This is one of those books that I picked up because it says in the description, "Graceling meets The Selection..." I've read Graceling (and Fire and Bitterblue) and I ADORED them! I also read the The Selection (and the rest of the series) which were okay because I liked how they dealt with the downfalls of a caste system. ...yes, I do get sucked in when books relate to other books to describe themselves. SH-RUG.
An amazon summary, "The #1 New York Times Bestseller
Graceling meets The Selection in debut novelist Victoria Aveyard's sweeping tale of seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king's palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?
Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood--those with common, Red blood serve the Silver- blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.
To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard--a growing Red rebellion--even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Mare Barrow's world is divided into red and silver. Red bloods do not have an extra ability, but silver bloods do. The red bloods are treated terribly; if they don't have a job or apprenticeship by the age of 18, they're conscripted to fight in the war effort against the lakelanders, which has been going on for decades. Mare has accepted that when she turns 18, she's going to be drafted to fight in war, but she takes solace that her close friend Kilorn, will not be drafted since he's an apprentice fisherman. ...until his master fisherman dies. Kilorn is about to be conscripted to war in a matter of days, unless Mare can buy his freedom. So Mare, with the help of her sister Gisa (who works for a seamstress), go to a silver city to pick pocket silvers to get enough money to smuggle Kilorn out of their town and save him from war. ...until a red rebellion group known as the Scarlet Guard commits a terrorist act and all the silvers go on a murder spree, trying to kill every red citizen in sight. Mare and Gisa escape, but Gisa's sewing hand is crushed when she tries to pick pocket a silver. In desperation, Mare goes to linger outside a bar and pick pocket people as they exit. She's mostly successful until she pick pockets one man who catches her. After some conversation and introducing himself as Cal, he gives her a good chunk of money and lets her go about her business.
The next day, Mare is summoned by a car and spirited off to be a servant for the royal household - Cal has gotten her a job. Mare is saved from conscription and may be able to save Kilorn too. She can't find Cal though amongst the servants. As they start serving at the event, she sees Cal, amongst the silver royalty; turns out he's the prince in line for the throne. Mare goes about her business of being a servant, but when the stadium moves, Mare is thrown onto the electric shield that covers the arena, and miraculously doesn't die. She's swept up in a silver whirlwind of cover up - of course she isn't red blooded, she's silver blooded and from a long lost silver house.
...that's enough summary. I just feel like the amazon summary left out a lot of chunks of information leading up to Mare discovering she has powers. Anyways.
Throughout the book, I read Mare as a survivalist; constantly in a cross roads of decisions trying to make the best one in the moment she's placed in. Sometimes her heart sways her decisions, other times her mind. But she's trying to survive and I can't stress that enough.
I thought a lot of the political climate was interesting, especially with how the red versus silver caste system kind of plays out. I also thought a lot of the background with the royal family was very interesting but really, we need to talk about the powers.
So a lot of the silvers fall into different houses and certain bloodlines carry on the power. I thought a LOT of the powers were interesting, especially in the portrayal of their use. But, I was also a little peeved that none of the powers presented felt original or different... which would probably be increasing difficult to do with how many super heroes/villain powers are very prevalent today. But still, it's on my wishlist for maybe future books in this series.
I also wanted a little more time spent with the world building surrounding the Scarlet Guard. I feel like we got a really good glimpse of them? But not much else.
I also also thought how Mare felt about the different potential romantic partners was a little inconsistent, but I relate that back to her trying to survive. I could go either way with logically, it'd be better to choose this one, but my heart wants me to pick this one. There seemed to be a lot of internal fighting with herself throughout the story.
I will read the second book; there was definitely enough unique and interesting ideas presented in this book to get me to pick up book 2.
Happy reading!
