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clotimms's review
4.0
Having loved Sue Rainsford's Follow Me To Ground, I was eager to start Redder Days. This novel follows the lives of twins Anna and Adam after their mother leaves them in Rainsford's characteristically poetic style. I loved the lyrical, otherworldly atmosphere Rainsford creates as the twins deal with the threat of 'the red' - it's an apocalyptic cult-like novel but not like I've read before. Sometimes the surreal strangeness can be difficult to unpick, but I let the unsettling, abstract descriptions wash over me and it was an enjoyable experience. The chapters from Koan's diary were successful in helping fill in the gaps of how the community and 'the red' began. Sue Rainsford is a writer I'm eager to follow, and Redder Days is a novel I'd like to revisit for a closer understanding of the subtleties I missed.
Thanks to Netgalley and Transworld for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to Netgalley and Transworld for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
stevemozza's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
the_creepy_geek's review
5.0
I loved this book!
So weird! So wonderful! I love how you are dropped into the world and fed little morsels of the story to try and figure out what is happening, how everything came to be as it is, what the characters are doing and why etc.
The ending worked so well with the story too! I love that there was never any clear cut answers or solutions.
My absolute favourite thing about it all is Sue Rutherford's amazing writing. I am in love with her style and already cannot wait to see what she comes out with next!
So weird! So wonderful! I love how you are dropped into the world and fed little morsels of the story to try and figure out what is happening, how everything came to be as it is, what the characters are doing and why etc.
The ending worked so well with the story too! I love that there was never any clear cut answers or solutions.
My absolute favourite thing about it all is Sue Rutherford's amazing writing. I am in love with her style and already cannot wait to see what she comes out with next!
theliteraryhooker's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
3.25
After absolutely loving Follow Me To Ground last year, I was very eager to get my hot little hands on Rainsford's new novel. I devoured Redder Days, but despite that, I was left not entirely satiated.
Don't get me wrong, Rainsford can WRITE. Her prose is just as beautiful here as in Follow Me To Ground. There's something almost intoxicating about the way she writes that makes her books nearly impossible to put down. It's whimsical and enchanting but dark and complex too. She also has a way of connecting her characters to the nature and world around them that I haven't seen before, so that the world isn't so much a separate character in the story as it is an extension of the human characters. It really is gorgeous.
But that glorious writing could only take me so far. I struggled with the ambiguity of the plot and found myself wanting more. The characters were a bit flat for me and, for a novel told from different perspectives, their voices weren't as unique as I would have liked. I think if I'd read Redder Days before her previous novel, I might have appreciated it more. Follow Me To Ground used the same kind of ambiguity in a much more satisfying way. With Redder Days, it felt less ambiguous and more incomplete. I would have loved more insight into the red and the 21 years between the start of the red and the main story here.
Beautifully written, but I wish there had been a bit more meat to the story.
Don't get me wrong, Rainsford can WRITE. Her prose is just as beautiful here as in Follow Me To Ground. There's something almost intoxicating about the way she writes that makes her books nearly impossible to put down. It's whimsical and enchanting but dark and complex too. She also has a way of connecting her characters to the nature and world around them that I haven't seen before, so that the world isn't so much a separate character in the story as it is an extension of the human characters. It really is gorgeous.
But that glorious writing could only take me so far. I struggled with the ambiguity of the plot and found myself wanting more. The characters were a bit flat for me and, for a novel told from different perspectives, their voices weren't as unique as I would have liked. I think if I'd read Redder Days before her previous novel, I might have appreciated it more. Follow Me To Ground used the same kind of ambiguity in a much more satisfying way. With Redder Days, it felt less ambiguous and more incomplete. I would have loved more insight into the red and the 21 years between the start of the red and the main story here.
Beautifully written, but I wish there had been a bit more meat to the story.
amalia1985's review
5.0
‘’In short, there was nothing to do but accept it. Let our fears and beliefs settle around it.
Red wind, red sun, red hurricane.
That’s when we start running.
But block your ears and stuff your mouth,
When you see the red man coming.’’
