples with her guilt over her past decisions, the loss of her friends, the shifting nature of her powers, and tries to understand what Maven has in store for the war. Besides trying to break her physically, the boy king also tortured Mare psychologically, using her as an instrument to shift the tide of war in his favour.

On the other side of the plot, the Scarlet Guard is working to gather Newbloods, and establishes a new base in Piedmont. As the tensions between the two sides continue to rise, Mare’s role as the "Lightning Girl" becomes more significant, and her ability to lead becomes both a gift and a curse, as she is used by Maven to trick reds and newbloods alike to follow him instead of the rebellion.

This book was very slow-paced, with lots of ups and downs. It felt quite inconsistent, and I almost lost interest in the story. If not for the already three books in and one to go, I would have contemplated DNF’ing - which is something that I would never do, so you can imagine my state while reading it.

This book introduces different POV’s, opposed to the fmc pov like in the first two books. It alternates between Mare, Cameron, Cal, Evangeline, and Iris. I don’t think this was a successful choice, always changing the plot, names, and places, giving the reader everything all at once, but without proper care.

A lot of things happened in King’s Cage, but it dragged so much that the second half, although clearly the best one, is overshadowed by the terrible thing that reading the first 300 pages was. As for the ending, nothing new. Again, I think this was a bad plot twist on Victoria’s behalf, because it didn’t even come as a shock. I don’t have much to say without giving away too much of the story, so go to the next part, where I unleash my real thoughts on this book.

The following part of this review contains spoilers

This book was not it, at all. I’m extremely disappointed. Like, even writing this review is painful because of how tiring and messy it was. We spend half of the book locked in a cage with Mare, then the other half just scrambling for thoughts everywhere. I didn’t like this change of POV’s, because it’s clear that it only happened because the author trapped her fmc and couldn’t move forward with the plot. It was a bad call, dragged it for far too long. We get it, she is a shell of a person now, Maven is beyond repair, and we’re supposed to see no light at the end of the tunnel for her. And then, of course, here comes the shocking speeding adrenaline, followed by a plot twist, and then a low profile again, back to the shot of excitement, and so on. By now, you get the picture. If it was entertaining in the beginning, now it’s just poor planning. My take is that we shouldn’t have heard of Mare at all. Keep going with the plot, tell us about everything that is happening, and then finally make us see how she really is. Make us understand how broken and traumatized she is by describing her actions, her figure, how she reacts around people, etc. For example, instead of having a surprise attack just to shake things up a bit, tell us how they planned it. That way, the reunion between Cal and Mare would have been 100% more emotional than what it was.

Still on the POV’s, I hated Cameron’s. They were so annoying, she was just presuming things all the time, and still no one bothered to correct her. Only Farley. Even Killorn, who is supposed to be Mare’s best friend, never told Cameron what she went through. It was just so annoying to read, pure rage bait. On the other side of the coin, there are Iris’s POV’s. So. Damn. Boring. For real, whenever her point of view came in, I fell asleep.

Moving on to the things I did like in this story, I enjoyed the new training parts and getting to know different and more experienced newbloods. I think it balanced well with the second book, where everyone’s a rookie, but now we see things really in action.

Oh, and I can’t forget about Evangeline. I had a feeling since the start that my girl was going to do something big, and she did. I very much enjoyed her POV’s, and I think they complemented the story well. When she turned around to free Mare, it was my “yessss” moment of the whole three books.

Just to finish, I have no words for Maven, because I totally despise his character. Yes, he might have been a victim, but he chose to become an abuser. He might not have any love left for Cal, but that’s not the case for Mare. He branded, mistreated, humiliated, caged, and abused Mare. There is no redemption arc for that. I hated that scene in his bathroom. I was absolutely disgusted. Mare was forced to share a space with her abuser, and he allowed himself to be physically and emotionally vulnerable with her. That’s degrading. That is no love story. It’s a 3 star read.

