As a young girl, I always wanted to have superpowers or to be a princess. Victoria Aveyard, author of the New York Times bestselling book Red Queen, made this dream a possibility. I had heard of this book and was excited to get a chance to read it. The book was an interesting read but not as good as I was expecting. 

 Red Queen is set in the Kingdom of Norta, a dystopian, future version of America. Norta is divided by blood, those with red blood and those with silver blood. People with silver blood have special abilities and those who have red blood do not. Reds are the lowest class in society and are treated as though they are less than human. 

Red Queen features Mare, a girl from the stilts, a poverty-stricken village for people with red blood. By some miracle she gets a job working in the capital, saving her from conscription. It is there, in a freak accident, that she discovers she has the power to create and manipulate lightning. This is extremely strange because she has red blood and is not supposed to have powers. In an attempt to keep her true identity, a red, the crown says that she is the long-lost daughter of a silver general and betroths her to their youngest son, Maven.

Underlying themes of race and class add a level of depth that I was not expecting from this novel. The division between the Silvers and the Reds strikes up an interesting conversation as it can be seen as a metaphor for racism and classism. The way that the king and queen handle Mare’s situation causes her to question reality. This aspect of the story can be seen as a theme for questioning those in power or the government. There are attacks on the capital from a group called the Scarlet Guard, this group is trying to overthrow the government to create a more equal society. This was reminiscent of the protests that have been taking place and it was a parallel I found interesting. I enjoyed being able to connect issues in the book to prevalent real-world issues; this aspect elevated the book.

One of the only problems I had with this book was the level of predictability. From Mare’s love interests and the true colors of Maven, I was slightly disappointed. I could tell some of the major plot points when I was about halfway through the book. This book was very reminiscent of The Hunger Games, and at times felt like it was trying too hard to be different from it. 

The book was a quick read and I think part of the reason was that I was expecting something else to happen. If you enjoy books that are similar to The Hunger Games I think that this would be a quick and easy read. The addition of powers is a nice addition to the book and although the book was predictable, I did enjoy the book overall.