Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

This book was SO GOOD!!!

I can't even begin to describe the feelings I experienced when I reached the last page.

When I picked up this book, I wasn't expecting it to be a "can't put it down" type. From the back of the book, I saw a cool concept and expected a quick, fun, distracting read.

Not even close.

This book follows the story of a red-blooded girl named Mare. She's living in a world where silver-bloods dominate. The discrimination is intense - at the beginning of the book, it seems like the only jobs silvers hold are a sort of police officer or arena fighter. Both equally deadly.

Mare discovers while working in the royal palace nearby that she's got powers, just like the silvers do. Did I mention that the silver-bloods all have inhuman powers? For example, "oblivions" can blow up everything they touch. Or a "greeny" can make plants and such grow. "Magnetrons" can control metal, it seems.

Mare can control electricity, and later, learns that her powers differ from the silvers' powers.

Basically, the royal family makes her pretend to be a silver in order to quell the ensuing panic. She literally gets painted white. She gets engaged to a royal prince, Maven.

The older prince, "Cal", is the first she met, though. And while Mare tries to ignore it, she's definitely got feelings for him. But her loyalty to Maven keeps her from acting on it (mostly).

At first, I would have said my favorite character was Maven. And while there's still possibility there, and I still feel sorry for the poor guy, that plot twist messed it up a ton. (I'm trying to avoid the biggest spoilers here).

So I guess I don't really have a favorite character for this one. They're all equally flawed yet brilliant. Excellent work, Ms. Aveyard.

Least favorite character would have to be Queen Elara. She's totally heartless. And just plain awful. And, well, she doesn't even seem human. Which technically, I don't think she is, but then, this blood thing is kinda confusing so...

Anyways, this book has been one of my favorites to read and I highly recommend it.