Reviews

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

flanchan's review against another edition

2.0

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been more into contemporary fiction and fantasy of late that this being sci-fi threw me off, but I did not enjoy this as much as I was hoping to. It was a slog for me towards the end.

Darrow is also not my favorite type of character (a Johnny Sue who knows he’s better than everyone and won’t stop bragging about it), so the first-person narration became really grating after a while. There were other characters I enjoyed far more and wished I was able to spend time with instead.

Also, for the love of god, stop using r*pe against your female characters to show how horrible characters are. There are so many better ways to do it without using one of the most traumatic things a person can face, and the fact that it happens at least four / five times in this novel is beyond tiresome.

Overall, it’s fine. Probably just not my cup of tea.

hambulance's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

vynm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

midnitejamboree's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

leahmoncrieff's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

very different to anything I’ve read previously. Impressive world building. I struggled at times with the pacing but overall well done

rachellelitlover's review

adventurous tense slow-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? No

4.5

clomper's review against another edition

3.0

Lost interest a bit at the end

1risisreading's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

blackoutcity44's review against another edition

3.75

This book was kinda sci-fi fantasy esque and I’m not usually a fan of sci-fi but I did enjoy this. It was easy to read and digest I found the structure of society to come pretty naturally even the big reveal. The main character is well written as well, he isn’t necessarily driven by this in born need for justice. In that way his developed sense of justice actually works out even better and helps him realize his sense of self. More than the majority of the book felt like the Gold fighting section but I did think it was necessarily. It introduced enough characters for future books. Although I did feel some redundancy between the houses. Like Pax of Minerva and Tactus of Demeter to Titan of Mars kinda all the same person. Although Pax grew on me. And then Antonia and Mustang same vibes. At least Darrow is unique and I do like the premise I can see this getting very messy in the next couple of books I’m curious to see how he will bring justice. Will he enslave the Golds just like how they did so to the other colors?

julduensing's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.75

This was really good in the beginning but then an absolute slog the entire middle. I almost DNF’d it but it got better at like 70% done. The tribal wars going on for forever were what was such a drag to me, didn’t make a lot of sense (hopefully more clarity is coming).