The world has changed. Or so a man would have us believe. The Storm is coming, a force unknown and unutterable that will sweep everything away. The leader of an uncanny community ‘discards’’ the ones cursed with the Red, people - mostly women - who are thought to be burdened with an evil too ferocious to be explained. Two siblings, Anna and Adam, are trying to survive like shadows, meeting during the dawn and the dusk, burdened and scarred by the disappearance of their mother. What can be worse? The world that approaches its end or the bitter knowledge that your mother has abandoned you?
‘’-What reds are weak reds?
Crimson, carmine, scarlet, pace.
What reds are hurtful reds?
Vermillion, ruby.
What reds are carnal?
Cochineal, cerise and sanguine.’’
This novel is one of the strangest, most atmospheric, enigmatic and utterly brilliant stories I’ve ever had the pleasure to encounter. Rainsford doesn’t rely on the same-old dystopia tropes to drive her novel forward. She wants to puzzle and confuse us, she wants us to question every page we read. Is this a dystopic society or a community that has fallen victim to a cult leader’s twisted ambitions? What is that Storm? How will it affect the characters? What happens to the women and children? And why is Red so threatening?
Red has always been the basis of a plethora of convictions, customs and legends. The colour of blood, of life and love and passion. The colour of revolution, of temptation, sin, and seduction. The colour of fire. Of menstruation and sex. And birth. There is a terrific, alluring feeling of danger and a deeply weird sense of sensuality throughout the story. The siblings have known no other member of the community close to their age. ‘’We’re like the sun and the moon, passing one another in the sky’’, and this is the very essence of the development of their characters. Adam is the sun, always trying to discover a crack, to shed light, to know the truth. Anna is like the moon. Secretive, mercurial, silent, wise and watchful. Two young adults that desire to be left alone by everyone, except their mother. But Eula left them long ago…
‘’I keep my fear here, in my right hand... Any time the fear gets too much I remind myself I can just cut my hand away.’’
To say more about this book is to spoil the pleasure of uncovering every layer of the story and the unique process of unveiling thoughts you didn’t know you have been keeping in your mind. This is my kind of book. The one that leaves you to ‘’fend’’ for yourself, the one that makes you a better reader. The one that doesn’t conform to the trash of our times.
‘’Fresh night, still and viscous.
The trees only ever so often creaking and making me think of winter when they tighten and buckle within their cases of ice and snow. The whole wood loud with a neighing sound you might mistake for horses. The red wolves calling out. Whisper of a track that red deer leave behind.
The woods and the gifts they give me. At the very bottoms of hills and at the very tops of trees. Kneeling in the stream and seeing my howl who always knows when and where to come for me.’’
Many thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/...
Red wind, red sun, red hurricane.
That’s when we start running.
But block your ears and stuff your mouth,
When you see the red man coming.’’
The world has changed. Or so a man would have us believe. The Storm is coming, a force unknown and unutterable that will sweep everything away. The leader of an uncanny community ‘discards’’ the ones cursed with the Red, people - mostly women - who are thought to be burdened with an evil too ferocious to be explained. Two siblings, Anna and Adam, are trying to survive like shadows, meeting during the dawn and the dusk, burdened and scarred by the disappearance of their mother. What can be worse? The world that approaches its end or the bitter knowledge that your mother has abandoned you?
‘’-What reds are weak reds?
Crimson, carmine, scarlet, pace.
What reds are hurtful reds?
Vermillion, ruby.
What reds are carnal?
Cochineal, cerise and sanguine.’’
This novel is one of the strangest, most atmospheric, enigmatic and utterly brilliant stories I’ve ever had the pleasure to encounter. Rainsford doesn’t rely on the same-old dystopia tropes to drive her novel forward. She wants to puzzle and confuse us, she wants us to question every page we read. Is this a dystopic society or a community that has fallen victim to a cult leader’s twisted ambitions? What is that Storm? How will it affect the characters? What happens to the women and children? And why is Red so threatening?
