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scuba89's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
4.25
alicedubery's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
This book kinda had me think that I hated reading. Like maybe I don't like books. But I think in the end I realised I just hated Darrow and the book was okay.
stevanwilts's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
4.25
fayec's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
caitibeth's review against another edition
4.0
Darrow is a teenage miner, excellent at his extremely dangerous job (extracting helium-3 deep below the surface of Mars, getting the planet ready to be terraformed). He's also a newlywed, deeply in love with his bride Eo. But when injustice strikes and Darrow loses everything, will he have the strength to rise again and remake the world?
This series is Hunger Games meets Star Wars meets The Communist Manifesto. Mostly Hunger Games in this first book. It's ambitious, built on an epic scale and without flinching from sacrifice and violence. It came highly recommended to me from a friend (it's his favorite scifi series).
And it largely worked for me. So far I've read the first three books, and it's definitely kept my interest. I like the scale the author works on, and a lot of his worldbuilding is well done. None of the characters are outright infuriating, and none of them do things that break my disbelief on characterization.
There are a few major things that didn't work for me:
1) Darrow is absolutely a Mary Sue and it's simply unbelievable that he could be so perfect. I get the "exceptional people can come from any class" messaging, but Darrow isn't just exceptional, he's perfect. In ways that just aren't plausible.
2) I hate fridging. I get that it's a powerful narrative device, and that without that catalyst the plot would've gone nowhere, but damn, it was such a major part of this book (and there's even bonus fridging later). And even beyond the fridging, Brown really doesn't write women well in this book. He gets a little better over the course of the trilogy, but this book is not good on that front.
3) There's a lot of ... convenience in this book. I wouldn't call it predictable, exactly, although there are predictable elements, but there are multiple times where I was rolling my eyes and muttering, "well isn't THAT convenient".
4) I appreciate that the author didn't make a world where homosexuality doesn't exist, but a single "blink and you'll miss it" gay relationship between minor characters (in the third book) is really the bare minimum. And in general I find most of the romances in the series to be underdeveloped, kind of the opposite of "show don't tell".
5) This is a random thing, I know, but it messed with my suspension of disbelief -- this is a very violent world, with amputations, graphic killings, cannibalism, sexual violence, you name it and it's there. Yet with all of this, sexual violence against men isn't even mentioned. No male is ever sexually menaced, even when they're being graphically humiliated, enslaved, tortured, etc. Not even threatened. It's not that I *like* reading that, for sure, but when sexual violence against women is rife and violence against all sexes is through the roof, it just really defied belief that nobody even threatened any guy with sexual violence. Because I absolutely believe that would have happened.
Anyway, despite these flaws, and despite the fact that the series is a lot more graphically violent than I usually read, I can definitely see why my friend loves it so much. It's a good read and it balances worldbuilding, epicness, characterization, and plot better than a lot of scifi does.
This series is Hunger Games meets Star Wars meets The Communist Manifesto. Mostly Hunger Games in this first book. It's ambitious, built on an epic scale and without flinching from sacrifice and violence. It came highly recommended to me from a friend (it's his favorite scifi series).
And it largely worked for me. So far I've read the first three books, and it's definitely kept my interest. I like the scale the author works on, and a lot of his worldbuilding is well done. None of the characters are outright infuriating, and none of them do things that break my disbelief on characterization.
There are a few major things that didn't work for me:
1) Darrow is absolutely a Mary Sue and it's simply unbelievable that he could be so perfect. I get the "exceptional people can come from any class" messaging, but Darrow isn't just exceptional, he's perfect. In ways that just aren't plausible.
2) I hate fridging. I get that it's a powerful narrative device, and that without that catalyst the plot would've gone nowhere, but damn, it was such a major part of this book (and there's even bonus fridging later). And even beyond the fridging, Brown really doesn't write women well in this book. He gets a little better over the course of the trilogy, but this book is not good on that front.
3) There's a lot of ... convenience in this book. I wouldn't call it predictable, exactly, although there are predictable elements, but there are multiple times where I was rolling my eyes and muttering, "well isn't THAT convenient".
4) I appreciate that the author didn't make a world where homosexuality doesn't exist, but a single "blink and you'll miss it" gay relationship between minor characters (in the third book) is really the bare minimum. And in general I find most of the romances in the series to be underdeveloped, kind of the opposite of "show don't tell".
5) This is a random thing, I know, but it messed with my suspension of disbelief -- this is a very violent world, with amputations, graphic killings, cannibalism, sexual violence, you name it and it's there. Yet with all of this, sexual violence against men isn't even mentioned. No male is ever sexually menaced, even when they're being graphically humiliated, enslaved, tortured, etc. Not even threatened. It's not that I *like* reading that, for sure, but when sexual violence against women is rife and violence against all sexes is through the roof, it just really defied belief that nobody even threatened any guy with sexual violence. Because I absolutely believe that would have happened.
Anyway, despite these flaws, and despite the fact that the series is a lot more graphically violent than I usually read, I can definitely see why my friend loves it so much. It's a good read and it balances worldbuilding, epicness, characterization, and plot better than a lot of scifi does.
jlhensley's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
2.75
yobafromstarwars's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
rdelagarza's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
4.5
Such a good start to the series. As a Re-read I found my self equally enthralled with the story. It was great to get to meet everyone again knowing how the story unfolds and I love the seeds that are planted in this book. Fast paced but not lacking in world building or character development. Still not my favorite in the series, but this one stands the test of time