“Anyone can betray anyone.”

The world will always have a chance to rebuild itself, if there are enough people that want to make it happen. That’s the beauty of living in the future, in a world that isn’t tainted with the realities of our lives. Sure, it may seem like this entire story takes place in the past, but this is a whole new kind of ballgame, and it’s not to be taken lightly. In this world, people are divided by the color of their blood, literally. There are the Red masses, the poor ones of the new society who have to serve the higher powered Silvers. It’s like the color of their blood is what makes them special, as only the Silvers have powers that make them so much more ruthless than their Red counterparts. Only the Silvers have what it takes to take what is theirs, without risking any permanent damage to themselves. When there are monthly matches between Silvers just to see who is the strongest, and they never have to fight to the death, it’s easy to see that they flaunt their power of the Reds, showing them that they are better than the rest.

So if only Silvers have special powers, then why doesn’t Mare die when she falls face first into a lightning shield?

That’s the question that begins Mare Barrow’s journey into the world of the Silvers. Mare, born with Red blood in her veins, forced to work in the Palace after she is responsible for making her sister lose her source of income. She just so happened to start on one of the most exciting days in the Silver world: Queenstrial. This event is where the most eligible maidens have the opportunity to prove why they should be the next Queen. It’s not all fashion shows and Miss Universe waving though. The Queenstrial is one of the most brutal shows of force that Mare has ever seen, and it’s when one of the girls uses her immense power to tilt the stadium that all of the noble Silver families are in that Mare should have fallen to her death on the lightning shield. It was there that she discovered that she’s special, maybe even more special than a Silver.

Mare is then hidden from the world in plain sight, with the royal family telling a lie for the public to believe: that she is a lost Silver Princess named Mareena, whose parents were killed in the war when she was a baby and she was living with a Red family this whole time, not knowing of her true heritage. Somehow, the public believes it, even if it seems highly unlikely. Of course, there are some that start to get suspicious of Mare, and for good reason, but for the most part Mare has to assume her new identity if she is to stay alive in enemy territory. She does everything she can to survive, and to make sure that her real family doesn’t become a target of the royal family for her mistakes. It may seem like the two Princes, Cal and Maven are there to help her, and maybe they have some feelings towards her, but she just needs to make sure that she can fool the rest of the world without revealing the lie that she is living.

But, of course, joining with a group who’s sole purpose is to bring the Silvers down is probably not the best way of ensuring her safety.

Mare’s thoughts are prominent throughout the book, distinct with the use of italic font. I personally loved that she was so snarky, even though she was basically fighting for her life. She stayed true to herself as much as she could, and she was able to learn more about her powers and harness them to her advantage. Especially for someone who had no idea they had powers over electricity, to be able to learn how to control them in such a short amount of time is an impressive feat in and of itself. I’m proud of her for that.

Be warned though. The book doesn’t have a happy ending, as is expected for books with sequels still in the making. The betrayal that Mare faces towards the end of the book is enough to make anyone want to bawl their eyes out or throw the book across the room by what happened. I was at the edge of my seat the whole time, from the Parting Ball and what happened there, to the very end of the book. I honestly can’t wait until I am able to read Glass Sword, the second installment of this trilogy. I could barely put this book down!

Rated: 5/5 Stars