RED QUEEN (Victoria Aveyard) – YA Fantasy Full of Political Intrigue

I’m Late to the Game.

I know, I know. Red Queen has been around for a while. Somehow, I simultaneously knew of this book and still missed it and its hype. I’m not sure how that happened, as I know sixteen year old me would’ve been a huge fan.

But, as I write YA fantasy now, I’ve been trying to pick up more books that I can learn from and explore as I hone my craft.

A Summary

Red Queen (Book 1 in the series) introduces us to a dystopian fantasy world where society is divided by blood: red and silver. The Silvers have incredible power and are the elites of the world, while the ordinary Reds slave away underneath them and fight battles they’ll never win.

Red thief Mare Barrow is prepared to face the same path as her brothers: conscription to the front lines. But when she winds up working inside the Silver-run palace out of the pity of another, she discovers something about herself: that she is both Silver and Red. That she has power she never imagined. And that things are far more dangerous than she ever believed them to be.

What I Liked

• The magic system: I have seen some commentary that the worldbuilding is poorly fleshed out, but I didn’t feel that way. I knew what was going on; I understood the magic; and I enjoyed it.
• The twists & turns: While some plot points were expected, others were very unexpected.
• The characters: I liked the main characters well enough and wanted to root for their cause.
• The combination of magic and technology: Rather self-explanatory, but there was a mixture of both in the world, and I liked that.

What I Liked Less

• Love triangle vibes: While not technically a love triangle, there were three different young men that Mare had connection to. I felt like that was a little much for one single book.
• Uneven pacing: The book was slow to get going (for me), but then it really sped up. In the middle, there was some lull before intense action again. This was fine, but I found myself sort of skimming small sections that I found boring.

Red Queen is Peak YA Fantasy

I think Red Queen really fits the bill for a YA fantasy. It has a unique world with flawed characters, a corrupt government system, and a girl searching for belonging. It had magic Hunger Games vibes (though I would not put rank the books the same. Hunger Games is too much of a standout).

It has lots of well-loved tropes, including:

• Survival
• Searching for identity
• First loves
• Corrupt government system
• Chosen One/main character has something special
• Love triangles
• Rebellion/Uprising

If You Like Red Queen…

Then you should check out my debut novel Shift!

A YA low fantasy, Shift is about a criminal shapeshifter who accepts a high stakes job that could alter the course of her life and her peoples’ forever.

When I wrote Shift, I didn’t write it with publishing in mind. So the story doesn’t fit into any neat categories. It straddles genres, pulling tropes across the board, with unique vibes to it.

Red Queen is one of the first books I’ve read that I found some good similarities to my own. The political intrigue, the main character’s gritty but naive personality, the trying to do what is right for her people, the magic (on a smaller scale in my book though), et cetera…

So if you like Red Queen, you may want to follow along on my socials for publishing updates. And sign up to my newsletter for exclusive content! Shift will be released in Spring 2026!

Final Thoughts on Red Queen

I think Red Queen is a solid YA novel and series start. It has all the tropes and things that teens love in their books without content concerns. It may not be a top YA book for me personally, but it’s certainly a fun read that I would recommend to the younger crowd (as well as those who enjoy clean fantasy with political intrigue and high stakes).

I’m definitely interested to see where the story goes in Glass Sword (Book #2)!

Content Rating: Mild

for action, intense sequences, mild language

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Copyright Victoria Aveyard and HarperCollins.