Red Queen a very hyped, YA fantasy that I have been hearing a lot about and I was very excited to read it. It was not very impressed with the book. I didn't hate it, but I wasn't very interested in the story, nor was I engrossed with the characters, setting, or magic system, which are all integral parts of what makes a fantasy book a good fantasy book.
The writing with very simplistic and easy to read. There wasn't a whole lot of depth in the characters. The "plot twist" was anticlimactic, when it should have been really cool and shocking. The main plot points and overall ambiance of the book held a lot of similarities with many other YA dystopians. A pretty girl goes from a thieving, poor background to becoming a princess in a couple of days (The Selection trilogy, anyone?). It felt very forced and unnatural that anything like that could have happened in such a strict society.
Of course... of course... there was a love triangle. It was awful, and I hate that trope. The YA genre just continues to flog that trope, and it needs to stop. It wasn't executed very well. I didn't feel anything with Mare. It was very "telling instead of showing." (*Spoiler: At one point, Mare's brother dies. I don't feel like she was upset/angry about this, expect for texts that literally said that Mare was upset).
There was an uprising from a group of rebels to take down the government (Hunger Games, Divergent, Red Rising, literally every other YA dystopian). Another trope used was how our protagonist is a new breed of human, that has never been seen before (Mistborn).
Overall, it was very simplistic and typical YA dystopian fantasy. There were a lot of re-used elements. I really hope it does get better.
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