Glass Sword

Glass Sword 

By: Victoria Aveyard 

3/5 LIKED IT 

I really liked Glass Sword, it did take me a really long time to read it but I definitely was able to get into it. Although it was never so captivating to the point of me not being able to put it down or just having to keep reading,  it was still good and well written. 

As I had previously guessed it shed a bit more light on The Scarlet Guard and how deep the veins of the rebellious group run in the country of Norta.  Glass Sword was much more "tactical" than Red Queen it's predecessor, Mare and The Gaurd are of course in the makings of a war so it only makes sense. We find out that Mare is not the only Red with a special ability (hers being able to control and create electricity.) 

Mare and Farley's rag tag group call these anomalies "New Bloods" both Silver and Red blooded . With the help from exiled and wanted (for murder of the former King) Prince Cal who was betrayed by his step-mother Queen Elara and brother Maven, who is now King, they make it their mission to hunt down the new bloods throughout the country in attempt to recruit and save them, because the saboteur King Maven knows these people exist as well and is also hunting them down but for very different reasons.

So we follow Mare and her group around on their missions and inevitable setbacks as they collect New Bloods,learn of new maddening secrets of evil intent,betrayal, anonymous groups with a secret hand in all of the mayhem, and of new lands and countries. They also strive to motivate both Silvers and Reds of Norta to join the rebellion against the Crown resulting in a civil war.

Mare meets a lot of new characters each with a lot of special abilities and strong personalities, she also meets hard and monumental decisions that are literally life and death. Prince Cal also faces very hard times, being betrayed so awfully and fighting against all he ever stood for. 

Mare succeeds at a lot of her endeavors but is faced with becoming into a hardened killer ready to use anyone at anytime for leverage and gain, we leave her at the end of Glass Sword with a HUGE win, a heart breaking loss and a terrrifying sacrifice. I'm on to King's Cage-book 3 and Cruel Crown - the prequel to Red Queen, featuring  the back stories of Queen Coriane and Diana Farley. Can't wait!

                                                                                            XOXOXOXO- THISRAVENCLAWREADER

Red Queen

      

          

    
               Red Queen 
          By:Victoria Aveyard 
  
         3.5/5 REALLY LIKED IT

Red Queen was such a good opening to what I'm sure will be a intense, dynamic, and exciting trilogy! I really enjoyed this book and have swiftly moved on to the sequel - Glass Sword -.
I would recommend this book (and have already) to anyone especially those who are fans of , fiction, YA Lit, fantasy and whoever likes dang good stories!
 In my opinion the most efficient/ effective way to describe this book is : if The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Game of Thrones had a baby. (What a kid right?)
The protagonist is Mare Barrow just a lowly Red blooded girl with nothing going for her or her broken family they are poor  and worked to the bone, if they can't find work to slave over they are sent to fight in a never ending war. These cruel standards are true for all "Reds" who are to always submit, provide goods, serve, and fight for the "Silvers" for little to nothing in return . The silvers who just by blood right hold all of the strength and power of this very split world, they are  able to maintain such privileges, and higharchy because their silver blood means they have abilities like controlling the elements, man made objects, and even control peoples mind which reds are not able to do. The divide is unjust, stagnant and corrupted and has continued this way for centuries, until a rebel group called  The Scarlet Guard begins to take a stand against the Royals and all Silvers alike, also in which Mare becomes an integral role amoung others you meet in the story. I'm sure in the next books we will discover just how deep this group goes, or more information of the Guard's history. 
Our heroine finds herself in a whirlwind of changes, information, and above all a newborn revolution.
Red Queen has tons of action, mysteries,and definitely keeps you guessing. Mare also gets caught one hell of a love triangle, I think my favorite thing about this story was how you REALLY did not know who to trust, the betrayal is real in this book and seemingly never ending (in a good way). I was on tenterhooks the whole book waiting for the true villain to be revealed, I was right about who it was but it was still a hard pill to swallow. Overall I enjoyed Red Queen it's very well written  also it did not have a overly juvenile feel to it which in my opinion makes it much more immersive.
                     
                                 XOXOXOXO-THISRAVENCLAWREADER