Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

68 reviews

beth_taggard's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

There is so much hype for this series right now — one that began ten years ago with Red Rising — and I don't get it. Maybe I'm simply over the brutal annihilation of teenagers for the sake of a better society. It's a noble goal; equality always is, but why must the young be sacrificed?

Then there is our too-perfect, enhanced main character. Yawn. Beyond the physical changes he endures to appear gold, not red (societal class is denoted by color in this world), the insinuation is that his intellect, instincts, and athletic prowess have always been this perfect. I prefer more nuance and, frankly, flaws in my main characters. 

The pacing is also off. It's a super slow slog in the beginning, though the back half did pick up the pace a little. Was this enough to save the series for me? Will I continue? At the time of this review, I Just don't know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Violence, Confinement, Mental illness, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Classism, Bullying, Death, War, and Suicide

lonelylooper's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Death of parent, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Body shaming

Minor: Homophobia, Excrement, and Cannibalism

luna_noble's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Excrement, Slavery, Gore, Physical abuse, and Rape

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

0.5

This book is proof that no matter what book I previously thought was the worst I'd ever read, there's always a 10th level of worseness hell out there that I can subject my poor brain to. What an absolute dreck of a book. I despised everything in it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Misogyny, Rape, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Blood, Sexism, and War

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Vomit and Homophobia

gemstonejasper's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This book's been on my radar for a while, but I finally bit the bullet and started it for a read-along leading up to the release of the last book. I went in pretty much completely blind. All I knew was that it was a sci-fi dystopian set on Mars. I had also heard that it gives Hunger Games vibes.

Someone also said that this is a YA book, but it isn't. Darrow starts as a 16-year-old, but I have no doubt it was written for adults. Every time I was reminded that he was 16, it pulled me out of the story for a moment. It felt jarring. He didn't at all act 16. The audiobook narrator sounded like he was at least in his 20s. He was way too mature to be 16 and he starts out the story with a wife. I know that it was probably meant to demonstrate that kids are working these dangerous jobs in the mines. And his life experiences could 100% cause him to seem more mature than most 16-year-olds. But there are real developmental limitations on how his mind would work. So that pulled me out a few times.

To be honest, the book starts pretty slow in my opinion. It took me several chapters to really get into it. I liked it, but I would go a couple of days between chapters. But once they got into the school and things ramped up, I was in it. It just kept getting more and more intense. It was a wild ride, but I loved it. There were lots of surprises. 

I would get a little annoyed because Darrow's motivation seemed to only revolve around his wife. It does struggle with the "woman written by a man" syndrome where his wife only existed and died to motivate him. Also, violence against women is used repeatedly to move the story forward. There were woman characters who only existed it be assaulted, and then Darrow could react to the abuse. There are other ways to show that someone is bad. Not every single bad guy needs to assault the women around them. But the rest of the book was really good, so I can overlook that. 

I also got kind of annoyed sometimes that Darrow didn't really make many mistakes. He did, but they came across to me as mistakes he had to make for the plot rather than mistakes he actually would make. He didn't seem to make legit mistakes.

Note: Sevro was the best by far. Protect him at all costs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Gore, Murder, War, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, Animal death, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death, Slavery, Grief, Rape, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cannibalism

neoralisa22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Darrow is the reason you shouldn't give a 16 years old too much power. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Physical abuse, Murder, Excrement, Blood, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Colonisation, Sexual assault, Rape, Classism, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Minor: Medical trauma, Cannibalism, Misogyny, and Slavery

linkwoodpub's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Incredible execution on a very cheesy premise. It took me a long time to dive in, but once I did it was an absolute rollercoaster (in a good way). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Racism, Rape, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Classism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Medical content, Xenophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery

morbidqueen19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Vomit, Rape, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Murder

bthebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

5.0

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS BOOK! It’s such a thrilling and heart-wrenching story. When I read it the first time (April 2023), I did have some trouble getting into it because of the world building and language. For someone who was fairly new to reading sci-fi, it was too many things to keep track off. A color coded caste system, people’s names, places, weapons, tools, etc, all with their own various intricacies. The first 100ish pages do drag a tiny bit compared to the latter half when they’re in the Institute. Once we get there, the pace picks up and hits breakneck speed lol. 

Reading it this second time around (Jan 2024), it was easier to retain. I had to read it so soon after because I could not stop thinking about this series! Loved getting to see the characters in a different lens— Darrow’s journey just breaks your heart to see. He wants to do the right thing and go about it the right way but, he can’t. He has to get his hands dirty and it eats away at him. One of my favorite tropes. Yes, lots of the characters are not as fleshed out as would be ideal, but you have to remember that’s it’s part of a series! Plus, it’s only the first installment, there’s only so much time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse and Sexual assault

Minor: Rape

kelseeeg's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was entertaining to a certain point, definitely similar to hunger games. The setting in the beginning part was more interesting to me because it was more focused on the space aspect. The book doesn’t take a very intersectional view point (discusses class but mostly stays within white cishet patriarchal norms)—disappointing and distracting from the plot. It was creative but it read a little small-minded at times. I’ll read the next one though, I am curious where it will go and how it might grow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, War, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, and Alcoholism