“The gods rule us still. They have come down from the stars. And they are no longer kind,” said Victoria Aveyard in her latest master piece that goes far beyond expectations in her most recent book: The Red Queen. In this thrilling story of a world separated by blood and caste, is the story of a young girl, Mare. She desperately attempts to make her way in life by pickpocketing but suddenly she finds herself in the palace of her Silver King.

The Silvers: “the gods from the stars”, have silver blood and possess magical powers such as strong-arms (very strong), silencers (can nullify the powers of other silvers), skin healer (heal him/herself), burners (manipulate heat and fire), and many others. The Silvers are apart of the upper class  society and see themselves as higher and mightier than the Reds. In order to display their power to the Reds they used their powers in an arena against one another to show the Reds they are stronger, faster and smarter, Gods compared to them, and make the Reds fear them.

Then you have the Reds: the lower class, have normal red blood and no special powers or abilities. The Reds are forced to work for the Silvers, doing all the work that Silvers see below themselves. They are treated very poorly by the monarchy and are forced into the army at the age of eighteen if they have not found a suitable job by then. Reds are nothing compared to Silvers, at least that’s what the Silvers will have everyone believe. “The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain,” taunted a corrupt Silver about how the Reds will believe anything he says because they fear him.

This novel really has evil, goodness, plot twists, betrayal, romance. The foreshadowing found in this book will blow readers away when all the connections reveal themselves in the end. Characters may not really be what they seem or even worse they may be exactly who they seem. Not only is the plot intriguingly unique its characters also hold a lot of diversity and substance. Mare, is the main character in this book, a seventeen year old Red girl who is a pickpocketer for a living. She expects to go into the army once she turns eighteen as her two older brothers did, but she ends up on a different path, one that leads to royalty. Mare is so honest to herself about who she is, even if she is not so honest to others about who she truly is. Main characters being honest with themselves about who they truly are is a very rare thing in people and characters who usually never fully accept who they are. They see a different version of themselves on the inside when they are nothing like that in reality. Not many books have main characters who are so pure, she is good and bad which makes for an extremely exciting story.

“Anyone can betray anyone,” said Victoria Aveyard in her book and that’s exactly what will happen in this fantastic book, Red Queen, where your blood determines your fate. Join Mare and other amazing characters you will surely fall in love with as you wrap yourself into a messy plot that keeps you intensely reading every page, paragraph, sentence and word. This book creates a wonderful, inspiring, captivating story that will put readers into Post Reading Novel Depression for the next few weeks.