Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Red Rising

This book was definetely not for me. I've heard the sequels are better but yikes, the portrayals of women and any character other than the hyper-masculine, stunningly handsome, muscular main character were so lackluster and kind of insulting. Also, the treatment of rape was infuriating. I get that the characters discussing and analyzing the incidents are children and that the proctors watching over the games are indicative of the dystopia that hired them, but damn, the handling of assault was messed up. It was as if the women didn't matter. I got straight-up pissed off a couple of times reading this book. To make matters even more irritating, I thought the battle royal element was so boring. The stakes weren't outlined well and the pacing was way too slow. I don't think I'm the target audience for this story, so take my notes with a grain of salt, but ooofff, did not like this book. 1.5 for interesting character names at least.

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tinyelfarcanist's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I was so close to giving up this one, but I’m glad I pulled through. Very entertaining YA novel full of tropey characters.

One of the most annoying things was the author’s LOVE for camelCase (You can click on the spoiler tag if you want to see examples, not actual spoilers)

clawDrill, wedAge, holoCan, headTalk,scanCrew, slingBlade, haulBacks, gravLift, horizonTram, duroArmor, pulseBlade, torchShip, bioSilk, gravBoots, mineMagistrate, archGovernor, lowReds, drillBoy, ripWings, highReds, highColor, forceGenerator, highGrav, pulseShield, lowColors, offColor, fauxWar, schoolHouses, gravMixers, noiseBubbles, slangSmarts, floatChairs, genAlt, highLingo, midLingo, highDrafts, midDraft, highUps, medBots, godTrees, ionBlades, nightOptics, recoilPlate, ghostCloak, pulseFists, analyzerMod, jamField, ionArrows, deadHorses, commUnits, holoImmersion, holoTransmitter…

, but I managed to get used to it somehow.

What bothered me, even more, was the blatant sexism: (I won’t bother hiding these)
“(…) bawled like a girl”, “She is a pretty little thing”, “(…) bested by a girl”, “Yet somehow he’s thinner than a woman”, “Now I’ll show them how a real man acts. I won’t jump up and down in victory. I’ll just smile and nod” (because men can't express happiness, you know), “Women are crying. Men wipe their eyes” (so… crying too?), “The men are freakishly muscular and tall. Their arms and chests bulge with artificial strength, and they flaunt their muscle like girls showing off new toys”, “(…) cut away anything that makes you a man” (Sanderson, is that you?), “Now toss me a smile like a good doll”, “Like a woman in heat”, “He’s a vile thing. A wretched womanish thing”, “(…) take me to whoever has the biggest balls”, “You sound like a girl. Thought martyrs were tough”, “(…) you little girl”…

At least rapists were called out.

The protagonist is insufferable but at least I actually cared what happened to him (hello, Kvothe and Clary!).

The novel is full of action and twists and when you think you know what it’s about, it will turn everything around. I really enjoyed it despite its huge flaws and I’m definitely continuing the series.

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its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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nav26's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I met the author once at a bookstore I worked at when he came to sign copies of the latest books in this series. Everyone had said the series was really good, so eventually I downloaded the ebook and it sat in my app for a while. Finally got around to reading it, and wow - I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. I'm not usually a huge sci fi person but this really kept my interest. The story is interesting, there are lots of characters, tonnes of twists and surprises, and it was genuinely super enjoyable. It helped that the audiobook narrator was FANTASTIC and actually changed his voice for different parts. Already borrowed the next one from the library!

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