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.
My Review
When I opened this book and saw that it was first person present tense, I had to laugh at the irony after my last blog post. My first instinct was slam it shut with a “Damn you, present tense!” But I hung in there.
Aveyard’s initial worldbuilding was impressive. I really got the feel of the downtrodden reds nd the elite silvers. Despite the present tense, I was hooked.
***************SPOILERS BELOW***********************
Then…. it got less impressive. The entire time I was reading, I kept wondering when the twist was going to come with Maven. It was so obviously set up that he was secretly the villain, I assumed it was a double twist, and I’d be surprised. So much so, that when the obvious, expected ‘twist’ (and I use that word lightly) came, I was like:
My other issues were:
- I started to hate Mare after a while. She was really, really stupid, easily swayed, changeable, and yet had the same bland inner dialogue the entire time. She did not develop as a character.
- I was not sold on the idea that Kilorn was supposed to be an important character. I certainly didn’t care about him. Their whole history/dynamic was told rather than shown.
With that being said, I really did fall for Cal, and a crush-worthy male lead will usually keep me reading. I enjoyed some of the other charactes as well… Julian and Luke in particular. I feel that a lot more could’ve been done with them.
Overall – cool world, lots of potential, poor follow-through.
