From the Bookshelf of The Reading Challenge Group…

Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)

Victoria Aveyard

Start date: June 1, 2015

Finish date: June 30, 2015

Discussion: Group Read Archive 2014-16

Why we're reading this: YA Group Read - June 2015
[close] YA Group Read - June 2015

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 139 topics — 2,834 comments total

Group Read Archive 2014-16

Genre Group Read (Humour) - December 2016 - You Are Not So Smart
By Allison , Quest Hound · 11 posts · 30 views

last updated Dec 28, 2016 04:05PM

Alternate Group Read (Classics) - December 2016 - Mansfield Park
By Allison , Quest Hound · 5 posts · 18 views

last updated Dec 04, 2016 09:34AM

showing 10 of 10 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Mar 08, 2016 Ivy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: checked-out-from-library, magic, published-in-2015, 2016-challenges, 2016-popsugar-challenge

This is the book I chose for the 2016 popsugar reading challenge. Book, Red Queen, and its prequel, Cruel Crown.

5 stars

Very good book. Nice to see Cal again.

5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 22, 2016 Freelfe rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ma chronique : http://freelfe.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07...

Red Queen est le premier tome de la série du même nom de Victoria Aveyard. Publié en grand format par les Editions MSK, le format poche est vendu par les Editions Le livre de Poche à 7,90€. Une belle couverture, un format pratique et agréable, un petit prix, ce roman a tout pour attirer. Mais en plus, il propose une histoire géniale pour laquelle j’ai eu un coup de cœur !

Ce premier tome nous propose un univers de fantasy divisé en deux. D’un Ma chronique : http://freelfe.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07...

Red Queen est le premier tome de la série du même nom de Victoria Aveyard. Publié en grand format par les Editions MSK, le format poche est vendu par les Editions Le livre de Poche à 7,90€. Une belle couverture, un format pratique et agréable, un petit prix, ce roman a tout pour attirer. Mais en plus, il propose une histoire géniale pour laquelle j’ai eu un coup de cœur !

Ce premier tome nous propose un univers de fantasy divisé en deux. D’un côté les Argent, l’élite, ceux qui gouvernent, dotés de capacité extraordinaire. Et de l’autre côté les Rouges, la majorité opprimée, esclaves des Argents, vivant dans la misère et sans capacité particulièrement. Des humains ordinaires. L’univers que nous propose l’auteur est relativement simple mais bien construit. L’auteur apporte au fur et à mesure des précisions, sans perdre son lecteur.
Mare, notre héroïne, est une rouge. C’est un personnage à fort caractère, résolu quant à son destin. Elle mène une vie de voleuse pour subvenir aux besoins de sa famille. Et pourtant, elle va voir tout son univers bouleversé suite à une rencontre… Mare est un personnage auquel on s’attache rapidement. Elle ne se plaint pas de sa condition. Elle l’évoque comme une fatalité, résolue. C’est une jeune femme de caractère, obstinée et forte, qui se retrouve projetée dans un tout nouvel univers dans lequel elle va devoir se fondre.
De nombreux personnages secondaires ponctuent le roman. Nous évoquerons particulièrement les personnages de Maven et de Cal… Deux personnages qui m’ont plu, chacun à leur manière, mais dont je n’ai pu cesser de me méfier (à tort ou à raison ?).

Dès les premières pages, Red Queen a su me captiver. Addictif, captivant, ce premier tome a été un gros coup de cœur. L’histoire avance bien, ponctuée d’actions, de rebondissement et de coup de théâtre. Impossible de s’ennuyer ! L’univers m’a captivé mais aussi la destinée de Mare. On pourrait trouver l’histoire un peu longue à démarrer car elle ne découvre ses capacités qu’autour de la 150e page. Pourtant, je n’ai pas trouvé cette première partie longue : elle nous permet de découvrir tranquillement l’univers. Et puis, cette partie est déjà ponctuée de rebondissement et d’action.

