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This book by Victoria Aveyard is another book I didn’t really want to get into because I know it’s the first of a series my TBR list is already way too long. But everyone was raving about it, it won a Goodreads Choice Award, Hollywood has talked about maybe getting Elizabeth Banks involved in the film adaptation, and I just couldn’t wait anymore. Plus I needed a break from Hamilton and this seemed like just the thing.
It’s every bit as much fun as everyone says it is. There’s action and politics and terrorism and a secret organization and intrigue, with a little romance thrown in for good measure.
The premise is that the world has two kinds of people: Silvers and Reds, so named because of the color of their blood. Both Silvers and Reds are human, but Silvers have superhuman abilities. Some of them are magnetrons, which means they’re basically Magneto, then there are nymphs who control water, strongarms who are super strong, and whispers who can get inside your head, learn everything you know, and even force you to do their bidding. There are also people who can manipulate fire and those who can move as quickly as the Flash.
Reds are just like us. Normal humans with normal abilities, so it’s no surprise that the Silvers have all but enslaved the Reds. All Reds are forced to join the army as soon as they turn 18, provided they don’t already have a job or an apprenticeship. Even if they do have a job, they have no chance of making a decent living. They’re all forced to live in squalor so the Silvers can live in their ridiculous palaces with their silks and jewels.
The narrator is Mare Barrow, a Red who’s a talented thief but hasn’t managed to get a legal job, so she’s getting ready to go off to the front lines when she turns 18 in a few weeks. But she gets a lucky break and gets a job as a servant in the royal palace. Her first day on the job takes a turn for the worse.
SPOILER ALERT!
Mare accidentally gets thrown against an electric shield, but instead of getting fried, she gains power from the electricity. She ends up in an arena with a very surprised magnetron who throws knives at her, but she’s able to melt them with her lightning and throw another bolt at the magnetron (unfortunately, she misses). Mare (who is as surprised as anyone that she’s still alive) makes a run for it, but she’s already in the middle of the palace and cameras are literally everywhere. There’s no way she can possibly get out of this.
Like I said, there are cameras everywhere and the arena was packed when Mare had her little accident, so the royal family can’t just have her quietly killed. People have questions and questions must be answered, so they make up a story about how Mare’s parents were Silvers who were killed by spies from another country when Mare was just a baby. She was rescued by a Red soldier and raised by him and his wife. She never knew she was really a Silver, but now she’s been “reunited” with her people, and just to make sure she stays out of trouble, they engage Mare to Maven, the king’s second son.
This is all bullshit. Mare is clearly a Red. It’s just that no one knows how a Red can have the abilities of a Silver. As far as anyone knows, nothing like this has ever happened before. To complicate matters, being able to control electricity is a very rare ability, but the royal family muddles through their lies the best they can.
Mare is given lessons in protocol and taught how to use her abilities, but she’s not satisfied just to be the royal family’s pawn. While all this excitement is happening, a Red terrorist group calling themselves the Scarlet Guard have started bombing government buildings and ships to protest the way the Silvers treat the Reds. They’re fighting for equality, and shortly after becoming betrothed to the prince, Mare joins up with the Scarlet Guard.
So she has to learn to survive in a court where almost everyone wants her dead while also plotting against them with the Scarlet Guard. She’s literally fighting for her life every single second and she’s all too aware of the risks involved.
I won’t tell you how it ends, but I will say I seriously thought Mare wasn’t going to make it through this book alive. The closer I got to the end, the more it looked like she was going to be sacrificed. I know the sequel is already out, but I figured the sequel could be told from the perspective of another character.
Nevertheless, Aveyard managed to successfully get Mare out of her sticky situation alive, and even did it in a way that I found (mostly) believable.
This book is very good and a lot of fun, but I don’t think it quite lived up to all the hype. There were other books I read last year that I thought were better. But not much.
What about you guys? Was there anything you read that you just couldn’t wait any longer to crack open?