Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

36 reviews

linneak's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Slavery, War, Classism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Medical content, Murder, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Trafficking, Death of parent, Blood, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Bullying, Police brutality, Cursing, Rape, and Sexual content

lemonwrlds's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Child death, Confinement, Blood, Excrement, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Violence, War, Ableism, Child abuse, Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Torture, Murder, Self harm, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

tiaharbingerofdeath's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

When I first started this book, I did not think that I would like the writing style at all but it quickly grew on me. I became very attached to the characters and loved watching them evolve. There is a strong theme of morality and what that means in this book and I felt that was captivating. Hopefully the rest of the series is just as good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Blood, Classism, Death, Bullying, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and War

mollysbooklist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

It felt like an American author trying really hard to write in various British accents and Irish accents. I found it distracting and made the plot more convoluted than necessary. 

The audiobook narration was okay. I think I would’ve enjoyed this more if it had been a physical/e-book vs. the audiobook. I think the narration highlighted the problems of the writing. 

*Accents haven’t previously been an issue for me so it was surprising how distracting it was with this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Fatphobia

Minor: Cannibalism

joshoonet's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

• I expected the protagonist to be more impulsive and to make annoying, irrational decisions since he's 16-18 years old, but he can actually use his brain! Positive surprise there
• Read this in like 3 sessions, because i got lost in it completely
• FOR SURE gonna buy the whole trilogy (?) and read it asap
• The plot isn't reinventing the wheel here, but it's an interesting take on the "YA-trilogy/dystopian/uprising" kind of genre. The way this book ended, I'm left wondering what the protagonist will decide in the future, when hard decisions have to be made.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Death, and War

Moderate: Slavery, Grief, Rape, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, and Excrement

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, and Cannibalism

Classism: the society in the book is separated into different "colors" (not skin colors) which act like castes, and the ones high in the hierarchy see everyone else as less than. Death of parent:

the protagonist's father dies by hanging prior to the starting point of the book. It isn't described in too much detail, the protagonist is not actively grieving.

Grief (and for what character!):

the protagonist's wife dies by hanging as an act of martyrdom. She is mentioned all through the story, her dream is what keeps the main character going. The writing style doesn't strike me as very emotional, but it's clear that he loved and misses her.

War, Slavery and ALL OTHERS:

the protagonist gets into an academy, where the students must try to defend their own house and take over the others'. Think of Capture the Flag but over the span of ~a year and pretty serious. Students aren't technically supposed to kill each other, but sometimes they do. Some (very few, and only in the first half) rape some female students; this is not described in detail. By touching students of other houses with one's own flag, they become that house's "slave". They can technically break that "oath", but are then shunned. They are all freed by the end of the game.

thrabenvaliant's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What a wild ride. I didn't expect it to go where it did, or cover the ground it did. I'm left surprised and intrigued.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Bullying, Slavery, Cursing, Death, Blood, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

chris_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, War, Classism, Medical content, and Slavery

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Blood, Colonisation, Murder, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Bullying, Cannibalism, Vomit, Police brutality, and Animal death

brook_price's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This book was definetely not for me. I've heard the sequels are better but yikes, the portrayals of women and any character other than the hyper-masculine, stunningly handsome, muscular main character were so lackluster and kind of insulting. Also, the treatment of rape was infuriating. I get that the characters discussing and analyzing the incidents are children and that the proctors watching over the games are indicative of the dystopia that hired them, but damn, the handling of assault was messed up. It was as if the women didn't matter. I got straight-up pissed off a couple of times reading this book. To make matters even more irritating, I thought the battle royal element was so boring. The stakes weren't outlined well and the pacing was way too slow. I don't think I'm the target audience for this story, so take my notes with a grain of salt, but ooofff, did not like this book. 1.5 for interesting character names at least.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Classism, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Bullying, Misogyny, and Rape

I personally did not like this book

emilineopines's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Classism, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Rape

itendswithe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book follows a boy crafted to lead a rebellion against a caste-based society that is reinforced by selective breeding. Also, it's on mars.

It starts with a close look at the rough life in a low-caste mining community before throwing you into a Hunger Games-esque war simulation.

This book has a great premise, but the level of brutality was hard for me.

I would recommend checking out this book if the description intrigues you, but maybe look at the content warnings before diving in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Slavery, Murder, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, and Medical content

Moderate: Cursing, Self harm, Stalking, Rape, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Death of parent