Scan barcode
A review by kimberly_b
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
2.0
I know I'm in the minority here, but I didn't love Red Rising. It was incredibly referential and not nearly as original as I expected it to be based upon the rave reviews.
If you've seen the movie Idiocracy, then you'll understand my comparison between Darrow's test and the one Joe (played by Luke Wilson) has to complete :D Of course Darrow is a damn genius compared to everyone else even though he's a low class Red. Suuuurrreee. Speaking of Darrow, I just couldn't get behind the guy. I was getting some intended William Wallace Braveheart vibes in the beginning of the story, but the vibes weren't vibing. He's 16 but doesn't act like any 16 year old I've ever known, and I couldn't get behind his character. I wanted to like him and root for him, but I just didn't care.
Red Rising is very Hunger Games-esque. Darrow is the chosen one who undergoes an extreme Eliza Doolittle transformation into a Gold. It would be like someone from one of the districts in Panem being transformed into someone who resides in The Capital if you included massive surgical enhancements.
The Roman-like names had me rolling my eyes. It's been done so many times where a hierarchical society has Latin/Roman names. Here we have Cassius, Augustus, Tiberius, etc. The names didn't jive well with the genre for me.
If you've seen the movie Idiocracy, then you'll understand my comparison between Darrow's test and the one Joe (played by Luke Wilson) has to complete :D Of course Darrow is a damn genius compared to everyone else even though he's a low class Red. Suuuurrreee. Speaking of Darrow, I just couldn't get behind the guy. I was getting some intended William Wallace Braveheart vibes in the beginning of the story, but the vibes weren't vibing. He's 16 but doesn't act like any 16 year old I've ever known, and I couldn't get behind his character. I wanted to like him and root for him, but I just didn't care.
Red Rising is very Hunger Games-esque. Darrow is the chosen one who undergoes an extreme Eliza Doolittle transformation into a Gold. It would be like someone from one of the districts in Panem being transformed into someone who resides in The Capital if you included massive surgical enhancements.
The Roman-like names had me rolling my eyes. It's been done so many times where a hierarchical society has Latin/Roman names. Here we have Cassius, Augustus, Tiberius, etc. The names didn't jive well with the genre for me.