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adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Holy fuck this might be my book of the year. The world that is built for us is SO immersive and gut wrenching. This covers very complex topics in a unique way and has you sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for what comes next. Brutal deaths, lies, deception, vengeance, betrayal all play huge roles in this storyline but so do hope, love, and dreams.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book reads like a first draft from an angsty high schooler. The writing itself is unpleasant to read with its constant use of short 5 word statements. The plot points are extremely predictable and the characters are bland. Our main character basically has no meaningful flaws and most of the other characters have no agency at all. They just exist to interact with Darrow.
It seems that the author only knows how to communicate to the readers that a character is bad by making them a rapist. There is an astounding amount of sexual assault in a book where the vast majority of the characters are minors. If that wasn’t irritating enough, the book constantly throws around casual homophobia for no reason other than to make the story “edgier”.
I can’t imagine how anyone besides generic nerdy white boys who never matured past high school could enjoy this book. For an author trying to make a point about uplifting marginalized communities, he misses the mark completely at every opportunity. I really wanted to like this book but it was bad from the start and continued to find new ways to disappoint me the further I got.
It seems that the author only knows how to communicate to the readers that a character is bad by making them a rapist. There is an astounding amount of sexual assault in a book where the vast majority of the characters are minors. If that wasn’t irritating enough, the book constantly throws around casual homophobia for no reason other than to make the story “edgier”.
I can’t imagine how anyone besides generic nerdy white boys who never matured past high school could enjoy this book. For an author trying to make a point about uplifting marginalized communities, he misses the mark completely at every opportunity. I really wanted to like this book but it was bad from the start and continued to find new ways to disappoint me the further I got.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood
adventurous
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book lived up to the hype.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Red Rising will never cease to amaze me. No matter how many times I read this book, I am always left surprised and in constant awe of Pierce Brown's brilliance. There are not many writers who could fill 400 pages with near-constant strategy and incredible insight into human civilization.
In my opinion, worldbuilding is one of the most crucial elements of a good book/series, and there are no worlds better written than the Society in Red Rising.
The complexities of this world vary from the obvious (the color system), to the minute (the use of bloody instead of gory), and they are shared with the reader in a way that feels completely organic and unforced.
And then there are the characters.
**Spoilers Ahead**
On the one hand, Darrow is the textbook definition of morally grey, but on the other, he couldn't be more different. He has a good heart, but it is because of that good heart that he is able to commit normally heinous acts. Not once did his mind stray from his overall mission (at least not to the point of hindering his mission), even when his goals required that he sacrifice his own morals.
I was never really a fan of Cassius. He expected respect without earning it, even while constantly disrespecting his friends in little ways. He wasn't capable of putting his goals above his personal opinions and vendettas.
Sevro is just his own breed. Utterly perfect in every way. I'll fight anyone who says a bad word about Sevro. He deserves everything good in the world (but probably doesn't want it).
Mustang was the character through whom Brown's brilliance really shown. Her unwavering logic and strategy made her loyal in a way that wasn't blind but was genuine. She always reminds me of Annabeth Chase (another daughter of Minerva/Athena).
Pax au Telemanus.
In my opinion, worldbuilding is one of the most crucial elements of a good book/series, and there are no worlds better written than the Society in Red Rising.
The complexities of this world vary from the obvious (the color system), to the minute (the use of bloody instead of gory), and they are shared with the reader in a way that feels completely organic and unforced.
And then there are the characters.
**Spoilers Ahead**
On the one hand, Darrow is the textbook definition of morally grey, but on the other, he couldn't be more different. He has a good heart, but it is because of that good heart that he is able to commit normally heinous acts. Not once did his mind stray from his overall mission (at least not to the point of hindering his mission), even when his goals required that he sacrifice his own morals.
I was never really a fan of Cassius. He expected respect without earning it, even while constantly disrespecting his friends in little ways. He wasn't capable of putting his goals above his personal opinions and vendettas.
Sevro is just his own breed. Utterly perfect in every way. I'll fight anyone who says a bad word about Sevro. He deserves everything good in the world (but probably doesn't want it).
Mustang was the character through whom Brown's brilliance really shown. Her unwavering logic and strategy made her loyal in a way that wasn't blind but was genuine. She always reminds me of Annabeth Chase (another daughter of Minerva/Athena).
Pax au Telemanus.
Such a soft heart in such a hard form.
I will never forgive Pierce Brown for what he allowed to happen to Pax. Never.
If you haven't yet read Red Rising, I suggest you sit down and start right now. It's the kind of book you'll always wished you'd read sooner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Usually I stay away from sic-fi but I was persuaded to read this.
And I’m glad that I did.
It’s a very raw and real and heavy story.
I love the concept, the dialogue, along with the clear changes characters experience. Even the inner monologues changed as time went on. Very well thought out.
And I’m glad that I did.
It’s a very raw and real and heavy story.
I love the concept, the dialogue, along with the clear changes characters experience. Even the inner monologues changed as time went on. Very well thought out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is a very dark hunger games full of vengeance, death, loads of swearing, and frequent discussion of sexual assault. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone and wish I had DNF.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, War
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
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.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gore, Torture, Murder
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, War, Classism
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
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.
Potential spoilers and TW for r*pe mention
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, Cannibalism
Minor: Excrement