Glass Sword

Victoria Aveyard

4.0

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Gripping Beginning, a Dragging Middle, and a Jaw-Dropping Finale

After Red Queen’s ending left me on edge, I needed to know what happened next. And Glass Sword wasted no time—it picked up right where things left off, throwing me straight into the chaos.
In Glass Sword, Mare finds herself on the run after fleeing the arena where she and Cal were supposed to die. With the help of the Scarlet Guard, she embarks on a quest to find new bloods - people like her, with red blood and silver abilities - in a race against time, before Maven, now king, can hunt them down.

The search for Newbloods takes Mare and her allies across the kingdom, breaking into cities and safehouses, but unfortunately, not always in time to save them from the madness of the boy king.
As the list of recruits grows, so do the cracks in Mare’s relationships. She becomes more distant, more willing to make ruthless choices, and more isolated—especially from Cal, who struggles with his place among the Reds. The once-proud prince is now a lost soldier, forced to follow Mare's lead in a war he never wanted and doesn’t know if he can fully support.

As for her new army, Mare struggles with the weight of leadership, the trauma of past betrayals, and the fear that she’s becoming just as ruthless as the enemies she’s fighting. She wants to help the rebellion, but at the same time, she doesn’t want the role of a leader, only of a fellow fighter. Not everyone trusts her, and her growing reputation as the "Lightning Girl" makes her both a symbol of hope and a dangerous liability, and the weight of her choices—who to save, who to sacrifice—starts to take a toll on her.

Glass Sword had a powerful beginning, filled with action and “barely escapes” that put the reader on edge at every turning page. However, once safe ground was found, the pace of the book slowed down. There were a few moments of action during the recruitment of new-bloods, but overall, it felt like we were moving a bit in circles. It’s a “plot-building” book, setting up bigger things for the series, but again, the pacing felt too inconsistent. Some scenes were gripping, others felt like filler.
As for the characters, although the goal was to pass the idea that Mare was being harsh and leaning into a villainous path, I did not think that at all.

To me, it was more than legit that she was feeling that way. Having to deal with this daunting task, becoming more traumatized each time, enduring torture (physical and psychological), having zero back support, either from Cal or Kilorn, who decided to frown just because, and then having to deal with Cameron and her tantrums, I get her completely.

About the ending, it was again plot twist after plot twist, and I’m starting to get the feeling that Victoria likes to do this to get a reaction out of her audience. Well, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t help that you’re kind of waiting for the plot twists to move the plot forward.

The following part of this review contains spoilers

Now, onto what I really take away from the book. As I said before, it’s a world-building book, so it’s comprehensible that we have some filler parts because the author has to cement the story. Nevertheless, although the point was to put Mare on the spot and have her “change” her personality, it went straight over my head, because as I was reading, my only thought was “this is more than valid”. At first, I empathised with Cal, he had trauma of his own, and I got his confused mind. However, as time went on, I wished he'd grown a backbone and understood that the world is more than duty and the crown, and that, in fact, both of these things betrayed him. As for the rest of the characters, I love Farley as much as I hate Cameron. What an annoying character. I get the nuance that she is a 15 year old girl who wants to save her brother, but come on, get a grip and again, realise that the world cannot turn on your whim. This is a funny thing, since everyone was saying this to Mare, all the while she was the one who didn’t want to be there, but she had to.

About the ending plot twists - Shade was my favourite character. I leave you with that.
His death was actually very well written. I felt the shock Mare felt in my bones because I did not expect it, and the way it’s written does not give you the moment to grieve or to even understand what happened. I had to re-read multiple times to grasp all the details and learn how it happened.
And then Elara, I was even more shocked because I did not see that coming at all. We’re seeing the world through Mare’s eyes, and as she said, she does not remember anything past the moment of seeing her brother fall to the ground, dead in a second.

As for Maven, the disgust I have for this character cannot be measured. I really, truly hope that this captivity plot does not lead to a redemption arc or even a reconciliation between the two of them. I cannot imagine anything worse than Mare, after everything, falling in love with that person “despite his mistakes” and bla bla bla. He’s not a morally grey character, he’s a sick one. Everything has a limit, and besides torturing her, he humiliates her and tries to break her. This isn’t love, it’s a very sick obsession, and I hope Victoria didn’t decide to follow this train of thought.

