Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Red Rising

Red Rising is a fast paced book with a constant flow of events and action, the authors writing style really lends itself to the fast paced narrative that this book presents. However as a side effect, alot of information is left out and sometimes I found myself having to reread/relisten to sections as I thought I had missed something. Unfortunately alot of descriptions for locations/items are not present, which while it does leave it to the readers imagination, I found it also left me with little to no starting point or inspiration. The themes behind the book are really great, seeing almost a parody of what real life demographics could evolve into in the extreme.

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jessathem's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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aelytacchan's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I can't say I understand why Red Rising is a fan favorite. It wasn't bad, but its tempo is so gruelling that I almost DNFd it - saved only by the fact I already had all the audiobooks from a past sale.

I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, but I found a lot of it foul. I think that might be on purpose, but a lot of the violence seemed unnecessary and out of bounds even for the world's laws and customs.

Women were constantly used as symbols, to further plot points, or as convenient caretakers. Despite there being women peppered into the story, they were mostly inconsequential or, when they were of consequence, they just naturally decided they would rather follow Darrow.

I'll take some time to reflect on whether I want to invest more time into the following books, seeing as they're somewhat on the longer side, but as of now, I don't particularly feel like jumping into the next part of the story.

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rebeccasg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad 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

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haley49's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This was very violent and graphic but so so powerful. This world explores the violence of power hierarchies. The caste system is not perfect nor is the world explored entirely but it does such a good job at what it tries to. It is a slow burn corruption arc where the mmc just barely figures out his errors but the ending still leaves room for doubt.

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