Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

221 reviews

malday's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-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? Yes

4.75

Truly fantastic! I was a bit worried at first it wasn't going to be what I wanted but it surpassed it and then some. It's Hunger Games meets The Martian, but better. I can't even describe it. I enjoyed it so much I found reasons to do house work so I could keep listening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

eliaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Excrement, Sexual assault, Sexism, Genocide, Gaslighting, Cursing, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Gore, Confinement, Rape, Classism, Animal death, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Blood, War, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Grief, Murder, and Misogyny

Minor: Vomit and Death of parent

loru's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

This is a reread for me and I enjoyed even more than the first time I read this story. Being able to compare thee characters from where they started to where they are is great. It's also awesome to see the development of the themes. It is a slower build in the beginning, but has enough hooks to keep you interested. The action scenes are well written and exciting. The character moments and dynamics are also great. Darrow, the MC, is exhilarating to follow.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual assault

Some people compare this book to the Hunger Games. While there are similarities, the characters, goals, and scope are different. The scope also expands greatly in the rest if the series and the similarities end by then.

stefanie_c's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Classism, Murder, Animal death, Child death, Death, Blood, Gore, and Violence

maddramaqueen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, War, Kidnapping, Sexism, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Classism, Misogyny, Torture, Slavery, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Animal death, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Fatphobia

lostinthesound's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is phenomenal! I couldn't stop listening, and I am bubbling over with excitement to read the next in the series.

This is a heartbreaking and raw story that shines a bright light on societal pitfalls, classism, consumerism, nepotism, and so much more. It is extremely well-written. The characters and their struggles feel so real. The twists in the plot blew me away. Just overall an amazing read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Slavery

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Rape

ginkgo's review against another edition

3.5

That was... very much like some young adult "vengeance-survival" stories I've read before, but angrier and with more gore

also rape, not a fan 👿. Characters are teens, mind you.

The story was interesting, but basically there's a little TOO MUCH -

eugenics casts, miners-slaves, conspiracy against the exploited in a cosmic dystopia, genetic engineering, Greeks/Spartans/Romans allegories in the Royal Battle for privileged kids, capture-the-flag medieval survival, "chain-breaker" fights with basically demigods etc. And the ending (after VERY SLOW start of the campaign) seems a little too convenient and rush

 
So the aftertaste is kind of... confusing. But it was well-written and in a way captivating story, so 3.5 stars (

sorry but those rapes here and there kind of spoil the mood

) >:(

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, Rape, Slavery, War, and Gore

yasidiaz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

As someone who enjoys Star Wars and considers the Luna Chronicles as one of my all-time favorite series, it's surprising I haven't read more Space Operas. But my good friend, Moe, recommended this series and I could clock the socialist/communist/marxist influences from a mile and I was intrigued. 

The series was a whole lot more brutal than I expected and is one of the main contributors to this being a 4-star rating over a 5-star rating. We don't witness the most horrifying acts committed by the other characters, but it still happens way too much for my liking. Not enough to trigger me, but enough to dampen the book just a tad for me. I heavily advise reading the trigger warnings for this book before picking it up. It's not a book for everybody. 

Another critique is the lack of diversity in this. At this point, most of the books I have read are incredibly diverse and when a book is not, it takes away some of the enjoyment. It also feels odd when this is obviously inspired by leftism, a movement that has, for many years, been led by BIPOC people. A part of me hopes that changes in later books, but from what I have seen so far, I don't think that will be the case.

Aside from that, the story was intriguing and the characters were complicated. It's interesting to read a story where the characters are sometimes hard to love, even our hero, but still able to enjoy. The set-up of the world and the political intrigue that I know will get stronger in the next book is the main selling point of this book. The Golds are ruthless and you want to hate them all, but you also slowly learn war is much more complicated than that. 

Despite my early critiques of the book (which I still stand by) I am intrigued to see where this series will take me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, War, Murder, Torture, Slavery, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Rape, and Kidnapping

romina_elizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

I don't give it 5 stars because of the bits of romance (I generally don't like romance in these types of books).

But I actually really loved this. I don't read this genre much, but I'm so glad I decided to give this one a chance.
I am HOOKED.

And, yes, Brown is right, I'm 90% sure that I'm going to bloodydamn love these books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Classism, Xenophobia, War, Torture, Slavery, Murder, Stalking, and Kidnapping

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

fmarge's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Slavery