Remember the person you're supposed to be, and remember well. You are pretending to be raised red, but Silver by blood. You are now Red in the head, Silver in the heart. From now until the end of your days you must lie. Your life depends on it, little lightning girl. It wasn't supposed to be this way, you see. I expected to hate it and look at my rating now. Dystopia really isn't my genre but then again the recent dystopias I read are redeeming the horrendous ones. Hopefully they don't turn to become the bang-my-head-against-the-wall dystopia reads as the trilogy progresses |
The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.
To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.
Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.
But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?
To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.
Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.
But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?
Here are some of the flaws that made me enjoy it less:
#1 Intro:First impressions are really important. Red queen and me just don't get along at the start and I fell asleep 10 pages into the book. It really doesn't appeal to me all the solemn mood, MC telling us how her life sucks, and the things we think are unbelievably cruel being part of their daily routine or sighting. Reasons why I cannot take dystopia stated up there. I just don't get sucked in until about 100 pages into the book.
#2 Guys:Let me just go straight to the point. They smirk too much.They smirk so much I want to pull out all of my hair. Seriously it even becomes awkward.
#1 Intro:First impressions are really important. Red queen and me just don't get along at the start and I fell asleep 10 pages into the book. It really doesn't appeal to me all the solemn mood, MC telling us how her life sucks, and the things we think are unbelievably cruel being part of their daily routine or sighting. Reasons why I cannot take dystopia stated up there. I just don't get sucked in until about 100 pages into the book.
#2 Guys:Let me just go straight to the point. They smirk too much.They smirk so much I want to pull out all of my hair. Seriously it even becomes awkward.
He smirked sadly. |
Someone please teach me how to smirk sadly because it doesn't even make that much of a sense why anyone would smirk sadly. Here's the deal, you smirk but not when you're sad or you be sad and not smirk.
#3 Decisions: The most critical shit in the entire book. Let's start with the wise King. I'm not exactly sure how betrothing Mare to Maven is the smartest thing ever. Sure, you can't kill her but really. This. This is his biggest mistake. Worst of all, the last decision. Holy shit. Even I was smarter than Mare. And I'm not all that smart. I just wasn't sure how can anyone be some goddamn stupid. It was her own fault which bought her to where she is now. Mare brought it upon herself.
So now let's move on to the awesome part:
#1 Writing style:I know I almost always say this but this author really knows how to make use of the fact we are seeing things in Mare's point of view. Like make use of it to the full extent to manipulate our opinions. And because I realise that some time into the book and also because many people are being like holy-shit-that-betrayal-though I placed my bets on that particular person. And I was absolutely right. No dude really looks like the best of love interest here so well I don't really favour anyone.
I'm quite conflicted about how I felt about Mare. She was a selfish character. Every single selfish act she does, using people, assisting in murderous plans all being said as 'sacrifices' for their success. It might be true but then again it doesn't make her feel less selfish.
I know I always have trouble naming the things I love about books but oh well I'm better at criticizing. This isn't a book that might even stand out from the crowd. It's quite common. Girl sacrificing for her family and country. It gets old but it sucks me in and hopefully Mare doesn't make more stupid decisions. It's a trend I've noticed that as the dystopia plot line progresses, the characters' wisdom disintegrates.
#3 Decisions: The most critical shit in the entire book. Let's start with the wise King. I'm not exactly sure how betrothing Mare to Maven is the smartest thing ever. Sure, you can't kill her but really. This. This is his biggest mistake. Worst of all, the last decision. Holy shit. Even I was smarter than Mare. And I'm not all that smart. I just wasn't sure how can anyone be some goddamn stupid. It was her own fault which bought her to where she is now. Mare brought it upon herself.
So now let's move on to the awesome part:
#1 Writing style:I know I almost always say this but this author really knows how to make use of the fact we are seeing things in Mare's point of view. Like make use of it to the full extent to manipulate our opinions. And because I realise that some time into the book and also because many people are being like holy-shit-that-betrayal-though I placed my bets on that particular person. And I was absolutely right. No dude really looks like the best of love interest here so well I don't really favour anyone.
I'm quite conflicted about how I felt about Mare. She was a selfish character. Every single selfish act she does, using people, assisting in murderous plans all being said as 'sacrifices' for their success. It might be true but then again it doesn't make her feel less selfish.
I know I always have trouble naming the things I love about books but oh well I'm better at criticizing. This isn't a book that might even stand out from the crowd. It's quite common. Girl sacrificing for her family and country. It gets old but it sucks me in and hopefully Mare doesn't make more stupid decisions. It's a trend I've noticed that as the dystopia plot line progresses, the characters' wisdom disintegrates.