Reviews with content warning for War - Red Rising

This is a book to invest time in. The story is slow and detailed yet it stretches over several years. I rate it 3.75 because the pacing was inconsistent; some chapters were long winded and others skipped years in a moment. Even so, the writing is excellent and the world building is unique compared to other dystopia. There are moments where the reader can connect with the challenges the protagonist is going through, rooting for his mission and there are moments you question his morals in a shattered world. It's a reflective book on clasism and the irony of climbing to the top to bring it down.

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aliyah_d's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Journal entry from when I was at 50% of the book :

So far, Red Rising is quite the formulaic and a Manichean book that struggles the most when it must flesh out its characters (especially women) and give more dimension to its world. A well developed, more nuanced political and societal structure, which is at the core of this book's plot, would have helped elevate it away from the initial YA fiction concepts in which it is seeded. The first two acts of the book in particular are just a succession of tropes, executed decently if not uninspired, which I suspect has the benefit of allowing the younger readers or those not into fantasy or sci-fi to not get lost and even predict what would happen on a chapter-to-chapter basis.
Speaking of the very genre of the book itself, I do feel, in spite of the omnipresence of scientifically backed up elements and concepts that it is more" sci-fi for fantasy readers" rather than actual sci-fi ; I believe some of the scientific explanations were straight up incorrect or not fully thought through (and I'm not a science gal, really, but some claims about Mars gravity established early on in the books made me raised an eyebrow).
Finally, I have many problems with the main character, Darrow. Darrow is not that compelling to me as he is clearly a wish fulfilment type of character for heterosexual men in their thirties. Which I do not have a problem with but if you look up the definition of "Gary Sue" online, you will find a pretty illustration of Darrow. He is the perfect boy, or rather, the perfect boy who speaks, thinks and acts like a late thirty-year-old man. Darrow smells the best, looks the best, dances the best and he is the strongest and the smartest teen you will ever meet.
Never mind that he is thrown into an unknown environment filled to the brim with societal customs and expectations that he only knows the surface of and had to learn in a few months. I never felt any sense of danger or worry for him because his challenges were completely artificial and were a mere inconvenience to him. Easy come, easy solve. I also do think the first-person narrative really didn't help at all.
It seems like I have nothing but criticism for this first entry of the trilogy, but I'm enjoying it so far ! It's easy to read and enjoyable. It is not a slog or a bore, everything is moving at the right pace and although I adore purple prose, the simple writing here is effective and curiously engaging (albeit a tad cheesy and dry sometimes). Similarly, I tend to skim through conflict, battles and fights in books, but all of them were written very clearly, all raw and exciting.
Overall, this is a nice book which scratches the surface of a bigger, better, more tri-dimensional story, so I'm curious to see how the author manages to evolve in his writing from here.

My final thoughts after reaching the end :

I took a month break from this novel because I could smell it would soon devolve into everything I fear it could become. And it did not disappoint.
Darrow being such a formidable, "no problem is a true problem" prodigy exhausted me. I could not care less about this whole clash of the clans act because you have these two or three characters that keep taking down does big factions that are way smarter, more mature, more organized, well fed and better communicators/brothers in arms than them, on top of being whole armies.
That whole plan to bring down Titus was good on paper, until the actual execution of it that made me doubt the whole house of Minerva shared more than one brain cell. The following ones were written better but that initial first demonstration of Darrow's intelligence (and EVERY other houses sheer stupidity) made me worry about the author's ability to write compelling strategical battles and an interesting massive uprising that didn’t relied on the enemy somehow not being clueless whiny idiots ?
Adding to that, the pacing dulled any feeling I might have been able to develop towards this novel and what's happening in it: it's a fast succession of dramatic moments, so those that are supposed to be major and gut-wrenching fall flat since the author doesn't allow them to stretch beyond two pages. It doesn't feel like I'm part of the action. It feels like someone is trying to resume me an action movie big scene by big scene, skipping anything that might add dimension and substance to the characters so I do not get bored... forgetting to make me care in the process. The fighting and battles sequences are becoming hit or miss since half the time they involve characters barely described or personified.
I have no insensitive to care about this character disappearing or this character dying because the in-between fun/relaxing/dialogue moments were clearly written as fillers and last three lines. Darrow's male friends and acquaintances are barely more than tropes or gimmicks while Darrow's female friends and acquaintances are no more than mere names. Occasionally, a commentary on the state of their beauty will be made. That or they will be turned into some sorts of victims to give Darrow and the boys some good self-righteous motivation (or to make the big bad the baddest), a motivation that promptly turns to pity when the big old rapist turns out to have some sad backstory. Then it's all "Iam so sorry I have to kill you my brother, I get you now".
Anyways. I already bought the whole trilogy and was told that the following two are a huge step up in terms of overall quality in all aspects I have been critical off so I'm glad I’ve reached the end of this one. If the next disappoint, I'll just find a balding heterosexual dude with strong power-fantasy and dump him the whole trilogy.

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kaseybereading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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bookishholly's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I have so many conflicting feels about this book.

Potential spoilers and TW for r*pe mention

Overall I enjoyed Red Rising, I liked the setting and the overall story. I don't think it's saying something new or really adding anything of value other than entertainment to the world and sometimes that's ok.
There were multiple times where I felt uncomfortable with the clear misogyny that I don't even know if the author is aware he has written. I admit that it was written 10 years ago but I thought even then that the insult of doing something "like a girl" was outdated. Also to me it feels like there is an undertone of casual homophobia.
Essentially all of the main cast are insufferable and the fact that one character's attempted r*pe of another is so quickly moved on from is hard to swallow, especially since beginning book 2 and realising that they are still around.
At this point, I intend to keep reading but that may change.

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dreadspawn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

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christinas11's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

eBook & Audio. I didn't dislike it and honestly, it was 3 stars until about 60-70% through when I started enjoying it a bit more and gained a half star, but I didn't really enjoy it overall. The writing was very good and the story was fine, it just didn't hit with me. I realized I hadn't read a male main character book in a few months and maybe I just don't like them because I started liking it most when a female character came in much later. They say it's like Hunger Games but in space and those are my two favorite things lol. But this wasn't that. This was nothing like Hunger Games. It's a different vibe with a different structure, motivation, and character behavior. It was a no thanks from me. If they tell you it's like Fourth Wing but space, they lie. Are there some likable characters, yes, but they don't get enough attention. I strongly disliked this book early on and that lightened only a little through the first 50-60%. I switched to audio to push through. I can't stress enough, I actually thought the writing was decent. Like that saying, a book can be good and I can still dislike it or a book can be bad and I can still like it. I could understand people loving this. It didn't help that when I started it I thought it was about dragons and I was really confused about the space part. But Andy Weir is a favorite author of mine so space is normally right up my alley. This wasn't 'really' space though. This was SINO, space in name only. ;)

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74laura74's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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