Sunday, January 25, 2015

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

How good your life is depends on the color of your blood.  If you're a Silver, life is good.  If you're a Red, your life is disposable and unimportant.  You deserve the squalor you live in.  Not everybody agrees...

Harper Teen and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  This is the first book in a new series and will be published February 10th.  

Mare Barrow is a thief.  She's a Red who can't get a job and her family needs some income.  The problem facing her is that in a few short months, she's facing the war.  Anyone not working becomes a soldier and goes to the front lines.  She knows she'll die there, but she has no choice.  There are not enough jobs for the young people.

This is not a kind story.  If you thought Cinderella's stepmother was mean, wait until you meet the Queen.  She's the personification of evil.  And, quite by accident, Mare becomes her future daughter-in-law.

Mare meets one of the princes without realizing it.  He's been in the local tavern.  She tries to steal a coin from him, but he catches her.  He tosses a bigger coin than she expected, they visit a bit, and he gives her an even bigger coin for her family and departs.  The next day, she's taken as a servant to work in the palace.

When she finds that she has a special power, she's serving the king and his guests.  They have to cover for her so it doesn't work to their disadvantage.  Things were bad before, but now it gets worse.  No one is telling her the truth.  Enemies are everywhere.  Retribution is swift and ugly.  What's Mare to do?

This is a grand adventure with magical forces, extreme evil, and impossible situations.  It reads fast and keeps you glued to the pages.  Mare has a good reason to hate by the end of this story and you know that's going to help build the storyline in the next book.  I'm already waiting for it.

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