#11 - Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

 Just The Basics

    Published: February 15th, 2015

    Genre: Fantasy, Sci-fi?

    Pages: 383

    Acknowledgements: Goodread's Nominee for Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2015)

        "Anyone can betray anyone.'"

    "Red Queen" is the first book in a series of four; the protagonist, Mare Barrow, is born of the human-race equivalent Reds (those who bleed red blood) in a fantasy world where she and other normal people are lorded over by the powerful Silvers (whose silver-colored blood gives them amazing powers). Mare's life as a petty thief in the slums is ripped away from her when she haphazardly lands a job as a servant to the tyrannical king. Almost instantly, Mare learns of her own special abilities, gets a new royal name, is betrothed to a prince, and starts to understand how she will be an important part in shaping this hierarchical world's turbulent future. In what seems like a normal fairy-tale at first becomes a saga of rebellion, classism, and revenge as she learns more of the corruption of the Silver government and the brewing Red uprising she will have to play a role in. As Mare is trapped in a love triangle between two princes, she eventually learns how evil royalty can be in securing their power. 

    Why "Red Queen"?

    In the classroom I currently teach in, Red Queen is a book club option in the unit we do on civil disobedience, along with Scythe, making it something I have to read before May, on top of being a good fit for this list. I have read some fantasy YA literature in my own high school days, and the lens of civil disobedience made me curious about Red Queen. I enjoy the fantasy genre, but haven't read much of this since Harry Potter was on my bookshelf. While the sci-fi elements of Scythe kept me reading, I found the fantastical elements of Red Queen very adjacent. In this world, there is still electricity (which is important to the powers Mare realizes she has), guns, war as we know it in reality, with only minor tried-and-true elements of other fantasy stories. There are no dragons, orcs, or elves; however, the superhuman abilities of the Silvers are enough to keep this novel from feeling like strictly a sci-fi novel. I have a running theory that this book is set thousands of years in the future of our own world; these questions of reality are never fully answered-- but alluded to throughout this book. While fantasy can seem formulaic, I enjoyed the world built by Aveyard. 

    Teaching Considerations

     I don't think this novel is a good choice for any other classroom structure than in book clubs. While I liked this book well enough, I don't feel that Aveyard's work lends much to literary analysis. I do think that for choice books or in small groups, this book would keep students reading, and in particular, I think female students will enjoy this book the most. I even think my sophomores who will be reading this book later this year might be on the older side of Red Queen's target audience. The book, to me, seems like a good fit for 8th-grade to freshman-aged readers. The writing style is simple, modernistic, and almost too direct for me. Mare's first-person narration was often so juvenile it irked me ("wow I made a dumb move, so typical of me, I'm so silly and dumb"), and I constantly wanted deeper prose and more descriptive narration from her. I can see students enjoying this book, and the rest of this series, for their own independent reading more than I can see it lending itself to a good class discussion. I am very interested in how teaching this book this year will go, and I will have to spend some time with my co-teacher on how to break down this book's obvious themes in a way that can be translated into deep learning.  

`      Sections to Read Aloud  & Reasoning

1. Chapter 1, Pages 1-11

• "Never before have I seen one in the arena--I doubt anyone has. Whispers are rare, dangerous, and powerful, even among the Silvers, even in the capital. The rumors about them vary, but it boils down to something simple and chilling: they can enter your head, read your thoughts, and control your mind" (Page 10)

    Starting with the first chapter is the best way to introduce this world. In this chapter, students will meet Mare, understand the power balance of the Reds and the Silvers, while also getting exposed to some of the cool powers that abound in the book. The opening scene in the area of Mare's hometown is both an exciting scene of action and a good exposure to how this book reads. 

        2. Chapter 6. Pages 51-62

• ''How fitting, for the king is a burner, as was his father, and his father before him, and so on. Destructive, powerful controllers of heat and fire. This king might not burn Reds anymore, but he still kills us with war and ruin." (Page 60)

    Once Mare becomes a servant in the royal palace, the reader gets a better idea of both the history of the Silvers and their thousand-year rule and how much wealth is hoarded by the ruling class, in stark distinction from the poverty of Mare's life in The Stilts. When taking on the lens of civil disobedience, the parallels can be easily made between our current government with oligarchic tendencies and the book. This chapter is good for exposing kids to the lore of the novel while offering subtext about how class can exist between the elite and the working class. 

    Overall Thoughts

        Red Queen wasn't terrific, but it wasn't bad either. It's fitting my school teaches this book along with Scythe, because both works are classic YA lit-feeling. Even though this book is not the a-typical dystopian sci-fi book, it's still very close. Through the fantasy lens, this novel deals with a world of powers, a corrupt ruling class, in a story where an unbecoming female lead has to fight for her independence after a twist of circumstance. This book was not a slog to read, and even had some twists that had me gasping. I might not love Aveyard's conversational style, but I'm sure students do. For students who enjoy fantasy, want a female-led story, or just like stories about superhumans, I think Red Queen has at least something to offer. 

    Future Explorations

     This book made me want to read more fantasy! Maybe out of spite, to satiate myself after a pretty average read, but reading Red Queen made me want to find a thousand-page epic about dragons to read in my free time. This book made me realize how much fun it is to read fantasy, even though this book wasn't a good fit for me (other than professionally). I will not be continuing this series, but it has given me the itch to read more stories about worlds not our own. The escapism I experienced from this book was simply not enough for my adult-brain, even though I'm sure kids will enjoy the level of escapism that Red Queen offers.