Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Red Rising

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

80 reviews

flowchelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed the sci-fi vibes of this book and the descriptions of Darrows life that set the scene of the challenges he had faced but comfort and stability he had experienced throughout growing up! Then the book takes a more ‘hunger games’ type approach when he is created into a killer and thrown into a year long war game. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and ten times more battle than I expected. However, I enjoyed the journey overall and the twists and turns made me root more and more for Darrow! Definitely will read the next book.

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gbentley's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

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beth_taggard's review against another edition

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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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lonelylooper's review against another edition

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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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luna_noble's review against another edition

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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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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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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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gemstonejasper's review against another edition

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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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