“Rise, red as the dawn.”

Let the red blood run for all the world to see.

“Killers don't have to make sense.”

Victoria Aveyard has created a world where the color of your blood determines your station in life. Red, the blood of servants. Silver, the color gifted with control and abilities beyond your dreams - no servitude or war. That is, until a red-blooded girl, clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time, sets the power-hungry world of the Silvers up in flames.

Meet Mare.

Cool idea right? A mix of kick-ass female character in another fantasy world. Here we go Hunger Games.

“The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain.”

And for some reason, I feel drawn to all of Maven’s quotes. Let’s ponder on that….

Ok, but for reals. Guys, this is my second time reading Red Queen. This might make you think, wow a second time, that must mean she loves it. You would be partially right. Yes, the first time that I read this I was hooked. I couldn’t stop talking about it - to the point that my husband was going to surprise me with the series only to discover that the whole thing wasn’t out yet. The story...Mare...everything had me begging for more. Now, I finally own the whole completed series, and instead of trying to remember the first two books, I decided to do an entire read through and get immersed back into the world.

But, the biggest reason I fell in love was that the Red Queen made me want to write my book. The emotions that Aveyard was able to write into her story gave me the courage to finally attempt mine, which is a very emotionally driven plot.

“The truth doesn't matter. It only matters what the people believe.”

And that is why, when I finally got back into the YA community and started to share my love to a larger audience than my husband, I felt a stab to the heart. No one likes this series. How did this happen? Yes, this was my first real jaunt back into the YA reading spectrum, but was it really that bad? To me, this book was the best thing since sliced bread. This is the book that changed my life. Kidding aside I owe a lot to this bound sack of pages.

Now I’m armed with three weeks to tackle four books. First one down and here are my thoughts…

Sadly, I think some of the comments got into my head. Instead of an open, carefree mind, I automatically started to read the story with a fine tooth comb which makes the whole thing fall flat.

WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYY??????

I can see that the story isn’t the most original thing since I’ve now read the best of the best. But Aveyard does happen to take all the good stuff away. I don’t care what people say, the ending is still awesome and a great twist - clearly thought up all on her own. I will thank GOT for giving her the courage to do such a turn around.

Bottom line, I think the real killer is the fact that it was a reread. I knew what was going to happen - maybe not the finer details but enough to kill the excitement. And because of that, I focused more on the writing and character development than getting lost in the world of blood.

In addition, Mare was a bore this time. Oh the whines and foreshadowing that came from her. We get your life sucks and now you are here doing all of this for your family… blah… blah… blah. Readers do not need to be reminded of this over and over. I’m happy to say that all of this and her internal monologue has gotten a little better in the second book. I’ll go into more detail in my next review so stay posted.

And to stick with characters, just a quick word about the brothers. Oh my goodness… I wanted to like them but they get so stuck inside Mare’s mind that they tend to lose all of their own defining qualities. I get this is in first person POV but maybe let them shine through with their actions. Add that with Mare’s internal dialogue of her feelings for them, you get a complete mess. It wasn’t until the end that I really felt them stand out as two people.

Sorry that this has turned into more of my internal struggle with the book than an actual review. I promise my review for Glass Sword will be much better. All in all, I think I’m going to leave the stars as 4 because that was my honest, original opinion without taint. I’m sticking with it and reading all of the way through. I can already tell you that the second book is going much better.

Love Kait

Reading Challenge: 51/100