The Skinny: 
 A cute Acknowledgements page can't make up for 300+ pages of boredom. 
 The Fat: 
 Hmmmm...where to start? Back in February when this book first came out Tumblr went crazy. I couldn't go on for almost the whole month without seeing Red Queen this or Red Queen that. There was fan art and quotes and rave reviews. Overwhelmed by the hype I order it online. I was in school at the time and was busy studying, reading Gillian Flynn novels, and binge watching Arrow, so I didn't have the time to read the book. When school ended I saw that the reviews got more and more negative. People didn't like it. They said it was too similar to Red Rising. They said that it was cliche. They said it wasn't worth finishing. So I went from being super excited to regretting purchasing this book. So it sat on my shelf all summer. And finally I decided I should stop putting off reading it and just try. I did read some reviews saying that the ending was worth it, that the series shows promise. So I started reading Red Queen with the thought that I would probably hate it. In hindsight that isn't the best mentality to go into a book with, but it ended up not being that bad. 
 That isn't to say that this book was spectacular--because it wasn't--but it wasn't terrible. Yes, it was cliched. Yes it was similar to a lot of other dystopian/fantasy novels. Yes, sometimes Mare Barrow annoyed me. Yes, every time I read Mare Barrow my mind would say "Bone Marrow" instead. Yes, parts of it reminded me strongly of a poor Mockingjay rip off. But overall it wasn't bad. This is the type of book that would be a great intro book for dystopian or fantasy novels. The plot was simple. In (nearly) every dystopian novel I've read there has been a revolution, and this one was no different. Only it was fantasy and dystopian. 
 Honestly at some parts I was wondering if Dana Schwartz's Dystopian YA Novel Twitter account was writing this book. At times it was laughable and I thought I was reading a parody of the genre. I hated Mare's self-reflecting thoughts. I wish that Aveyard had left some of what was going on in their society up to the reader to interpret. 
 "It doesn't matter that the blood is everything we aren't, everything we can't be, everything we want. [Kilorn] just needs to see it and trick himself into thinking they are truly human, that they can be hurt and defeated. But I know better. Their blood is a threat, a warning, a promise. We are not the same and never will be." (page 9) 
 Okay, okay. We. Get. It. They are different, but I didn't need Mare to point it out every five pages. It got annoying. Just like how Mare loved to point out every time a person "lied." I wish that Aveyard had let the audience decided how to interrupt people's words to decide if they were lying or not. Mare easily could've thought that what a person was saying was suspicious or that she doubted the truth but she was so certain people were lying. All. The. Time. But yet she was trusting of nearly everyone. 
 And when it comes to the romance. Sorry, but someone trying to steal from me doesn't exactly make me want to jump their bones. I understand the compassion to get Mare a job. I understand feeling sad over how her power is found outt. But what I don't understand is how by barely talking to someone you can fall so deeply for someone that you want to change your morals and everything you believe. It was entirely unbelievable and exactly what I expected would happen. Actually, many of the "plot twists" I saw coming. The "shocking" ending I saw from a mile away (minus (view spoiler)[When Cal doesn't choose Mare over his kingdom. That was a twist that I really enjoyed. Cal finally became believable. (hide spoiler)]). 
 Everyone is incredibly trusting in this book. For a race whose motto is "guard you heart" they all certainly let theirs show. As far as the Mockingjay similarities, I'm not sure if they are actually there or if after the success of The Hunger Games it is now hard for me to see a revolution as anything but a comparison to the famous series. Mare is a pawn (or should I say pawns?). Other times it reminded me of An Ember in the Ashes (the Scarlet Guard reminded me of the Resistance). But I think that is because it is hard to be original in the dystopian/fantasy genre especially when it comes to the revolution trope. 
 But I don't want to put people off by my critiques. It honestly wasn't a bad book; it just wasn't a book for me. I wanted more world-building, less "romance," less inner-monologues, more showing, less telling, more violence, less dancing, I wanted more training room scenes, and I didn't want to read about another love rhombus. However, for a first book it wasn't bad. The ending does have promise for a decent series, but it just probably won't be a series for me. It's hard to have a book about a revolution and keep it fresh. I'm intrigued by her next book in the series, but I don't think I'm interested enough to continue with the series. This book at times did make me question if I wanted to finish it. This quote made me roll my eyes and give a humorless laugh: 
 "Farely scoffs, 'You want me to pin my entire operation, the entire revolution, on some teenaged love story? I can't believe this.'"(page 316) 
 That makes two of us, Farely. That makes two of us.It was an interesting concept, but not the book for me. 
 ***TRIGGER WARNINGS: death, torture, war, murder, police brutality, slavery, bombings