Rating: 4/5 ⭐️
Opening Line: ” I hate first Friday.”
Synopsis: This is a world divided by blood – red or silver. The 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. Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart . . .
Review: When this book came out I had no intention of reading it. It looked like a mash up of all the books I had read or wanted to read. My best friend was getting into reading when this came out so I encouraged her to pick it up since I’d heard good reviews. It quickly became one of her favorite books and so for about 1 year and a half she tried to get me to read it.
So I read it and although I found a lot of tropes that annoyed me like heck in the beginning, I can see the potential this story has to become something much bigger than a mash up of all the YA dystopian tropes. I really enjoy the world, even if it was a bit confusing at times because I really don’t see how a river can be as big and straight forward as they make it out to be, or even how there would be a factory town next to the royal city but whatever. The magic system is also pretty interesting, but also convenient to the plot. In the beginning they tell you a lot of the Silver’s powers and then the author just keeps adding more as they become of use.
This is a spoiler warning
Mare is a complete YA typical heroin but I feel like she has definitive flaws that will lead to some character growth. For example, she’s extremely naive about the world she’s thrust into, which makes sense for the background she has. Cal, our ~main love interest~ (I guess?) is the most annoying character I’ve had to read since Aspen from “The Selection”. I understand that his view points are a product of the way he was raised but damn was he annoying. I do appreciate that he didn’t give up on them for ~love~ though. Then we have Maven, our other love interest (I guess?), and also, our main villain?????? how could this be??? So I knew since the reviews from this book started dropping back in 2015 that Maven was the bad guy and let me tell you, the foreshadowing is so so bad in this book. It is absolutely impossible that people didn’t catch on. She’s always saying “Anyone can betray anyone.” or that “Maven is not like his mother”. I still like Maven way more than Cal though. He has so much potential as a love interest. Imagine if the series actually ended with a good redemption arc + the main character ending up with the main villain. I’ve never read anything like that before. So I guess you could say I ship it? I’m not sure that’s the right word though as I didn’t really feel any sparks between Mare and Cal or Mare and Maven (this applies more to the first than the latter but still). I just felt like Cal and Mare had no chemistry and nothing in common. All they had was the dance lessons, and even then I didn’t feel much. Maven is kind of similar but I enjoy their dynamic.
Can we talk about that scene at the end when Maven visits Cal and Mare in their cells? It gave me serious mind control vibes. Maven’s behavior and words didn’t make sense together at all. I bet his mother is doing a lot of work on his brain.
Also let’s talk about Maven’s mother, Queen Elara. She couldn’t just kill Cal and wait for the king to die could she? Oh well. She’s a twisted thing with very typical villain plans. She’s a dull version of Levana from “The Lunar Chronicles”, who is, by the way, one of my favorite villains of all time.
End of Spoilers
I really want to continue on with the series, especially cause I hear the next two books are way better and get away from all the tropes in the start.
x barbara
< Opening Line: “Um. Hello? We – Are you in there?”
Opening Line: “This is how an idea becomes real.”
Opening Line: “The day begins in the middle of the night.”
bookish barbara 