Reviews

I was disappointed with this book. It's not bad, it just wasn't for me.

Red Rising is pretty popular on Booktube and even then, a decent amount of people say the first book is kind of "ehh" or had neutral feelings about it. Even though they love the rest of the series. I read this at the recommendation of Mike's book Reviews (one of the best Booktubers out there).

I love first person narratives. Basically every book I've read in first person has been absolutely phenomenal. Red Rising. . . didn't do it for me, and the biggest reason why is the writing style. The present tense is a little jarring but not too bad; I've read other books written in present and loved them. It's the sentences; they're choppy and short and don't flow well together imo. It also feels like some things happen too fast? Like you jump from scene to scene with no time to visualize what is happening.

Darrow is an okay character. He's very flat with his rage and his overwhelming intelligence being only sixteen. Wasn't really in the mood for this kind of character. He's proactive though, which was enough to pull me through the story.

Gotta say though I felt nothing for the other characters. Sevro was kind of funny, but the way this book is written just doesn't work for the comedic beats Pierce is going for. Cassius and Roque have an interesting enough relationship with Darrow. But my favorite characters in this book were Fitchner and Ausgustus.

The story is fine and I think it's structured well, but there was no emotion for me.

jenikki's review against another edition

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5.0

I've had my eye on this book for a while, and I finally bought it in the summer. And wow, am I glad I did. It's been billed as Game of Thrones meets the Hunger Games, and I suppose the only nitpick I might have about it is that it felt like many dystopian novels in one: the world Darrow lives in as a Red is very much like the one in Hugh Howey's Wool, including the deception within which the Reds exist. The transformation he undergoes physically and mentally to compete in the Gold's challenge at the Institute is very much like the one Katniss goes through in The Hunger Games (and the Golds are similar to the people in the Capitol in that series). The factions are like ones in Divergent, and the battles that make up a lot of the book are similar to ones in Game of Thrones (I kept picturing Darrow as Jon Snow). ALL THAT SAID, however, Pierce Brown has written a brilliant, heart-pounding book that is written MUCH better than the Divergent series, tackles personal issues that Hunger Games dodged a bit (as in what happens when men and women warriors are treated differently in battle), and creates a stake that is so high you are desperate for Darrow to triumph throughout the book. The many twists were well placed and well written (one near the end made me gasp out loud), and for me, it's the writing itself that stands with so many of those other books (and above a few of them). I loved this book so much that when I was 100 pages from the end, I went online and ordered the next two just so I can start right into book 2 as soon as possible.

christiankane's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

4.25

kibadreams's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Listened as an audiobook, and the story was a LOT better for it.

I knew very little about the plot going in (one of booktok's "just trust me and read it bro") but I was generally engaged and the story itself was really well written. I preferred the settings and the general story at the start of the book compared to the middle and end, but it mostly followed a plot archetype that doesn't interest me usually so it was hard to convince me to like it more. Now that that part is over I am curious to see where it goes.

One thing that stood out to me as a negative was the sexism in the book. I found it honestly quite distasteful in the sense that hierarchy and status is so at the very core of the world and storyline, and is something that is heavily criticised by the character. However sexist attitudes (and sexual violence) towards women seemed to exist outside of, or separate from, that criticism. For that, I am knocking off a star because it just didn't sit well with me at all. I will read the next book to make up my mind on whether or not it's good enough for me to overlook, but the jury's still out, I'm afraid.