Hi everyone! So, wow, I actually finished a book today, and was suddenly inspired to post it. I loved this book, written by Victoria Averyard, and I suggest the reading age to be between ages 12 and 18. I hope you enjoy this review, and watch out for the bold for spoilers!! Also, when I talk about comments, I mean on the Goodreads website, which is where I originally wrote this.

My goodness, this was such a fantastic book. I took a very long time to read it, but I was hooked the full 16 days. It was all I could think about and I haven’t felt that about a book in a very long way.
The series just keeps getting increasingly better, and I cannot wait for the next one. The premise for the books is just so intriguing. From here on, there will be spoilers; you have been warned!

 

So, this clearly has very real parallels to our world in the past, if you take out the magical powers part of the series. It is all about racism, Reds versus Silvers, and I loved reading about this revolution, because it felt strangely personal. This and the previous novel really made clear how corrupt and terrible humans are, both in that world and ours. The concept that people would willingly enslave other people for no purpose other than dominance was so heartbreaking to read about here, and even worse when I know that people do that in the real world. It was even strangely personal to read about the Scarlet Guard and their revolution as a person with red blood. 🙂

Aside from those views, I would also like to say that I despise Calore and I hate Mare and Cal together even more. He is a weak, spineless, coward who feeds off of the death in battle, betrays the whole revolution and his supposed “true love, and still remains allied with the evil racist dictators because he was raised in that society. Tiberias Calore absolutely sucks in every way, and I am so, so glad that Mare left him at the end of the book. He is a indecisive puppet who cannot do anything but follow the path others lay out for him- to become a Silver king. Some part of me wants Mare and Maven to end up together, even if I cannot imagine how he could redeem himself. I find myself pitying Maven for being manipulated at such a young age, and continuing on that evil path into adulthood. I’ve seen many people guess that he will end up dying for Mare, but I don’t think that should happen. It would be wayy too cliche, and my opinion is that while Aveyard has kind of stayed on the YA trends, she’s divested enough from them that I’m not mad at her.

Okay, so let’s talk about Evangeline. I love her so much. She is such an interesting character that I think could make for a major plot point in the future. I love how she’s horrible, but still so oppressed by her society. She reminds me a lot of Aelin Galathynius(Celaena Sardothien) from the Throne of Glass series, and I love both characters. I also deeply, deeply appreciate her casual representation of the LGBTQ+ community. Her relationship with a girl is so normal and that’s what I love about it. In most books I’ve read recently, someone being gay or otherwise has been a larger discussion, and while it’s wonderful that authors are continuing to add in diversity, it’s not perfect. What I love about this is that Evangeline being with a girl is completely normal, and is treated exactly like a “traditional” heterosexual relationship. Even in this messed-up and racist society, they’ve got something better than us humans in real life.

Here, the spoilers end!
Next, I’m going to talk about the complaints against how it’s a copy of the Hunger Games or every other YA novel. There are some similarities, but I think this book is wholly different. This is about a struggle for equality between blood with magical abilities added in and a full on war between several different nations and groups. Red Queen is more similar to other books than any of the later ones, but she changed that! What I do not understand is how people are rating the fourth book already when it releases in a full year. Read the book, and then give it a proper review once you’ve finished it! It’s fine if you dislike the book after reading it and giving a fair chance, but judging it right off the bat is completely unfair. Many of the comments under the fourth book are from 2015, when neither the second or third book had been released. This is totally annoying and utterly insane, and I think that needs to change.

Finally, I really enjoyed this book as it brought about many feelings and I even let out some very loud keening noises at the end. It was written very well, and I loved reading this story about equality. Thanks if you’ve read this far, and see you hopefully soon!