Reviews

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

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kimberly_b's review against another edition

2.0

I know I'm in the minority here, but I didn't love Red Rising. It was incredibly referential and not nearly as original as I expected it to be based upon the rave reviews.

If you've seen the movie Idiocracy, then you'll understand my comparison between Darrow's test and the one Joe (played by Luke Wilson) has to complete :D Of course Darrow is a damn genius compared to everyone else even though he's a low class Red. Suuuurrreee. Speaking of Darrow, I just couldn't get behind the guy. I was getting some intended William Wallace Braveheart vibes in the beginning of the story, but the vibes weren't vibing. He's 16 but doesn't act like any 16 year old I've ever known, and I couldn't get behind his character. I wanted to like him and root for him, but I just didn't care.

Red Rising is very Hunger Games-esque. Darrow is the chosen one who undergoes an extreme Eliza Doolittle transformation into a Gold. It would be like someone from one of the districts in Panem being transformed into someone who resides in The Capital if you included massive surgical enhancements.

The Roman-like names had me rolling my eyes. It's been done so many times where a hierarchical society has Latin/Roman names. Here we have Cassius, Augustus, Tiberius, etc. The names didn't jive well with the genre for me.

lthintz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

0.5

ellieanor's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

sindhuuura's review against another edition

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4.75

Loved this!! Reminded me a lot of Will of the Many - Darrow is very similar to Vis. I usually don't like the concise writing style but it worked really well for this and I really liked the writing style (even with it being first person). The book had me hooked throughout and I never felt like I was forcing myself to keep reading. Very excited to see where the story goes from here.

mermaidreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

blessedwannab's review against another edition

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5.0

Holy Mackeral... It's been a long time since I read a book like that. Actually, I don't think I've ever read a book like quite like that. We're talking the epic-battle-ness of Hunger Games meets the deeper darker more adult writing of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking. Too good to not rave about.

I'm not going to go into the synopsis, because it's too much and I hate that. It feels redundant. Just click on the book and read it, then come back to read my review.

I'm just going to jump right in and say that even though the book is somewhere around 350 pages the author writes Darrow in a way that you are able to watch him grow and mature. He makes a few stupid mistakes, and then he makes a lot of really strong decisions. In the beginning I wasn't sure I saw more than a cocky but passive man, in the end I saw him as a powerful cunningly smart warrior. In only about 350 pages. I had to say it again, because it's worth repeating.

I don't want to give too much away, because I feel like a lot of the feels from this book are because of the build up and surprises. I'll just say, again, that it has been a long time since I read a book that left me feeling this excited in the end. I've read a lot of books ranging from mediocre to decently good lately. I was in need of something off the charts impressive, and I definitely got it.

Read the book! I feel like most of you definitely won't be sorry.

First read: 10/5/14 - 10/13/14