Queen Song (Red Queen #0.1) by Victoria Aveyard

Amy   

Lynnie

young adult, fantasy, novella


We read and reviewed the original book in this series, Red Queen, last year and both of us really enjoyed it.  It's set in a world where society is segregated based on the color of a person's blood.  Silvers have all the power (including magical abilities) and wealth, while Reds do all the hard work and service in the society and live in poverty.

Queen Song is a novella set before the events in Red Queen and tells the story of Crown Prince Calore's mother, Coriane. 


Amy's Review

This novella is a prequel to Red Queen and tells the story of Cal's parents, Tibe and Coriane. It was a straightforward story of a dissatisfied girl who somehow attracts the prince even though she was not trying to do so. Of course, she attracts enemies too. I had forgotten so much about Red Queen already so it took me a while to figure out how these characters tied to those in Red Queen. I'm not sure this was a story that needed to be told.


Lynnie's Review
 
This was almost painful to read. As much as I loved the book Red Queen, I hated this novella, in large part because it was the one thing that Red Queen was not--boring. If it hadn't been so short I never would have finished it.

Queen Song focuses on Coriane- Cal's mother who really only serves as a plot device in Red Queen (mom has to die so evil stepmother can take over--sound familiar?). Unfortunately because Coriane is such a minor presence in Red Queen, I really didn't feel like I needed to learn about her and this novella didn't shed any light onto any of the more prominent characters in the main book.

If you're totally in love with this universe maybe you'll enjoy it. But I didn't.