Synopsis:
2.5 out of 5 stars
I delved into this book expecting an original, incredible story about a girl who could not stand her class, the Reds being oppressed and looked down upon by their "superiors", the Silvers. However, despite all of the hype and rave surrounding this book, I found that was not the case. In my opinion, at least. The synopsis glorifies the narrative, makes it sound unique and original, but I didn't think it was very good. Many reviewers compared Red Queen to Red Rising by Pierce Brown, and I can see where they're coming from. This book's premise is eerily similar to that of Red Rising's, what with the social hierarchies of color, the protagonist's determination to revolt against the members of the topmost class as result of the death of a loved one, revolting requires going undercover and posing as a member of the opposition, etc. The only difference being that while I absolutely loved Red Rising and couldn't get enough, Red Queen didn't really cut it for me.
The writing was poorly executed (not that I'm much of an expert) and I had a lot of trouble connecting with Mare, and all of the characters for that matter. Maybe it was because of the writing or that Mare is, arguably, an unlikable and narrow character. To tell you the truth though, I don't think the situation was based on the latter. Here's why: I've read a lot of books and one thing I've come to realize is that a reader can connect and sympathize any character- protagonist or antagonist, main or supporting- just as long as the writing depicts that character in a way where we'll be able to do just that. I don't quite know how to explain this, but while I was reading Red Queen, I felt like there was a proverbial shadow cast over the story. Like I was merely reading about a Mare Barrow and her world, but I didn't feel like I was a part of it.
The first half of the book was very slow, there wasn't much excitement. Things really started to pick up in the second half, but even that wasn't very good either. The love triangle the author was attempting to create wasn't very convincing. I couldn't even figure out Mare's feelings for her main "love interest" Caleb, let alone her second. There wasn't much love there. It was more of an indifference than
love. The reason I'm giving this book two and a half stars instead of the one and a half is because of the ending. I didn't think much of the first half of the book and was particularly surprised when I got to the last few scenes and found that I kind of enjoyed them. I think I'll continue on with the series, but it's not exactly high on my priority list.
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