Red has always been the basis of a plethora of convictions, customs and legends. The colour of blood, of life and love and passion. The colour of revolution, of temptation, sin, and seduction. The colour of fire. Of menstruation and sex. And birth. There is a terrific, alluring feeling of danger and a deeply weird sense of sensuality throughout the story. The siblings have known no other member of the community close to their age. ‘’We’re like the sun and the moon, passing one another in the sky’’, and this is the very essence of the development of their characters. Adam is the sun, always trying to discover a crack, to shed light, to know the truth. Anna is like the moon. Secretive, mercurial, silent, wise and watchful. Two young adults that desire to be left alone by everyone, except their mother. But Eula left them long ago…
‘’I keep my fear here, in my right hand... Any time the fear gets too much I remind myself I can just cut my hand away.’’
To say more about this book is to spoil the pleasure of uncovering every layer of the story and the unique process of unveiling thoughts you didn’t know you have been keeping in your mind. This is my kind of book. The one that leaves you to ‘’fend’’ for yourself, the one that makes you a better reader. The one that doesn’t conform to the trash of our times.
‘’Fresh night, still and viscous.
The trees only ever so often creaking and making me think of winter when they tighten and buckle within their cases of ice and snow. The whole wood loud with a neighing sound you might mistake for horses. The red wolves calling out. Whisper of a track that red deer leave behind.
The woods and the gifts they give me. At the very bottoms of hills and at the very tops of trees. Kneeling in the stream and seeing my howl who always knows when and where to come for me.’’
Many thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/...
breathedeep's review
2.0
Unfortunately I had to DNF this book. It’s a shame because I loved Follow Me to Ground, and whilst I think Sue Rainsford is a fantastic writer, I just really did not connect with the story.
At half way through it feels like nothing has happened and it’s focused on a repetition of imagery. The imagery is great, ominous and creepy, but there’s just too much of the same thing without much happening to break it up.
Still, big thanks to doubleday for the proof copy. I will be keeping an eye out for what comes from Sue in the future!
At half way through it feels like nothing has happened and it’s focused on a repetition of imagery. The imagery is great, ominous and creepy, but there’s just too much of the same thing without much happening to break it up.
Still, big thanks to doubleday for the proof copy. I will be keeping an eye out for what comes from Sue in the future!
plumreads__s's review
5.0
I went into Redder Days totally blind, having requested a copy purely for a cover click, and because I knew a pal had recently been approved for the eArc too. One chapter in and it's safe to say I had already became obsessed. I need to read everything Rainsford ever releases because her writing and storytelling really is captivating. Redder Days, a dystopian novel primarily following twins Adam and Anna, did leave me a little confused in places, but honestly I didn't even care, I was just along for the journey needing to know what was going to happen next. The novel is written beautifully, potentially lacking a little backstory to give the more rounded understanding of the HOW and maybe even the WHY for the reader, but then that makes it all the more intriguing. It's pretty unputdownable., you should give it a read. 4.5 stars, rounded to 5. Thanks to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Sue Rainsford for an eArc copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
booklane's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Dark, unsettling and enigmatic
“We had yet to see how it unfurled inside our own species.
How it impacted the two-legged and carnal. A glimmer of puce in woman’s eye, a child’s back with its fuzz of copper fur. Biological ripples that spoke to an interior horror”
Redder days is set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian world where men, animals, vegetation and all living organisms seems to be plagued by the Red, a disease that among other things transfers some animal qualities to the individual catching it. Two twins, Anna and Adam, live alone in an isolated dwelling after the community, including their mother, abandoned them. The only one remaining with them is Koan, the once charismatic guru/leader who exercised control over the community with his insights and prophecies. These include the malignancy of the Red, the need to abate whatever is touched by it, including infants, the coming of a redemptive Storm and the rituals of purifications. He exercises forms of control over women and births. But is all he says true? The return of one of the members will make us see things in a different light.
This is an immersive, unsettling and enigmatic read. The reader is catapulted into this world and must hunt for clues and draw his own (incomplete) conclusions. The reading experience is a disorienting one as we are not given to understand what happened and which versions of reality are reliable, having been given only partial points of view. We are immersed in a world where nature is ominous and strangely alive and humans start displaying animal qualities, where woods seem alive entities engulfing humans, alliances with animals seem possible and the ominous appearance of sea creatures is charged with symbolic qualities.