C’est bien dommage que le second tome ne soit pas encore sortie en poche car je me ruerais bien dessus tellement j’ai adoré ce roman, l’histoire, son avancée, son évolution. N’hésitez surtout pas à découvrir ce livre !

Conclusion

Ce premier tome fut, pour ma part, un véritable coup de cœur ! Addictif de la première à la dernière page, l’univers est captivant, l’histoire bien menée, addictive et entraînante. Les personnages sont bien définis et attachants. On ne s’ennuie pas une seule seconde, ça avance vite et l’évolution proposée par l’auteur m’a beaucoup plu. Il me tarde de lire la suite !
En tout cas, n’hésitez pas à découvrir rapidement ce premier opus car il ne vaut vraiment la peine ! ...more

Like · see review

Apr 04, 2019 A B rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-that-murdered-innocent-trees, never-read-again

Let's say that 1,000 years from now, YA authors of the future start writing books from the perspective of ISIS terrorists and make them out to be the good guys. I will rise from my grave as a zombie and bitch-slap them until they understand that terrorists are never, ever to be glorified or celebrated. And no one that has any decency should have a problem with that.

This book is literally about terrorists as protagonists. And we're supposed to root for the terrorists.

Meet Mare, a worthless piece
Let's say that 1,000 years from now, YA authors of the future start writing books from the perspective of ISIS terrorists and make them out to be the good guys. I will rise from my grave as a zombie and bitch-slap them until they understand that terrorists are never, ever to be glorified or celebrated. And no one that has any decency should have a problem with that.

This book is literally about terrorists as protagonists. And we're supposed to root for the terrorists.

Meet Mare, a worthless piece of shit (though with a name like that we could cut her some slack). She's a Red, which means she is part of the poor working class that lives in the shadows of the privileged Silvers. They live in some futuristic dystopia that reminds me a little bit of New York City with frequent mention of crossing islands and taking old subways. Mare's brothers were all drafted into the military, her father is a disabled veteran, and her little sister earns an honest living as a tailor.

What does Mare do?

Steal from her fellow Reds.

Yep, that's her "job".

When her best guy pal / emergency dick in a box gets drafted, Mare decides to steal more from her fellow Reds to pay a bribe so that he can dodge the draft. So now we have thieves AND cowards. Shame.

This leads to a ridiculous sequence in which Mare winds up getting a job in the household of the governing family of Silvers. She's now stuck - albeit very happily - as a spy for a group of Red terrorists. These terrorists bomb civilians and terrorize the nation for the purposes of...well,not making their lives better, just making Silvers' lives suck more by contrast. There is a chapter in which Mare momentarily thinks that maybe murdering innocent people is a bad idea, but a Red terrorist leader tells her that the sacrifices of civilians lead to a greater good. Mare is cool with that.

IS THIS FOR REAL? Mare then cries a few crocodile tears when the family of a kindhearted Silver is blown to bits, senseless murders she could have prevented. Had this been her turning point, the story might have taken a turn for a tale of redemption. But nope, she just keeps going along. She risks her life repeatedly for her fellow terrorists, but never did anything remotely as extreme for her own family.

Oh, and of course we learn that Mare is a special snowflake with - literally - special blood.

Maybe if this book had a big twist where we realized we were reading from the villain's perspective all along, I could forgive it, but that's not the case. This is a poorly written, badly constructed story from the start with a truly disgusting plot line. What the hell is wrong with the author and the people who helped get this atrocity published?

The fact that the target audience - teens - rates it highly is a pretty good indicator of why lowering the voting age to 16 is a shit idea. ...more

Like · see review

Sep 07, 2015 NzingaMarie rated it it was amazing

Absolutely amazing book. I've heard great things about it, but it took me a while to finally pick it up. Glad I did. The ending moved way faster than the rest of the novel, but it made the last 100 pages worth it. I have no idea how the next one is supposed to pull all this together, but I'm looking forward to finding out. ...more

Like · see review