In the Kingdom of Norta, the type of blood someone has is the only thing that matters.

Some are willing to die for equality while others continue to suffer with everyone else.

Author Victoria Aveyard wrote the masterpiece that is “Red Queen.”

In a dystopian world where war is at the front of every headline, two types of humans exist in rivalry. Those with red blood are nothing more than everyday normal people, while those with silver blood have godlike powers marking them as the ruling class.

The story begins with a young girl named Mare Barrow who as a 17-year-old Red only knows the life of poverty and doing what one can to survive. Throughout the years she has become a master thief, but that doesn’t stop her from being conscripted into war just like her three older brothers. The law states that at 18 young adults are shipped off to war unless they have stable jobs. Mare does not, and her birthday is just around the corner.

Struggling to think of a solution the night before she is to be taken away, she runs into a mysterious character out in the woods. Right away she knows something isn’t right about him. He’s different than her. He doesn’t have Red blood like she does. After hearing her story, a young man known as Cal gives her a job to be a royal servant in the kingdom saving her from having to go to war.

Being stripped away from everything she’s ever known and loved only to be tossed into everything she’s always been terrified of and hates, Mare quickly learns that living among the royal Silvers is a nightmare come true. To make matters worse, on the important night when the future king is to pick his bride, she discovers that she also has powers. These are powers a Red should never have and she accidentally reveals them after falling into the arena in front of the most powerful and important Silvers in the kingdom.

The king and queen quickly give her a new identity to cover up the fact that she has powers until they can figure it out themselves. Suddenly she is known to the people as a long lost Silver princess finally home, Princess Mareena. Only playing princess is no fun and games. One wrong move, action or word and the queen will end her.

And it’s not just the queen who wants her gone. She has to fit in and play nice with the other princesses who aren’t easy to deal with; they’re young girls with deadly powers who love to pick on the new girl in town.

Gaining new secrets from behind the walls, she needs to escape and expose them to the world. If only she wasn’t being haunted every wandering eye. Even with the help of the Scarlet Guard, Mare still might not make it out of alive…

The book is well written especially when Aveyard gives each character their own individualities instead of all the characters’ personalities mashing together with the same qualities. It’s so easy for the readers to fall in love with each character because they’re all so perfectly described with detailed backstories that you almost feel attached to them. Constantly learning new things about the characters really keeps the story interesting.

Throughout the course of the book, it’s easy to see the overall growth of each character within the sudden change in situations they are put in. Mare is such a sassy, smart, young girl but she quickly learns she can’t say everything that comes to her mind. In some cases, she can’t even think it. Aveyard really captures the dangers of trusting people. Not everyone is who they say they are but that doesn’t mean someone can’t categorize another person based on a certain stereotype. Know the facts before creating judgement, but most importantly trust your gut.

For those looking for a good book to read, this one is highly recommend. From the action and the in depth characters to the love story, it’s all just perfect. This book is catered toward young adults from 16 and up only because mature scenes take place. It’s a little slow in the first couple of chapters, but it’s worth powering through. The book deserves 5 out of 5 stars for an amazing story line and detailed characters.