Reading: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

"Anyone can betray anyone." - Victoria Aveyard

I was a little hesitant when I started reading Red Queen. Everything I'd read and heard about it felt very reminiscent of other YA books I've read recently. I didn't want to read more of the same, and you know what? I definitely didn't.

Even though some of the dystopian-future, kid-is-different-from-the-rest-of-her-kind-and-has-to-pretend-to-be-someone-else is very familiar to the genre, Aveyard does some cool stuff with it. I found it hard to put down to be quite honest. Mare is an interesting female protagonist. She's young and she's in a tough situation, which makes her naive and vulnerable, but she is also strong and determined and she doesn't spend very much time feeling sorry for herself (or unconscious). She makes tough choices throughout the book and she stands by them and their consequences.

And the love triangle (square?) is also a little different from what you generally find in YA. I don't know where it's going, so it's too soon to speak. As you know, I have strong feelings about the love stories you find in these kinds of revolutionary tales. Revolution is the tearing down of something old. It's chaos and destruction. It doesn't end with a happy couple sitting on a hillside surrounded by their children. I especially loved the line "I choose neither" towards the end of Red Queen. That's all I'm saying. I'd love to see a heroine say "I choose me" or something to that effect. At least Tris died for her principles..

Anyway, I highly recommend Red Queen and I'm really looking forward to Glass Sword next year. 4 stars.

#book #fantasy #nerd #youngadult