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lindseyhorn's review against another edition
4.0
Surprised at how much I liked this tbh. I’ve wanted to read it for a little bit but thought it might be too YA. Most of the plot was very exciting and made me want to keep reading. Didn’t expect the twist at the end either! There were some parts at the beginning and maybe two chapters towards the end that bored me but all in all, I really liked this!
ameliatillman15's review against another edition
3.0
It was pretty good. It is Hunger Games meets X-Men.
readingwithskye's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
anareadss1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
pensnfeathers's review against another edition
2.0
Okay, so my feelings about this book wavered back and forth several times over the course of my reading it, but in the end I landed on feeling like it just wasn't very good.
It does have some things going for it. The premise is fun, with just the right amounts of danger, romance, and the classic fairytale YA trope of "regular person finds out they're special and gets whisked away into an exciting new world." These are themes that work well in YA in general, and this book is no exception.
Sadly there isn't much else that I liked about this book. There are several egregious plot holes, one of which is so serious that the author mentions it and tries to explain it away multiple times. Why she didn't just edit it out is beyond me. The plot is moved forward by deus ex machina multiple times. I get that once in a while some deus ex machina is okay. After all, YA is a genre largely built on incredible things happening at just the right moment. But a book is flawed when the plot derails multiple times, leaving only the hand of god to set it back on track.
Most egregiously, this book reads slowly. Really slowly. That's not a problem in and of itself, but it is in a YA novel. At least for me. I read YA the same way some people read pulp. If I have to flip forward to see how many pages are left in a chapter, that YA book has failed me. Red Queen has 28 chapters. I did that 28 times.
There was some potential here, but overall I was very disappointed.
It does have some things going for it. The premise is fun, with just the right amounts of danger, romance, and the classic fairytale YA trope of "regular person finds out they're special and gets whisked away into an exciting new world." These are themes that work well in YA in general, and this book is no exception.
Sadly there isn't much else that I liked about this book. There are several egregious plot holes, one of which is so serious that the author mentions it and tries to explain it away multiple times. Why she didn't just edit it out is beyond me. The plot is moved forward by deus ex machina multiple times. I get that once in a while some deus ex machina is okay. After all, YA is a genre largely built on incredible things happening at just the right moment. But a book is flawed when the plot derails multiple times, leaving only the hand of god to set it back on track.
Most egregiously, this book reads slowly. Really slowly. That's not a problem in and of itself, but it is in a YA novel. At least for me. I read YA the same way some people read pulp. If I have to flip forward to see how many pages are left in a chapter, that YA book has failed me. Red Queen has 28 chapters. I did that 28 times.
There was some potential here, but overall I was very disappointed.
oatmilklover's review against another edition
2.0
meh 2.5, i’m not very impressed but i’ll probably read the next one bc i already have it on libby.
jasperkelley2015's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. The reading experience was enjoyable. At times I find myself being confused about the events or how we ended up in spots we did. But overall I found the ending pulled everything together. I can't wait to read the second one!
frandalfthegay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25