The Red Queen- Victoria Aveyard

A fantastic premise ruined by italics and faffing.

I really wanted to like this book, like REALLY wanted to like it. So much so that I read the entire thing, despite DESPISING how it is written. Here's why.

The Red Queen is the first book, in a while, that I have read solely because the premise sounded cool. It's set in a world, full of technology and 21st century like things, where the class system resembles medieval times because they are separated by anatomy, sort of. The upper classes have silver blood and the lower have red blood, and the colour of your blood determines your fate within this world. Reds are conscripted at 18 whilst silvers have super powers that make them invincible in war. Like I sad, very cool premise. 

As a YA I book I was expecting a simple style, and that's what I wanted after having to read the likes of Tristram Shandy and Ulysses at Uni. However, in my opinion, this is borderline ridiculous. Mare, the main character and the novel's 'red queen' narrates the novel in a free-indirect (ish) style. So why then is there italics 4 TIMES A PAGE to symbolise her thoughts. The whole book is her thoughts, what the fuck are these thoughts within thoughts. If they are there for emphasis, then fair enough, but even then they lose their emphasis because they are used so often.

Also, there was several sentences that just made absolutely no sense. And the italics are not the only thing that is incessantly repeated. It seems that Averyard doesn't want anything to get past her readers, so much so that we need to be reminded every page that Mare doesn't like silvers, and Mavens a conflicted teenager, and DID YOU KNOW Cal is a King. Yes Victoria, we do know, so please for the love of God get on with it. 

In spite of all this, I did actually love the plot. But, if these useless repetitions were just omitted, there would have been space for the good stuff. Some chapters were cut off, seemingly half way through something interesting, and skipped huge chunks of time. I would read them and be like WHY. Good story-lines were forgotten for the sake of useless words. Useless and annoying words.

Safe to say I won't be reading the second one, even though I do want to know what happens. In fact I might. In fact I don't fucking know but if the italics are still there I'm putting it down immediately.