On a lighter note, I did see that pregnancy coming from miles away. It really puts another nail in the coffin about losing Shade.

Unlike when I finished Red Queen, I am not so excited for the next one in this series, mostly because I can’t stand Maven’s character, and again, the thought of some kind of rekindling puts me off this story completely. I’ve read some Goodreads reviews and everyone is waiting for this arc, wishing for the “I can fix him, no really, I can” type of situation - I really hope not.

Red Queen

Victoria Aveyard

4.0

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

*A Slow Start, A Wild Middle, and an Ending That Left Me Shook*

I have to be honest—the beginning of Red Queen didn’t pull me in right away. It wasn’t bad, but it took a bit for me to actually feel invested in the story.
We’re introduced to Mare Barrow and the dystopian world of Norta, where the color of your blood - red or silver - determines wether you have power and confort, or if you’re nothing more than a poor commoner.

Mare soon finds out that she possesses powers supposedly reserved for the silvers, and becomes entangled in a web of political games, not only with the silver court, but as well with a rebellion of reds, called the Scarlet Guard. Between forging a new identity, passing as a long lost daughter of a dead silver lord, being bethroded to the second in line to the throne of Norta and acting as a secret spy hidden within the enemy’s walls, Mare still has the arduous task of understanding where her skills with electricity came from and, more importantly, how to control, train and turn them into a weapon.

Although the plot felt a bit slow in the beginning, it quickly gained pace, and I was headfirst into the story. The stakes kept getting higher, the political tension kept me guessing, and I genuinely had no idea where it was leading me. Regarding Mare, I think she is a solid YA Dystopian protagonist. Strong-willed, stubborn, impulsive, and sometimes even frustrating, she’s the archetype of the poor girl destined for a mundane life who suddenly discovers she has powers and finds herself the leader of a rebellion much bigger than herself. Mare doesn’t always make the right choices and she learns along the way that nothing is as it seems. Never.

About the ending, it was like the gift that keeps on giving, if the gift was surprises, plot twists, and gasps. Halfway through the book, I had the feeling something was off - *anyone can betray anyone* - still those last pages left me on the edge of my seat.

Overall, I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars. Victoria Aveyards’ writing is easy to understand, with attention to details regarding both characters and world building. However, the intensity of the plot comes in waves, which causes it to lack cohesion, and at times, even to lose focus. Red Queen gives of Hunger Games meets the X-Men vibes, but brings something more to the mix, which is nice to read.

The following part of this review contains *spoilers*

----

Now, onto the juicy parts. As I said, I had a feeling something was off, specifically with Maven. Too good a character, a literal saving grace for Mare amidst all the chaos. Nevertheless, although I said aloud “I KNEW IT” when the truth was revealed, I DID NOT EXPECT everything that came afterwards. It was like a rollercoaster. Tiberias' death had me shook to my core, Lucas’s execution had me heartbroken, and the whole arena ordeal had me scratching my brain trying to figure out a way for them to escape.

Oh, and the brother-who-i-thought-dead/sister-about-to-die reunion? Chef’s kiss, it warmed my heart. Loved it, had me excited to read more about them, especially since I loved Shade right away.

Let’s address the elephant in the room now. I absolutely despise love triangles, even worse when its between family. And between Maven the little psycho, and Cal the boring, scream for help. OH, and I almost forgot about the other edge, which is Kilorn the pain in the ass. They all annoyed the hell out of me, Cal being the most tolerable one (making him the one I was rooting for since the beginning).

My love for Farley grew bit by bit, I do not hate Evangeline completely - actually, I see a lot of potential in an alliance with Mare - and I adore Julian, the only one with a functional brain.

I’m excited for the next book, a race against time to find more newbloods, but I can’t lie, at this point I’m traumatized with the plot twists and this book gives of GRR Martin and his main character killing spree vibes.