Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Image and blurb from Goodreads:

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart .

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My thoughts:

3.5 "I liked it but almost stopped reading" STARS

I enjoyed this story quite a lot, except for two little things:

1. The MC annoyed the heck out of me because she was immature and selfish.

2. The big reveal was so predictable.

Sorry about the spoiler-y reveal, but here it comes:

*SPOILERS*

[ 1) I almost DNFed when Mare got her sister’s hand broken. Really. That was a bitch* move. She clearly influenced and manipulated her little sister’s feelings for Kilorn to help her friend, and she didn’t think of the consequences for a second. At that was a constant. Julian, Lucas, even Cal were victims of Mare’s “I’ll-do-what-I-want-and-I-don’t-care” behavior. She seemed way too immature and selfish, and I wanted to slap some sense into her half the time.

2) I must be reading too many books lately because I saw that twist from miles away. Really. And the whole time I kept hoping, pleading “please, don’t let Maven be the bad guy who’s working with his Mother, please.” As you all saw, my pleading was ineffective. That threw me off because I found it too predictable. How Mare didn’t see that is beyond me. (hide spoiler)]

*END OF SPOILERS*

But oh, well, I’ll read the next one.