Reviews tagging 'War'

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

293 reviews

kateltranter's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and War

embiggs's review against another edition

dark 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

3.25

pretty mid. it feels like all the “dark” elements are just in there to arbitrarily skew the tone of the book. most of the violence and rape happens to unnamed characters and it’s not described on the page. why put it in then? it’s not emotionally compelling and is a side eye for putting it (needlessly) in your book about teenagers. also i could not get over the constant use of pulseShield or ionBlade or whatever else. there was one paragraph where the author did it five times. it was quirky and interesting the first few times and then it got so old. 

TLDR: guy (the author) throws hunger games, percy jackson, and philosophy 101 into a pot. then he adds the main dish—the roman empire—and really thinks he’s gonna cook 🥴 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Sexual violence and Slavery

Minor: Rape

needread's review against another edition

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

5.0

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

rmb27's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

1.0

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. 

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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, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and War

margarcia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Rape, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, and War

hnuh's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.0

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, but once

Darrow becomes a gold and enters "school"

, the book slows down pace and is basically just a book about a bunch of teenagers killing each other and trying to survive. I didn't want to finish this book but stuck it out with the audiobook. The ending picked up but I can't say I really want to read the next book in the series. I might give it a try since this "school" portion of the book is over, but I'm not itching to read it. It's a shame, because the overarching world story is really fascinating and full. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence

odcosta's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Damn. This was excellent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Violence, Murder, War, and Classism

zeneszerzo's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Blood, and War

sardonicdeath's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

4.5

Pinecone cousins

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Classism

Moderate: Death

Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

persychan's review against another edition

adventurous

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

2.5

 2,5 perchè si sentono tutti i loro anni e perchè il setting è tutto tranne che scifi, anche se finge di esserlo.

Il libro nel suo insieme è godibile, ben scritto e ha delle scene di azione incalzante, ma ha due grandi scogli.

La misoginia e omofobia casuale, che mentre in parte è giustificata dal "la società è terribile", è frequentemente anche figlia di "l'autore non sa scrivere i personaggi femminili ed esistono solo per essere belle, essere soggette a violenza sessuale o morire".
Eo è il più grande esempio di fridging dalla creazione del trope stesso (e c'è una seconda donna morta minore nel background di Darrow, nel caso non fosse abbastanza la moglie morta), ma anche le "badass" sono principalmente definite dal loro essere belle, piuttosto che qualunque altra cosa. E lo stesso LI che dovrebbe essere una tosta e fichissima, finisce per dover essere salvata 2 volte mentre è impossibilitata a fare nulla (compreso di rischio di stupro).

Ah sì, la quantità di violenza sessuale, grazie a dio non descritta, è assolutamente gratuita. Ma la tortura "normale", no eh? Poi ovviamente vittime solo donne.
Ah, la bellezza del ricco worldbuilding del futuro.

Superato questo, il secondo scoglio è che il setting ha pochissimo senso nel contesto scifi se ti fermi a pensarci cinque minuti e avrebbe funzionato meglio o da fantasy o da più vicino nel tempo cyberpunk/distopia. Soprattutto le tempistiche risultano bizzarre perchè sono almeno 500 che la loro società funziona così, nonostante siano sull'orlo di una guerra civile politica di faide ad ogni ricambio generazionele perchè è un sistema, volutamente, costruito per dare vita a suddette faide di sangue tra le famiglie al potere.
Come non si siano ancora cannonneggiate quando al potere c'è gente con PTSD grosso come delle case, addestrati alla violenza e con rancori e vendette in ogni famiglia, il tutto mentre l'intero sistema di caste sembra reggersi sul nulla se non vaga violenza (perchè ha sempre funzionato per tenere in piedi un reggime per secoli oh yeah), è un mistero divino.

Leggero il resto? Se lo trovo usato e se ho modo di leggerlo, come questo, facendo commenti sarcastici con gli amici. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Cannibalism, and War