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lonelylooper's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Body shaming
Minor: Homophobia, Excrement, and Cannibalism
mnkeemagick's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
**LONG AND SPOILERS AHEAD**
Having finally read this book after it's long stint on my TBR, I must say that I'm disappointed. It seems to me that this is a book that neatly falls into the hype over substance category.
This is the story of a "lower Red", the lowest members of a color based caste system, as he realizes his life of mining under the surface of Mars to aid in terraforming efforts is a lie. He is awakened to this lie and enters the fold of a group of revolutionaries that wish to place him high in society that they might overthrow their oppressive color caste system.
To start, our protagonist Darrow is definitely a Mary Sue esque character, exceeding all expectation in strategy, intelligence, and physical prowess despite being a 16 year old whose whole life has been relegated to mining, drinking, and fighting. It's expressly mentioned that he's different from other Reds and lower colors, that he is a new step in evolution that is naturally above the others. Even after his transformation into a Gold where he is enhanced so that he can begin working his way through the upper reaches of society, he is described often as more than the standard for their perfectly crafted selves.
More dexterous in a new body he has to learn to function in, stronger despite size, smart enough that he is one of the highest scorers of the entry exam, to the point he must be interrogated to determine if and how he cheated, and immediately having a mind for logic puzzles and politics. All against people who were bred, raised, and literally modified as he was for their entire lives to do these things. He even prevails over those who have already passed the testing and are considered the highest of the high.
Yet at the same time, he's naive or easily fooled as the plot needs. In the last hundred or so pages he's caught in a trap alone 3 separate times using the same trick.
Then there's his motivation, given to him expressly and with no subtlety by his wife in the early stages of the book, cemented by her martyrdom. She is literally written as an exposition tool to open his eyes and die, then be pined after as needed. Much the same is true of his few interactions with lower colors after he leaves the mines. Symbols of virtue or strife, but certainly not people.
The world building is haphazard and doesn't make much sense. It's loosely tied to Greco-Roman mythos, mostly in name and style more than substance or message. There are little details surrounding the story happening on Mars that irk me, namely the constant thinking about how they are in "low gravity" or specifying that it's 0.376 Earth gravity even though he has spent his entire life on Mars and only learns the difference when training his new body under higher gravity to strengthen it. Names and references aren't consistent, with images given from Egypt, the Bible, and The Reaper. It's frustrating that there's so many little details constantly being shoved at you to remember it's on Mars, only to have slips, inconsistencies, and missed opportunities like the artificial fortress that watches over the game is referred to as Olympus when it could have been set in a valley at the base of the actual Olympus Mons on Mars.
There's also odd societal tidbits that nag at me throughout. This story apparently takes place around 700 years after Earth begins terraforming the solar system, and 300 years after they have successfully done so on Mars, keeping the Reds underground as slave labor to produce Helium. This led me to believe that the Reds were somehow kept a secret, that the upper world is more ignorant with dark forces at the top being malicious, but I was wrong.
Apparently all the people on the surface, including OTHER REDS, know that this is a thing and just don't do anything. Centuries of being complacent with actual slavery and regular death with no social movement at all, explained and handwaved away as people being disappeared when they speak out, even though there must be billions of them watching considering its said that there's at least a billion Reds just underground. No matter how brutal an empire is, there would be more than just The Sons of Ares trying to do something.
I think this all feels so underthought because I noted a delineation in the book where we got to the part I feel Brown actually originally wanted to write and haphazardly built a world around it to make it fit.
There's also a bit about the most inhuman, animalistic, and violent caste being "Obsidian". Not that we ever meet one, mostly sticking to what seem to me to be very Irish coded (and a little stereotypes) Reds and the very European, largely British Golds.
All that being said, there's a solid change in the writing once we enter the game. The entrance and exam this world uses to determine the baseline for the top of the top. This section, while full of tropes from other YA Dystopia, is much more engaging.
Golds enter an elite testing ground after their entrance exams, 1200 total, where they will be sorted into 1 of 12 Hogwarts houses named after the major Gods of the Roman pantheon. Once sorted, they're dragged away in the night, dropped into stone cells naked in pairs, and only one gets to leave. The 1200 become 600 as the high testers cull the lowest scorers and they're dropped into a valley with fortresses and resources with a simple goal: conquer all the other houses.
I like this play on the battle Royale, especially when it's initially mentioned that they're not supposed to kill other students intentionally. It's a nice twist on the format, it's much more cohesive and engaging, even though it has it's own faults.
