Red Queen is set in a fascinating world with two classes of people that aren't just split by their status in life but by their blood color and abilities. The Silvers have silver blood and have super hero like powers. There are different types of silvers each with a specific power. For example controlling fire, metal, water, mind control, and healing. While Reds have red blood and are ordinary people so they are subjugated under the rule of the Silvers and are essentially slaves and serfs. Mare Barrow is a young Red who who will end up being conscripted into the army on her 18th birthday because she doesn't have a job or apprenticeship. All 3 of her older brothers were conscripted and are still fighting in the war, and her younger sister has a successful apprenticeship that pretty much supports their family. So Mare is resigned to fact she'll be conscripted and thus spends her days stealing to help her family in any way she can. But when her best friend loses his apprenticeship after his mentor dies she can't possibly let him get conscripted and tries to concoct a plan for them to escape. This starts her down a path which could ultimately mess up the lives of everyone in her family, or maybe not? 
 My mixed reactions! 
 There was so much to enjoy about this book but then also things but peeved me! I absolutely zoomed through the first 40% of this book and would have likely devoured it in a day or two if it weren't for when things started to go just a touch south. Yes Mare makes some dumb decisions but those things in a twist of fate land her up being in service to the royal Silver family which could have been good...but somehow go bad. She becomes a pawn in their lives because of the unexpected exposure of a power she didn't know and according to her blood shouldn't have. 
 Pros: 
 - A fun mash-up of genres! A world that I'm fascinated to learn more about with a cool mash-up of fantasy (the world felt fantasy in it's geographic, social and economic makeup), comic book fiction (those super hero like powers that the Silvers have), a long standing war and lots of big scale conflict! - Seriously this was a fun mash-up of genres - so much so that I've said it twice now lol. I loved the way this book felt like fantasy but also integrated technology as part of it. It almost felt like maybe this world was the future of our world that has kept/lost some technology and progressed in other ways but then fallen into an older socio-economic order because of the differences of people and abilities based on their blood. Because of this it was still fantasy what with the powers and the feel of the world but had that touch of modern with its use of technology like cameras, electricity, trains, guns, radiation detectors, blood analyzing etc. I am intrigued to know more! 
 - She's so special - could totally have gone either way. I was completely down with the fact that she's unique and special in some big way because in fantasy that is what I expect. There is usually that person that has powers beyond the norm, or is 'chosen' etc. That the main character is going to have something very unique about them that sets them apart or at least for them to be the first noticeable one that does is part and parcel of most fantasy I think. And she handles this very well especially later in the book when other key elements about her abilities and blood are brought in. Ultimately I both liked and disliked Mare. She has a good personality with the typical faults that I see in many YA heroines. 
 - Adults are involved! Usually in YA I find them relegated to the background - thankfully here they aren't. They are a big part of the plot and conspiracies that are going on. 
 Cons: 
 - The hot headed indecisive heroine. As I said - Mare's personality is both a pro and a con for me. Ok she's not totally indecisive but she really doesn't use her head very well when it comes to character judgement of the people she interacts with. For someone who's spent her life under the thumb of Silvers she seems much too quick to trust too many of them. That and her romantic choices and some of her actions were just very....argh! 
 - Why hello love triangle, I just knew you were coming! 
 Heck seriously though, the love triangle it was even slightly toeing the line into a love quadrangle. I have the feeling that more of the 3rd guy will come into book 2 but I'm hoping I'm wrong because that will irk my chain to no end. Really though don't we just see the love triangle done way too much in young adult fiction? Frankly I'm pretty tired of it at this point. There are times when it works and it doesn't bother me at all because hey sometimes you really DO have feelings for two people at once. And yes of course usually you see a preference more towards one person or the other. But I seriously think it wasn't needed here and if it weren't here I wouldn't have been rolling my eyes because of every boy going moon eyed over her (seriously three boys) and it would have made this book even better. 
 A promising start I'll definitely continue with the series 
 The writing in Red Queen was solid, the world building was unique and despite my peeves I did enjoy the characters and the pace of the reading. I think it was just little peeves and the one big one about the romance that ended up stifling much of my enjoyment as those things compounded turning this from a great read into an OK read. I still see so much promise in the direction that the series is heading and I will just swallow any aggravation I feel about any romantic entanglements that progress. Hence I say it was still a strong book and one I would hesitantly recommend to friends based on their preferences. If those sorts of things don't bother you as a YA reader then you're likely to LOVE this book. 
 3.5 stars