YA Today Book Club discussion

Time to discuss the story

1. What did you think of our main character, Mare Barrow?

2. How do you feel about the two classes, the reds and the silvers? Do you like one over the other?

3. What do you think of Mare's powers?

4. Did you like or dislike the plot of the story?

5. How do you feel about the character being thrown into court, even though she is considered a commoner in the the story?

6. Did you enjoy the book overall?

I'm late to the party, but I showed up!

1. I liked Mare well enough, but I liked that she was complicated enough to be interesting. I thought that she was a bit silly to get involved with the princes, because they've been playing the political game a lot longer than her, and she ended up being way over her head.

2. I would say that I liked the Reds better, but that was just the way the book was written. I don't think the Silvers thought what they were doing was wrong, they had just been brought up to believe they were the superior humans, and it was their job to run things. I did like that the older prince - whose name has slipped my mind at the moment - wanted to make things a little more fair. He was tiptoeing in the right direction when he needed to make leaps and bounds.

3. They were pretty cool, and I would like to see more of them as she gets stronger. I hope someone in the next book comes along who is better at what they do.

4. It kept me reading, but not much seemed to happen. It seemed to be mostly intrigue, and it was pretty predictable. I knew who the bad guy was going to be from the start. That person simpered a little too much. Evangeline was a caricature rather than a character. *shrugs* I just remind myself that this is YA, and sometimes things have to be exaggerated because intensity is one of the main features of those teen years.

5. There wouldn't have been a story otherwise. I understand why the king did it because it wouldn't have been a good idea to cause unrest by showing the Silvers, as well as the Reds, that Reds were developing powers. As a king who wanted to maintain the status quo, he was pretty smart to send those suspected of having powers to the front lines. Mare saved herself for the time being by showing those powers in front of Silvers and Reds at the palace.

6. I liked the book well enough to want to read the next one. It wasn't a masterpiece, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.