Red Queen begins with an interesting concept but quickly loses itself to a shallow protagonist and a predictable plot. Mare Barrow, a Red - the lesser half of the population, with the elite being known as Silvers - is less than a year away from compulsory conscription, and spends the first part of the book talking about nothing but. Whilst understandable, there's nothing else in the book to pad out the reader's interest. We're given the briefest of glimpses into Aveyard's crafted world but there's barely any lore or further depth to create more interest, with most of the book being Mare repeating already known information in the way a show does after an advert break. Unfortunately this only continues for the rest of the book. (The details of which I'll avoid to prevent a spoiler tag) 
 Characters change personality at the drop of a hat, with no one seeming quite the same from chapter to chapter, creating the impression that they are tools for the plot and not seamless additions to the story with lives of their own. Whilst this could be a writing technique to show how easily Mare is swayed by her own bias and naivety, I feel this is giving too much credit; if it is the case, then it is messily done and just leads to more head-scratch moments and a lack of true character development. 
 There were some interesting ideas in Red Queen but by the end it had turned into a boring love triangle with little interest from the writer beyond that, and so it left me unsatisfied with what could have been. I feel Aveyard writes emotion quite well but unfortunately leaned too much on that strong point during the entire novel; hopefully, the next in the series improves on this issue.