Oppression and Girl-Hate

      I was first introduced to Red Queen the year it was released. I recall being obsessed with this series. Because of my history with Red Queen, I was originally going to post this review much earlier. However, I soon realized it had been too long since I’ve last read this book even though I have been following the series so I decided rereading Red Queen before I made any consensus about it. This was a good idea because my opinion about this book has changed drastically in that last three years. I don’t know if my taste has changed or if I’m a more critical reader now. Regardless of the reason, my bubble of nostalgia has been popped for this one.  

      This is written from first-person present tense, my least favorite forms of narration because it is unnatural. People don’t tell you about something that happened to them in present tense. Some people think it adds a sense of urgency. Although I don’t agree with this because presence tense alone doesn’t speed up a plot. This didn't stop me from finishing the book so it didn’t completely ruin Red Queen’s reading experience for me, but I think I would have enjoyed it a little more if the writing was in past-tense. 

      I’m impressed and I have to admit the system of oppression in this world can be very believable at times. I see this pattern in books like The Hunger Games as well the oppressors, the silvers, are getting something out of the people they oppress, the reds. Although, one group is getting the short end of the stick in oppression, in reality oftentimes the oppressor is dehumanized along with the oppressed. In Red Queen both silvers and reds are dehumanized. The reds are these lowly creatures who owe everything to the silvers who are made up to be something god-like.  

      However, this book also has a girl hate problem. The only female Mare gets along with is her younger sister. She doesn’t mention having any female friends, but that doesn’t really bother me all that much. What prickle my nerves is the fact that all the sympathetic silvers are male while the cartoonish-nasty ones are mostly female. For example, I’ve mentioned in another article, Where are the Older Adults? Mare’s two silver teachers. The male teacher, Julian, is probably one of if not my favorite character in the entire story. In contrast her female teacher, Lady Blonos is a witch who feels like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. I know Mare is engaged to one of the princes and many people are now jealous of her, but couldn’t there have been just one female silver who was at least cool with Mare? 

       As much as I enjoyed the way oppression was handled in this book the amount of girl hate occurring keeps me from loving it. That’s not to say I hate this book or I wouldn’t recommend it. Red Queen is still okay and worth the read, even if it’s not as good as I remembered.