Many are the themes that inhabit this post-apocalyptic scenario: one is the blind faith expressed by the community, desperate search for beliefs in times of uncertainty and the manipulative power that exploits them. Partly a novel about ecological disruption, Redder Days also thematises the reaction of horror in front of the breakdown this disease represents (e.g. breakdown of meaning and of the order of the world as we know it, between human and animal, skin and flesh recalling the notion of abject). The novel also thematises the threat posed by the body and in particular the female body: it features a magmatic web of discourses around the “two-legged and carnal”, the female body with its fluids, excretions and birth, the association of sexuality, pleasure, birth and plague and the attempt to suppress and control it all. We are in a dystopian world in which, in one of the fugitives’ words (Tabatha), being born into the world and living becomes an experience of estrangement, of "severing parts” and suppressing the scream inside -- the only thing that seems to make sense is to escape. A related theme is aptly abandonment and guilt, atonement and redemption. Human affairs are also intertwined with those of a the planet finding a “way to purge”. All this accounts for a complex, mesmerizing experience (the notions of severance, collapsing boundaries and purge all invite a confrontation with Kristeva’s notion of the abject, and a reading in this light is useful).
The reader, immersed in this world, witnesses the collapse and breakdown of boundaries and meanings and may feel lost, searching for answers. While this probably is a desired effect, at times it can also detract from the reading experience. What makes this novel fantastic is Rainsford’s immensely evocative visionary writing, the powerful world building, the eerily disturbing imagery and the female subtext. Certainly a unique accomplishment.
I am grateful to the publisher for an ARC of this book via NetGalley
“We had yet to see how it unfurled inside our own species.
How it impacted the two-legged and carnal. A glimmer of puce in woman’s eye, a child’s back with its fuzz of copper fur. Biological ripples that spoke to an interior horror”
Redder days is set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian world where men, animals, vegetation and all living organisms seems to be plagued by the Red, a disease that among other things transfers some animal qualities to the individual catching it. Two twins, Anna and Adam, live alone in an isolated dwelling after the community, including their mother, abandoned them. The only one remaining with them is Koan, the once charismatic guru/leader who exercised control over the community with his insights and prophecies. These include the malignancy of the Red, the need to abate whatever is touched by it, including infants, the coming of a redemptive Storm and the rituals of purifications. He exercises forms of control over women and births. But is all he says true? The return of one of the members will make us see things in a different light.
This is an immersive, unsettling and enigmatic read. The reader is catapulted into this world and must hunt for clues and draw his own (incomplete) conclusions. The reading experience is a disorienting one as we are not given to understand what happened and which versions of reality are reliable, having been given only partial points of view. We are immersed in a world where nature is ominous and strangely alive and humans start displaying animal qualities, where woods seem alive entities engulfing humans, alliances with animals seem possible and the ominous appearance of sea creatures is charged with symbolic qualities.
Many are the themes that inhabit this post-apocalyptic scenario: one is the blind faith expressed by the community, desperate search for beliefs in times of uncertainty and the manipulative power that exploits them. Partly a novel about ecological disruption, Redder Days also thematises the reaction of horror in front of the breakdown this disease represents (e.g. breakdown of meaning and of the order of the world as we know it, between human and animal, skin and flesh recalling the notion of abject). The novel also thematises the threat posed by the body and in particular the female body: it features a magmatic web of discourses around the “two-legged and carnal”, the female body with its fluids, excretions and birth, the association of sexuality, pleasure, birth and plague and the attempt to suppress and control it all. We are in a dystopian world in which, in one of the fugitives’ words (Tabatha), being born into the world and living becomes an experience of estrangement, of "severing parts” and suppressing the scream inside -- the only thing that seems to make sense is to escape. A related theme is aptly abandonment and guilt, atonement and redemption. Human affairs are also intertwined with those of a the planet finding a “way to purge”. All this accounts for a complex, mesmerizing experience (the notions of severance, collapsing boundaries and purge all invite a confrontation with Kristeva’s notion of the abject, and a reading in this light is useful).
The reader, immersed in this world, witnesses the collapse and breakdown of boundaries and meanings and may feel lost, searching for answers. While this probably is a desired effect, at times it can also detract from the reading experience. What makes this novel fantastic is Rainsford’s immensely evocative visionary writing, the powerful world building, the eerily disturbing imagery and the female subtext. Certainly a unique accomplishment.
