Since the death of King Tiberius and the coronation of King Maven, Mare, Cal and the rest of the Scarlet Guard have been on the run. While Mare learns more about the complex system of the Red Dawn revolution and its vast reach across other Silver-Red kingdoms, she has her own agenda. Find the newbloods before Maven executes them or worse. Even though, the Reds are wary of these mutated Reds, Mare is sure that they’re the secret weapon they need to win the war and kill the king.

I stated in my previous review that I was eager to see how Mare’s evolution would go and damn it went beyond Katniss Everdeen. I was impressed. At first, I thought Aveyard was glossing over Mare’s trauma as she didn’t seem to be suffering from nightmares or flashbacks.

I was wrong. Aveyard skillfully albeit subtly weaves in the growing pressure of every person dying under Maven’s hand or for Mare’s agenda, as another failure that she tries her damndest to forget. Not that she’s doing a good job of it. Rather the pain makes her harder, she uses it as justification for harsher measures, breaking her word and her own ideals that she thought she would uphold.

Even though, she’s inflicting almost as much pain with as little remorse as Maven, she doesn’t see the similarities. Or she doesn’t want to and it scares those around her. In fact, Cal said it best-She doesn’t trust anyone, she forces herself to forget the sacrifices, abandons her family, and can’t decide whether she’s a leader or a martyr.

All true but she’s not listening.

As for Cal, he’s almost a shell of his former self. He’s still clinging to his noble warrior ideals, not wishing to kill former acquaintances whom he sees as innocent or ignorant, that not all Silvers don’t deserve death. But he’s a hypocrite as well as Mare points out that he doesn’t extend that same sort of sympathy to Reds who have suffered worst for far longer and are fighting for a just cause.

Even though, Cal and Mare are on different ideological sides of the war, and they know that they’re a distraction to each other, they cannot deny themselves the comfort of each other in bed.

Now, get your head of the gutter.

I just mean, they comfort each other with the roiling nightmares and the painful betrayal that Maven was not the boy they thought he was. He’s a cruel sociopath but neither can let go of the boy that never existed. Nonetheless, Cal proves himself as a loyal soldier even though he cannot fully commit to the cause, showing his strategic mind as well as his kindness to the scared newblood children. It’s hard not to hope he’ll change his mind but he’s stubborn, necesitating Mare’s repeated refrain that she cannot trust him.

As for Kilorn, het gets a little more depth here but I found him to be a annoying ass most of the time but that is part of his characterization and dynamic with mare, putting them firmly in surrogate sibling territory. I enjoyed hwo Aveyard subverted expectations in that she didn’t drag this out as a love triangle when it is clear who Mare will end up with. And while Kilorn clearly longs for more, he is mature enough to accept that she’ll never love him that way. He still acts mature about it but some of his dislike of Cal is rooted in Silver-disdain as much as disdain for his former role as Prince.

Farley, Shade and other new characters provide welcome relief and even some humor at points as they form Mare’s crack newblood taskforce. It makes up the bulk of the book in the cat and mouse game of finding newbloods, recruiting and training them before Maven can.

In fact, it gave me a lot of X-Men vibes as Aveyard describes the different powers (manipulating gravity, surpressing others’ powers, illusions, shapeshifting, explosions, you see the similarities yes?) with this group of people that are feared and exploited by others including themselves. But it is a solid premise because it felt cathartic to see this band of misfits learn to harness their powers and fight against their former oppressors.

Between the X-Men and the Avatar the Last Airbender similarities, it almost felt unoriginal which made it predictable until the end where Aveyard brings the plot back to an epic scale that leaves me wondering how Aveyard will tackle the bigger themes she has introduced and the new insurmountable obstacle she has set up.

Nonetheless, I cannot give this a higher rating than the first book. Even though it sets up higher stakes, it has some glaring weakness. Besides the very obvious similarities to X-Men, there feels to be lost potential in getting to know more about the recruits. I get that it echoes Mare’s own desire not to get close to someone and bein betrayed/hurt again but it limits reader investment in them. Mare has also gained some overdramatic interior monologue at spots with pinpoint accurate metaphors that feel unrealistic for a semi-educated thief from the Stilts. That problem also extends to unwieldy descriptive passages that go on so long I forget what they’re describing.

3 stars.