Hello Rad Readers!!
This is a post written with a tinge of sadness, because this is the last of the Red Queen series, one that I have loved so so so greatly. I know that Broken Throne is a book of a few novellas and I will likely read it, but this is the last major story for Mare Barrow and the gang, and I really fell totally in love with these books. The story, the characters, the way it was written, the overarching message, I just don't think I have enough positive words in my vocabulary to properly compliment the greatness of this series and this specific book as well. A truly great and exciting conclusion to a story deserving of one.
Okay, so since this is the finale of the series there really isn't anything that I can say that isn't a spoiler. If you haven't read this series you really should go pick it up, it is wonderful and I know some people thing that it is over hyped in the book lover community but I completely disagree. I think it deserves all the hype it gets and more. I am honestly surprised it doesn't have the same devotion towards it that the Shadowhunter Chronicles gets because it has a lot of parallels. Extremely well developed world, characters that you are emotionally invested in, and a fantastical, mesmerizing, high stakes story. If you like good books then you will like this book...
SPOILERS HURTLING AT YOU IN 3, 2, 1...
Soooo, I really enjoy how we begin just hours after the ending of King's Cage, Mare and Cal are on... rocky terms I think it is fare to say, and I think this was a power move and a half for Victoria Aveyard. This is what is good for the story because now, me, as a reader, I just cannot put it down until I have closure on their relationship. Is Cal going to seriously ACTUALLY choose the throne, the lifestyle that has rejected Mare time and time again, or is he going to get it together and grow a freaking spine and stand up for what he really believes in? Well, we got the answer but only in the last-- what? 100 pages? That's okay though because between those pages was just an absolute storm (lol get the pun) of insanity. Where do I begin?
Like I said previously, I like that we open hours after Cal makes his decision and I like that Mare reminds the reader that she is heart broken but also totallyyyyy done with it. Thank you Mare becuase you are stronger than him and could honestly do wayyy better. He is weak and doesn't know hoe to make up his mind and is still hung up on the death of his prejudice father who wanted you dead and his evil brother who tried to kill you more times than it is even worth counting and imprisoned and tormented you for six months. You on the other hand have lightning that shoots out of your fingers on your command and can create storms just by thinking about it and you started a revolution. She is heartbroken but she still knows who the boss is, herself. And that lady's and gentlemen is freaking sick.
Let us move on to the new narrative track that was introduced to us, Iris, the queen of the Lakelands. Next to Levana, Iris is definitely the most evil character in the story. Maven is evil but not inherently. He doesn't want to be that way his mother mind controlled him into it. Iris on the other hand is a stone cold killer. Buddy wants power and class and anyone who stands in the way of that dead. She doesn't even bat an eye at that fact and is so blatantly honest in her inner dialogue that it is truly rattling. She offered something pretty cool to the story because Maven finally had a competitor aside from Mare and Cal. They had no complicated back story with one another, Iris simply just wanted to marry him for an alliance and then kill him that way she could have more power. The fact that the both of them know that they both want the other dead is pretty nuts and.
This was pretty slowly built up, similar to the way Glass Sword was written. We spent a lot of time talking about what we were going to do before we actually started doing it, and we spent a lot of time thinking about characters and what we wanted it say to them rather than actually saying to to them and that my fellow rad readers is FRUSTRATING!
I enjoyed getting Cal's and Maven's perspectives on a regular bases in this novel because that is honestly what I have been wanting this entire time, and I hate myself for having to say this but full disclosure time, Maven is my favorite character... ahhh so terrible but so true. He is just so exciting! You never know what is going through his head until you are in his head and then you still don't really know what his deal is because Elara's whispers are still in there too!
A part of the plot that I personally felt was very intriguing was exploring Mare's PTSD from when she was captured. The moment with the silent stone on the cliff when the company was being attacked was mostly filler action, but this is where Mare fully recognizes that she has been seriously messed up. I think this is an interesting plot point because so many time characters go through very trying times like the ones Mare experienced in King's Cage and then the next thing you know it is like nothing happened to them. The is not how that works and also I like that we get to see Mare's recovery period. It makes the emotion and the story feel raw and real. Once again just showcasing Victoria Aveyard's impeccable writing skills.
My favoriteeeeee part of the book was after Maven and Iris rated whatever base that Mare and Cal and the gang had just left but Mare and all them are able to communicate with Maven and Iris through Rash (one of the triplets). It was just such a neat idea and so well executed! I was reading every word so carefully and intensely because I didn't want to miss a beat. It was absolutely enthralling. Once Maven heard Mare's voice and lost it I was like hereeeee weeee goooo. I love their interactions because they are always at such high stakes. There is never a point in any part of this story as a whole, and this goes for all the books, when they are talking and things aren't said with extreme gravity.
I love how good Mare is at reading people, I have said that in other reviews I've given on the other books in this series, but I think that it is a really cool character trait to expand on (that was duly expanded on) because when it all comes down to it, she was just a thief in the beginning of all of this. She was just a girl that would steal from the silvers that way she wouldn't starve. She learned how to read people then and she uses it to her advantage now. She knows how to not let people read her and I think it is just a really really cool character trait.
As for Anabel and Julian... Don't like them... nope not at all. I liked how they got the trade done with Iris, because that is really why Mare won in the first place but I just don't like how sneaky and selfish they are. What they want is only for them or only for Cal or only for the throne and they just don't seem to accept the new ideas. They will act like they do care about the cause to Mare's face but everything with them is rocky. You don't know if Julian is on Mare's side or just pretending to save face. You know Anabel doesn't like Mare but she would never really show it. I just don't like how sneaky and two faced the both of them are and I really hated the effect they had on Cal. I think that without their doing, Cal never would have made all of his dumb decisions in the first place and half the conflict in the book would have been solved in a chapter... but that's just me... ;)
Evangeline's story line is pretty crazy... with all the drama with her and Elane and then the question with weather or not her brother would take her side and then finding out that her father never cared for her he just needed a daughter to pawn off for alliances to kings... ugh, no wonder that girl was so awful in the beginning. She is like the definition of projecting. All in all, homie redeemed herself, still don't forgive her brother for killing Shade but I am very very happy that Evangeline got a happily ever after because that is what she deserved.
I loved most, all of the references to the previous installments of this story. When Mare goes to Iris, "Even dogs bite," because of what Iris said to her in the previous book basically telling Mare that she would kill Maven if she got the chance! When Annabel told Maven to feel to Cal because he was the king and buddy goes "No, I don't think so," BUT THAT HAD A DOUBLE MEANING because in the first book when Mare is down and she goes to Maven "help me up," and then he says, "No, I don't think so," and that is the first time he betrays her and that is when we learn that he has been the bad guy all along... CRAZY. When Cal tells Maven when they try to meet for a truce, "Until we meet again," BUT THAT IS HOW MAVEN WOULD END HIS LETTERS TO MARE!!!!!!! Cal knew what he was doing and that just made Maven lose it and I just loved it so much. It was absolutely maddening and absolutely genius. A thousand rounds of applause is what those moments deserved!
Okay rad readers, that is just about all I have to say about this roller coaster of a series. I loved loved loved it so so so much and I hope you did too.
Maven deserved better,
- C8 ;)