Scan barcode
thepurplepeep's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Cannibalism
littlehat's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Expected a YA dystopian setting with a story that was also a clever commentary on society, hierarchy and maybe wealth. Got a really long tale of school kids fighting over castles and viciously killing each other in the highlands.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Minor: Cannibalism and Rape
gbentley's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Body horror, Classism, Death, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape
Minor: Cannibalism
jgruman's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Cannibalism
miorinsa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Spoiler: Red Rising starts off shaky with fridging the MMC’s wife which is a tired trope. But I thought a strength of the book was that we knew the goal for the series the whole time and book 1 shows the MMC wrestle with what he wants to do versus what he has to do to attain that goal. I appreciated the number of setbacks and plot twists and betrayals that made the creative successes of the MMC realistic and well earned. The final battle was unexpected in that the betrayal they were sure was going to happen, didn’t. Overall, this book kept me in my toes and I will be continuing with the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Minor: Rape, War, and Cannibalism
dawn_marie's review against another edition
dark
slow-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
Sooooooo after half a dozen attempts and lots of prodding by friends, I finally managed to finish Red Rising by Pierce Brown and I really dislike it. The novel is marketed as a “dystopian science fiction,” I find that neither is correct. Other than being set on Mars and having some fancy tech, there is nothing “science fiction” about the novel. I suppose one could consider the novel dystopian if they really stretched the definition.
The idea of the novel is interesting: in a future where humans expanded their reach into the solar system, Mars – being rich in a mineral/gas necessary for terraforming – has becoming a mining colony. Society is structed in a color-coded caste system where Reds are the lowest, performing the most dangerous jobs (specifically the mining), and Golds are the pampered ruling class. After a tragic event and witnessing the indifference of the Golds, a Red is recruited to become a spy amongst the Gold ranks to challenge the status quo, and usher in change. While that sounded intriguing, that’s not what we go. Instead, Red Rising is a Hunger Games/Battle Royale clone, with a Gary Stu protagonist, repetitive info dumps, and painfully bad writing.
The story is narrated by Darrow, a thoroughly unlikeable character who manages to easily overcome every hardship/hurdle he faces. Of course Darrow is the youngest and bestestdrill operator helldiver that ever was, of course he is best loved amongst the Reds, of course he married the most beautiful girl in the colony, of course he not only proceeds to mine a “dangerous” pocket when everyone tells him not to, but manages to mine the biggest ore find in history, and of course he’s the first one in the family who mined enough ore to win the laurel. After his wife dies, Darrow is recruited by the Sons of Ares to infiltrate the Golds, where – after his makeover montage – he of course manages to miss only one question out 100s on the entrance exam, of course he charms everyone around him, of course he figures out some of the puzzles, traps, and tricks in the arena before anyone else, of course, although he only had a few weeks training, he manages to defeat people who have been training with weapons their entire life, and of course he manages to win everything. Nothing was ever hard for Darrow; everything came easily to him and what little conflict/difficulty did arise was quickly resolved and fell Darrow’s favor.
The rest of the cast were caricatures, serving little purpose other than to demonstrate how “awesome” Darrow is; that he’s “not like other guys”. The few characters that did get significant page time were deplorable, not one of them were likeable, or at a minimum, rootable – I wanted them all to fail, and fail miserably. The author’s portrayal of females was especially problematic, with the two main named female characters (Eo and Mustang) being quickly fridged*, and the others being reduced to prizes, arm candy, victim, or something to toy with.
For a novel that is filled with battle and fight sequences, it moves at a glacially slow pace. I blame that on the author’s choice to use first person narrative, where Darrow constantl makes tangential “philosophical” musing or dumps a ton of information. There was entirely too much tell and not enough show and writing that tried to be clever but came off pretentious (this happened every time Darrow mused about the political structure or people’s motivations). While this can work, it didn’t here mainly due to the author’s writing style, which vacillated between clumsy and clunky, with some cringe-worthy thrown in for good measure.