The not intentionally killing students goes out the window almost immediately. The themes here are darker and I think intended to be more shocking, especially the instances of sexual assault that are again just using women, most of whom are nameless and faceless, as shock props for the story and not characters. The women who are named largely treat this as something either deserved for weakness (per their cultural upbringing) or something to simply heal from, minus one who finds it particularly repulsive.
There's plenty of lagging about as this section takes almost an entire in-book year, lots of space initially dedicated to more or less wandering at the start. None of the twists land because they're telegraphed so hard.
As with the rest of the book, the messaging is about as subtle as a shotgun. Even when they make minor philosophical stabs at violence not being the answer, all their problems and messages are solved or perpetuated with violence. It's even alluded to early on that dreamers and peaceful martyrs are worthless, a dime a dozen, while violence is the only way to really change anything.
All told, not great. I'm leaving some space for the shallowness and the prose (the choppy little sentences and poorly executed plays to make our Mary Sue seem a genius warrior philosopher grated on me) as it's largely considered YA and was a debut. I wouldn't recommend it to friends but read it if you want, but after seeing more of the same in the Golden Son excerpt, I'm going to leave the series here.
Having finally read this book after it's long stint on my TBR, I must say that I'm disappointed. It seems to me that this is a book that neatly falls into the hype over substance category.
This is the story of a "lower Red", the lowest members of a color based caste system, as he realizes his life of mining under the surface of Mars to aid in terraforming efforts is a lie. He is awakened to this lie and enters the fold of a group of revolutionaries that wish to place him high in society that they might overthrow their oppressive color caste system.
To start, our protagonist Darrow is definitely a Mary Sue esque character, exceeding all expectation in strategy, intelligence, and physical prowess despite being a 16 year old whose whole life has been relegated to mining, drinking, and fighting. It's expressly mentioned that he's different from other Reds and lower colors, that he is a new step in evolution that is naturally above the others. Even after his transformation into a Gold where he is enhanced so that he can begin working his way through the upper reaches of society, he is described often as more than the standard for their perfectly crafted selves.
More dexterous in a new body he has to learn to function in, stronger despite size, smart enough that he is one of the highest scorers of the entry exam, to the point he must be interrogated to determine if and how he cheated, and immediately having a mind for logic puzzles and politics. All against people who were bred, raised, and literally modified as he was for their entire lives to do these things. He even prevails over those who have already passed the testing and are considered the highest of the high.
Yet at the same time, he's naive or easily fooled as the plot needs. In the last hundred or so pages he's caught in a trap alone 3 separate times using the same trick.
Then there's his motivation, given to him expressly and with no subtlety by his wife in the early stages of the book, cemented by her martyrdom. She is literally written as an exposition tool to open his eyes and die, then be pined after as needed. Much the same is true of his few interactions with lower colors after he leaves the mines. Symbols of virtue or strife, but certainly not people.
The world building is haphazard and doesn't make much sense. It's loosely tied to Greco-Roman mythos, mostly in name and style more than substance or message. There are little details surrounding the story happening on Mars that irk me, namely the constant thinking about how they are in "low gravity" or specifying that it's 0.376 Earth gravity even though he has spent his entire life on Mars and only learns the difference when training his new body under higher gravity to strengthen it. Names and references aren't consistent, with images given from Egypt, the Bible, and The Reaper. It's frustrating that there's so many little details constantly being shoved at you to remember it's on Mars, only to have slips, inconsistencies, and missed opportunities like the artificial fortress that watches over the game is referred to as Olympus when it could have been set in a valley at the base of the actual Olympus Mons on Mars.
There's also odd societal tidbits that nag at me throughout. This story apparently takes place around 700 years after Earth begins terraforming the solar system, and 300 years after they have successfully done so on Mars, keeping the Reds underground as slave labor to produce Helium. This led me to believe that the Reds were somehow kept a secret, that the upper world is more ignorant with dark forces at the top being malicious, but I was wrong.
Apparently all the people on the surface, including OTHER REDS, know that this is a thing and just don't do anything. Centuries of being complacent with actual slavery and regular death with no social movement at all, explained and handwaved away as people being disappeared when they speak out, even though there must be billions of them watching considering its said that there's at least a billion Reds just underground. No matter how brutal an empire is, there would be more than just The Sons of Ares trying to do something.
I think this all feels so underthought because I noted a delineation in the book where we got to the part I feel Brown actually originally wanted to write and haphazardly built a world around it to make it fit.
There's also a bit about the most inhuman, animalistic, and violent caste being "Obsidian". Not that we ever meet one, mostly sticking to what seem to me to be very Irish coded (and a little stereotypes) Reds and the very European, largely British Golds.
All that being said, there's a solid change in the writing once we enter the game. The entrance and exam this world uses to determine the baseline for the top of the top. This section, while full of tropes from other YA Dystopia, is much more engaging.
