Photos taken by Czarina Castro

As a child to a pre-teen, I loathed reading because of the blank pages full of words I couldn't comprehend. My mom urged me to read the classics, but I ended up putting the book down after a few pages. My family was exasperated with me because they all loved reading and their huge collection just shows how much they do. I went on and on about how reading and books are boring and they were just a waste of time --- Oh, how wrong I was. One time, I saw my sister reading one of the books in the Percy Jackson series (Mind you, it is a starter pack for a beginner bookworm) and I found myself in love with it. About a hundred books later, here I am, completely and madly in love with fictional characters and their worlds. 

Everyone encounters what they like and dislike in life. I've found books that I have absolutely adored and books that I felt disconnected to. From a bookworm to another, the best book out there is the one who will break your heart the most and the plot that will turn your heads around. Through all the books I've finished, I found myself going for the fantasy, fiction and action genre. I just love the thrill and the suspense that comes with it, not to mention the universes that were intricately created and crafted. I've never really been into classics, but I'm trying as hard as I can to do so because I believe that books are considered classics for a reason and I'm looking forward to start reading soon.

The Red Queen series is one of those books that broke my heart and challenged my mind to solve the missing puzzle pieces. It's one of those dystopian young adult novels that are in trend right now, but I assure you that Red Queen stands out among them. It is not the cleanest book for it sheds a little bit of blood, but what matters the most is the essence of the story. It was written by the best-selling author, Victoria Aveyard. Victoria graduated from the University of Southern California and she wrote Red Queen a year after. 

Red Queen focuses on two factions of the world, the Silvers and the Reds. The Silvers or "silver blooded" are the ones blessed with different powers. It ranges on from water manipulation to mind manipulation. While the Reds are deemed to be the ordinary citizens, the book describes the Reds to be filthy and have streaks of white hair because of their unfavorable conditions. In short, the Silvers look down upon the Reds because of their lack of capabilities. Although, Mare Barrow, a Red --- finds out that she holds the power a Silver can only acquire from birth. Once the royal family found out about Mare's abilities, the kingdom has gone into chaos and she found herself entwined with the people who brought pain to her fellow Reds.

Without giving anything away too much, this book is realistic. Yes, it is fantasy, but Mare's personality holds true to reality, as well as the other characters. The first time I read this and thought about Mare's decisions, her decisions were not the smartest and due to impulsiveness. I shall point that Mare is only fifteen years old in the book and all her life, she was not privileged to get a quality education. Unlike some characters in other books, they were smart and wise at a young age, yet no one has taught them anything alike. What I love about Mare and Aveyard's writing is that she doesn't hide the unpleasant qualities of her characters in her books. Sure, I have grown to hate it, but it just shows that no character is perfect and it shows not just the tip of the iceberg. With those elements, it just makes you love the characters more. What I ABSOLUTELY LOVED about the book is the plot twist. Plot twists are things that you do not expect to happen with the ongoing plot, it usually occurs on the climax of the story. The plot twist literally broke me, because it was written so well and the queen is as cunning as she could get. The Royal Family is ruthless, but the secrecy is far more cruel than family itself. One point to Victoria Aveyard, none for Czarina!

Glass Sword picks up when the kingdom has fallen into the wrong hands and Mare has to find a way to protect the Reds who are normal and just like her. Throughout the book, she builds allies who think the same way about the new sovereign of the kingdom and they want justice given to all Reds, as well as Silvers. 

First and foremost, the relationships in these series are realistic and build up slowly, just as any would in real life. Mare's abilities and cleverness are tested in this book. She may not be the smartest, but she proves to be clever. She and Cal work hand-in-hand to restore justice in the kingdom and get the throne back to the right heir. Personally, I don't entirely agree with her decisions in the book, but it payed off in the end because she made one of the biggest sacrifice of her life. This book contains an amount of devastating deaths of characters that I have grown to love, but I guess it adds up to the thrill of the book. The story has definitely turned into a dark turn, but I found it less entertaining than the first book, but I find that it's always the second installment of the book that have the dull moments. Though, that's just my opinion. This book made me realize how vulnerable Cal is than the first book --- everything was taken from him and yet his stands tall, though the book shows how much anger and how lost he felt when it came to finding his right place. 

This book may have disappointed me slightly, the entire plot itself makes me want to read more of it because it deals with someone my age and life changing decisions. This book has taught me that sometimes there are no right decisions, one just has to choose which is the best out of all of them and life throws those situations at us sometimes.