I don’t know who the intended audience is, but the book is feels extremely YA and should come with a trigger/content warning (regardless of the audience) as it is filled with causal violence, brutality, murder, maiming, torture, physical and sexual assault, rape, cannibalism, homophobia and misogyny slavery, and human trafficking.
I am told that that series gets better, and Pierce Brown’s writing improves with each installment. I did read the first few chapters of Golden Son and did not see any improvement in writing or storytelling. Unless the author magically/spiritually manages to channel Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and William Faulkner, I don’t see myself reading future works.
*Fridiging – a plot device in which female characters face disproportionate harm (death, maiming, assault, rape, kidnaping) to motivate male characters.
The idea of the novel is interesting: in a future where humans expanded their reach into the solar system, Mars – being rich in a mineral/gas necessary for terraforming – has becoming a mining colony. Society is structed in a color-coded caste system where Reds are the lowest, performing the most dangerous jobs (specifically the mining), and Golds are the pampered ruling class. After a tragic event and witnessing the indifference of the Golds, a Red is recruited to become a spy amongst the Gold ranks to challenge the status quo, and usher in change. While that sounded intriguing, that’s not what we go. Instead, Red Rising is a Hunger Games/Battle Royale clone, with a Gary Stu protagonist, repetitive info dumps, and painfully bad writing.
The story is narrated by Darrow, a thoroughly unlikeable character who manages to easily overcome every hardship/hurdle he faces. Of course Darrow is the youngest and bestest
The rest of the cast were caricatures, serving little purpose other than to demonstrate how “awesome” Darrow is; that he’s “not like other guys”. The few characters that did get significant page time were deplorable, not one of them were likeable, or at a minimum, rootable – I wanted them all to fail, and fail miserably. The author’s portrayal of females was especially problematic, with the two main named female characters (Eo and Mustang) being quickly fridged*, and the others being reduced to prizes, arm candy, victim, or something to toy with.
For a novel that is filled with battle and fight sequences, it moves at a glacially slow pace. I blame that on the author’s choice to use first person narrative, where Darrow constantl makes tangential “philosophical” musing or dumps a ton of information. There was entirely too much tell and not enough show and writing that tried to be clever but came off pretentious (this happened every time Darrow mused about the political structure or people’s motivations). While this can work, it didn’t here mainly due to the author’s writing style, which vacillated between clumsy and clunky, with some cringe-worthy thrown in for good measure.
I don’t know who the intended audience is, but the book is feels extremely YA and should come with a trigger/content warning (regardless of the audience) as it is filled with causal violence, brutality, murder, maiming, torture, physical and sexual assault, rape, cannibalism, homophobia and misogyny slavery, and human trafficking.
I am told that that series gets better, and Pierce Brown’s writing improves with each installment. I did read the first few chapters of Golden Son and did not see any improvement in writing or storytelling. Unless the author magically/spiritually manages to channel Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and William Faulkner, I don’t see myself reading future works.
*Fridiging – a plot device in which female characters face disproportionate harm (death, maiming, assault, rape, kidnaping) to motivate male characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Trafficking, Sexual violence, and Slavery
Minor: Cannibalism
stephanie_ap_sweeney's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Self harm, Blood, Classism, Rape, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Death, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, and Toxic relationship
jjamiee's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Classism, Death, and Slavery
Moderate: Grief, Gore, and Rape
Minor: Cannibalism, Excrement, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury
kelsey24's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
This book is like a sci-fi Hunger Games. I did enjoy it, but there are a LOT of characters to keep track of, and I think I struggled with understanding the complex political nuances of multiple societies. The author did a good job explaining everything, but I think it was too much for me to consistently remember throughout the book. That said, I'll still be reading the next book in the series to find out what happens.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Murder, Death, War, Rape, Cannibalism, and Child death
ecourtis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Sexual violence, and Torture
Moderate: Rape, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, and Bullying
Minor: Cannibalism