I am grateful to the publisher for an ARC of this book via NetGalley
joecam79's review
4.0
Perhaps it’s because red is the colour of blood, the colour of infection, rashes and inflammations. Perhaps it’s because it represents danger. Or because it is so often a symbol for passions which some consider too risky, or too dirty, akin to a malady. The fact is that since Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, different authors have referenced the colour in the context of pandemic fiction – be it Jack London in The Scarlet Plague or Niccolo Ammaniti in the post-apocalyptic Anna.
Redder Days by Sue Rainsford taps into this tradition, even while it’s smashing it to smithereens. Yes, Redder Days is a post-apocalyptic, (post- ) pandemic novel with strong horror undertones, but it’s certainly not your typical run-of-the-mill scary bonanza. This is immediately clear from Rainsford’s narrative approach, which is purposely challenging to the reader. She does not provide us with a linear story but, rather, invites us to piece the plot together through short chapters told from different characters’ viewpoints, alternating with journal entries describing the advent of a mysterious pandemic which disrupts normal life. The journal entries, however, place us in medias res and are quite cryptic, with Rainsford avoiding the short-cut of simply using them to provide us with the context of her tale. The result is that we readers, much like the protagonists of the novel, are often unsure of what exactly is happening.
So what are the bare bones of the story? A new malady afflicts both the human and animal world, with symptoms which are shocking and fatal. A group of survivors decide to set up a remote commune where they can be safe from the pandemic. They appoint as their leader Koan – a doctor who manages to keep a cool head when everything is falling apart. Koan “knows things”, he seems to understand the illness better than the others, and he is therefore the natural choice to head the fledgling community. But Koan is also manipulative and, in the declared interest of protecting his clan, starts to imbue this physical illness with “moral” and “spiritual” implications, essentially changing the community of survivors into a misogynistic cult. And then, the real horror begins.
Revealing any further details of the plot would undermine the whole point of the novel, which invites the readers to reach their own understanding about the strange events portrayed. A word of warning though. Redder Days raises more questions than it answers and is not a book for those who expect the final chapter to tie up all the loose ends. There are also several details in the novel which appear to have a symbolic rather than literal meaning, making the narrative dense but lyrical and poetic. This is certainly an unusual and thought-provoking read.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/01/redder-days-by-sue-rainsford.html
Redder Days by Sue Rainsford taps into this tradition, even while it’s smashing it to smithereens. Yes, Redder Days is a post-apocalyptic, (post- ) pandemic novel with strong horror undertones, but it’s certainly not your typical run-of-the-mill scary bonanza. This is immediately clear from Rainsford’s narrative approach, which is purposely challenging to the reader. She does not provide us with a linear story but, rather, invites us to piece the plot together through short chapters told from different characters’ viewpoints, alternating with journal entries describing the advent of a mysterious pandemic which disrupts normal life. The journal entries, however, place us in medias res and are quite cryptic, with Rainsford avoiding the short-cut of simply using them to provide us with the context of her tale. The result is that we readers, much like the protagonists of the novel, are often unsure of what exactly is happening.
So what are the bare bones of the story? A new malady afflicts both the human and animal world, with symptoms which are shocking and fatal. A group of survivors decide to set up a remote commune where they can be safe from the pandemic. They appoint as their leader Koan – a doctor who manages to keep a cool head when everything is falling apart. Koan “knows things”, he seems to understand the illness better than the others, and he is therefore the natural choice to head the fledgling community. But Koan is also manipulative and, in the declared interest of protecting his clan, starts to imbue this physical illness with “moral” and “spiritual” implications, essentially changing the community of survivors into a misogynistic cult. And then, the real horror begins.
Revealing any further details of the plot would undermine the whole point of the novel, which invites the readers to reach their own understanding about the strange events portrayed. A word of warning though. Redder Days raises more questions than it answers and is not a book for those who expect the final chapter to tie up all the loose ends. There are also several details in the novel which appear to have a symbolic rather than literal meaning, making the narrative dense but lyrical and poetic. This is certainly an unusual and thought-provoking read.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/01/redder-days-by-sue-rainsford.html
sineadcstories's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0