Reviews

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

sahmed's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

midnightassassin's review against another edition

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5.0

Takes me back to when I read the Hunger Games in a day.

So dramatic, so campy but damn an entertaining page turner that I could not put down.

coleridgegirl's review against another edition

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3.0

This was Hunger Games on Mars. With a little Brave New World sprinkled in. The problem is that, unlike HG, this does the thing I hate so so much about SFF. It spends more time “world building” via nonsense vocabulary than just actually creating interesting characters and a world I could connect to.

thatferalreader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

patremagne's review against another edition

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4.0

I don't understand why this is labelled YA. Having a young character does not make a book YA. Where The Hunger Games (I don't see Ender's Game as YA either) clearly explained things to the reader in YA fashion (words of people I've asked, I haven't read it), this does not. Don't let the mislabel deter you from reading this if you don't like YA.

I guess it has a vague definition. Labels are shitty.

jowclark's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

cjess123's review

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adventurous medium-paced

3.75

silversaintgoblin's review

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3.5

3.5

I really enjoyed Red Rising despite a few grievances. I think it’s a fun book, with great moments, and a very likeable edgy protagonist.

This book had straight up rollercoaster pacing, which honestly felt detrimental most of the time. Events happen so quickly that we are often just told what is happening as opposed to actually seeing it happen. It moves so quick you often don’t get much time to really digest many of the events that occur.

To add to the above, the telling far outweighed the showing. Darrow is almost always telling you about everything that is going on as opposed to letting us experience those things ourselves. 

Despite those gripes, I still had a good time and the book is a page turner that I often had a “okay one more chapter” pretty often.

bdliebs's review against another edition

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5.0

Awesome read. Hard to put down. Really put me in mind of Ender's Game so I liked the shout out to "Wiggins" in the book.

bgick's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5