Golds enter an elite testing ground after their entrance exams, 1200 total, where they will be sorted into 1 of 12 Hogwarts houses named after the major Gods of the Roman pantheon. Once sorted, they're dragged away in the night, dropped into stone cells naked in pairs, and only one gets to leave. The 1200 become 600 as the high testers cull the lowest scorers and they're dropped into a valley with fortresses and resources with a simple goal: conquer all the other houses.
I like this play on the battle Royale, especially when it's initially mentioned that they're not supposed to kill other students intentionally. It's a nice twist on the format, it's much more cohesive and engaging, even though it has it's own faults.
The not intentionally killing students goes out the window almost immediately. The themes here are darker and I think intended to be more shocking, especially the instances of sexual assault that are again just using women, most of whom are nameless and faceless, as shock props for the story and not characters. The women who are named largely treat this as something either deserved for weakness (per their cultural upbringing) or something to simply heal from, minus one who finds it particularly repulsive.
There's plenty of lagging about as this section takes almost an entire in-book year, lots of space initially dedicated to more or less wandering at the start. None of the twists land because they're telegraphed so hard.
As with the rest of the book, the messaging is about as subtle as a shotgun. Even when they make minor philosophical stabs at violence not being the answer, all their problems and messages are solved or perpetuated with violence. It's even alluded to early on that dreamers and peaceful martyrs are worthless, a dime a dozen, while violence is the only way to really change anything.
All told, not great. I'm leaving some space for the shallowness and the prose (the choppy little sentences and poorly executed plays to make our Mary Sue seem a genius warrior philosopher grated on me) as it's largely considered YA and was a debut. I wouldn't recommend it to friends but read it if you want, but after seeing more of the same in the Golden Son excerpt, I'm going to leave the series here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Cannibalism
_fallinglight_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
This book is proof that no matter what book I previously thought was the worst I'd ever read, there's always a 10th level of worseness hell out there that I can subject my poor brain to. What an absolute dreck of a book. I despised everything in it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Homophobia and Vomit
flitfox7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing and Rape
luis_vieira's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Classism
Moderate: Cursing, Rape, Slavery, and Murder
Minor: Excrement and Injury/Injury detail
the_trees_speak_latin_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, and Blood
Minor: Sexual assault, Slavery, Vomit, and Cannibalism
naechan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism
blingokitty's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Rape, Excrement, and Kidnapping
blackbird300's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I’m mad that I enjoyed this so much. My biggest issue with the entire book lies with the fact that nearly every femme-presenting character introduced in the story is assaulted at some point. Yes, many of them are well developed characters, but it does not erase the fact that they were assaulted/nearly assaulted. That fact alone feels out of place in the entire plot.
This first book belongs solidly within the YA genre. The plot moves at break neck pace, losing the reader first at the beginning, but once accustomed, it becomes easy. Certain plot points are wrapped up quickly upon being introduced, but all strings are tied at the very end.
I’ve been wrestling with myself as to whether or not I should purchase the sequel…and my answer is a solid yes.
This first book belongs solidly within the YA genre. The plot moves at break neck pace, losing the reader first at the beginning, but once accustomed, it becomes easy. Certain plot points are wrapped up quickly upon being introduced, but all strings are tied at the very end.
I’ve been wrestling with myself as to whether or not I should purchase the sequel…and my answer is a solid yes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
aelytacchan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I can't say I understand why Red Rising is a fan favorite. It wasn't bad, but its tempo is so gruelling that I almost DNFd it - saved only by the fact I already had all the audiobooks from a past sale.
I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, but I found a lot of it foul. I think that might be on purpose, but a lot of the violence seemed unnecessary and out of bounds even for the world's laws and customs.
Women were constantly used as symbols, to further plot points, or as convenient caretakers. Despite there being women peppered into the story, they were mostly inconsequential or, when they were of consequence, they just naturally decided they would rather follow Darrow.
I'll take some time to reflect on whether I want to invest more time into the following books, seeing as they're somewhat on the longer side, but as of now, I don't particularly feel like jumping into the next part of the story.
I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, but I found a lot of it foul. I think that might be on purpose, but a lot of the violence seemed unnecessary and out of bounds even for the world's laws and customs.
Women were constantly used as symbols, to further plot points, or as convenient caretakers. Despite there being women peppered into the story, they were mostly inconsequential or, when they were of consequence, they just naturally decided they would rather follow Darrow.
I'll take some time to reflect on whether I want to invest more time into the following books, seeing as they're somewhat on the longer side, but as of now, I don't particularly feel like jumping into the next part of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism