So, it's a YA series set in the near future, precisely after the Third World War, in a country called Illea which occupies present day North America and some parts of South America. The ruling class is the monarchy (the Schreave family); the society has a caste system (One to Eight; One being the highest). The story revolves around the Selection process of finding a suitable spouse for the heir to the throne which is done through (gasp!) picking one representative from each province (that makes 35 candidates), inviting them to the palace, and the Prince decides who stays up to the very end. Very Big Brother-ish ha!

The first three books talks about how Prince Maxon Schreave found his perfect match in America Singer, a Five. At the end of the third book, they vowed that when the time comes, they will never subject their own child to such Selection again.

Well, who would have seen this coming. In time, Maxon and America became the rulers of Illea. They successfully eliminated the castes but trouble was brewing everywhere that King Maxon thought a distraction would come handy while we was trying to figure a way to fix things. He thought that having a new Selection to find a spouse for Princess Eadlyn was the perfect way to distract the people of Illea.

I remember how headstrong and stubborn Queen America was when she entered the Selection twenty years ago. She didn't want to enter in the first place and she was sort of dragged by her own mother to put her name in. I totes understood where Princess Eadlyn's bullheadedness was coming from because she didn't want to be married off to some stranger. She wasn't even thinking about marrying yet. As the thirty five eligible bachelors pour into her home, she was thinking of ways of how to get rid of each one of them.

*Insert bleary-eyed teenager mode again here*

Because that's how love comes, ayt? When you least expect it. Maybe even when you don't want it. Gah! What a cliche. With some very wise words from her Daddy, she decided in the end to stand up for her love and everyone gets a happy ending. And why not.

XO,

Carissa

PS. Here's the hierarchy of the caste system in Illea.

My love for anything royal goes beyond the real world; it encompasses the fictitious world too! Not so long ago I featured The Selection Series here in my blog. I was swept off by the love story, and the gowns and palaces and the Prince. A friend (Hi Kara!) sent me a message and she said that if I enjoyed Kiera's Selection I might also enjoy Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen. I finished reading the book in less than 24 hours; maybe less than 12 hours actually. I couldn't put it down; not when I had no idea about what was going to happen next or what the plot was because I decided not to read any review beforehand. It was a complete leap of faith for me. Diving headfirst was suuuuuurely fun!

Red Queen//Victoria Aveyard

There were so many familiar elements in this story, so I didn't have to fumble around. To begin with, we have a kick ass girl for a protagonist. It is set in the near future (year 320 NE...the book offers no answers as to what NE stands for) in a place called the Kingdom of Norta. I guess Norta is still in planet Earth though, although I can imagine there has been some geopolitical changes over the years. The social status is divided into two: Silvers and Reds. The Silvers are the ruling class and they possess different superhuman abilities.  To name a few, there are telkies (use telekinesis), nymphs (control water), strongarms (superhuman strength), swifts (amazingly fast), greenys (can bend nature to their will), etc. The Reds in turn, since they do not have such abilities, have become enslaved.

(c)inspiredbybooks1.tumblr.com//victoriaaveyard.com

We have our protagonist Mare Molly Barrow, who is a Red from the Stilts. She thinks herself a no good and she picks pockets for a living. Her sister Gisa and her best friend Kilorn are both apprenticed so they don't have to go to war as soldiers when they turn 18. Three of her brothers are already fighting in the war and she is fated to follow the same path. In a twist of fate, her best friend looses his apprenticeship and in an effort to help him out, her sister also looses her prospects of an apprenticeship.  A distraught Mare goes to a local tavern and there she meets a boy named Cal. Despite trying to rob him of a coin, he acts kindly towards her and sympathizes with her life.

Things take a 360 for Mare on the next day when she is suddenly summoned to the Hall of the Sun (the palace) to serve the King himself. She arrives in time to witness the Queenstrial, an event where the Silver ladies of the different Houses show off their abilities in a bid to win the Prince's "heart" and in turn gets the chance to rule the kingdom someday at his side. She also finds out that the Cal she met at the tavern was actually the Crown Prince Tiberias the Seventh and heir to the Kingdom of Norta and the Burning Crown or yes, 'Cal' for short. She also sees the King Tiberias, Queen Elara (Cal's step-mum) and Cal's younger brother Maven. Cal, Maven and their father can control flame whilst Queen E can probe other's minds.

The last girl to present herself for the Queenstrial was Lady Evangeline of House Samos, a magnetron (controls metal). In her bid to show off, she tries to move the metal pipes and tips the boxes in the arena. Mare's life is endangered as she was inside one of those boxes and she takes a fall. Instead of just falling though, some sort of miracle happened. She produces a shield of lightning that cushions her fall; her uniform is singed but she was unharmed. She was seized by the sentinels and the vicious Queen Elara probes her mind and finds out that she is indeed a Red with Silver-like abilities. Evangeline is chosen as betrothed to Prince Cal and Mare is chosen for Prince Maven. Mare is given a new identity since King Tiberius couldn't stand to expose her as a Red who can call up a lightning. She became Lady  Mareena Titanos, long lost daughter of a former Silver general who died on the battlefront. She was "found and raised by Reds" and was unawares of who she was or what she was capable of until that fateful day at the arena. She earns the nickname "Lightning Girl".

That is what I have learned for sure upon finishing the book. At first I thought Cal was nice for helping Mare find a job at the palace. As the story was unfolding it didn't appear to me that he cared enough for the Reds or that he didn't intend to give them the equality and the better treatment that they craved for. Maven was different. He expressed his desire to help the Reds. He also wanted equality for them. He sympathized with the rebels and together with Mare, arranged for some of the rebel attacks to take place at the palace. Even so, Mare was still torn between the two, especially that Cal expressed his feelings towards her. He even helps Mare to go on a visit to the Stilts when she was homesick. On her visit she finds out that one of her brothers, Shade, who was fighting in the war had died.

Mare makes some friends (and enemies) at the palace; Lucas Samos her personal guard and Julian Jacos, one of her mentors, was kind to her. Julian especially warns Mare with this quote, in reference to Maven. Julian also discovers that Mare isn't the only Red in history to have Silver-like abilities. There have been others like her before but they have all been killed. There were also others like her who were still alive and are also in danger of being found and disposed by Silvers. Mare entrusts this info to Mavey (how cute!).

The climax brings us to the middle of a rebel attack and in the midst of the chaos, Mare asks Cal to choose between being with her (and her rebel inclination) or waging war against the rebels. This is also the part where Maven shows his true color. All his efforts to help the rebels were for a show. He was just as vicious as his mum. Together with their other allies, they have perfectly orchestrated the downfall of King Tib himself, as well as his heir Prince Cal. Maven takes the crown for himself and tries to get rid of his brother and Mare.

Mare and Cal escapes, but it was a close call. They end up at the rebel's lair.


And I end up with my disappointment for even thinking that Maven was better than Cal. Big LOL. And I was like...this ending totally sucks. I know that there is a book two but this cannot be ending, it's just too sad. Voila! There was indeed a saving grace at the end. Mare's brother Shade, whom we all thought was dead, was actually alive. Just like Mare, he also has an ability - he's a teleporter and his enemies couldn't catch him because he, well, just vanishes out of thin air.

Words of wisdome from Prince Maven Calore. How nice. (c)themazegvardian.tumblr.com