A review by heyjaycee
Red Rising by Pierce Brown

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Red Rising was a YA phenomenon when it came out in 2014. (Seven whole years ago! A different era!) Reading it now, its evocation of working class tradition and exploitation feels more timely than ever.

Darrow is a Red, a miner from a caste of miners, living and working under the surface of Mars to mine helium-3 so humanity can terraform the planet's surface above. At least, that's what Darrow and all the other subterranean Reds on Mars believe. When Darrow's wife is executed by the ruling Colours for insurrection, Darrow is forcibly recruited by the hidden Red rebellion and made into a sleeper agent in Gold society, with the eventual aim of bringing it down to liberate the enslaved Reds. And that's just the beginning!

This is a very masculine book. Maybe it's that I don't read a lot of books by cis men? I don't know. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. Brown's solar system is a bloody and grimdark place, and Darrow finds himself in possibly the bloodiest, grimmest, and darkest place in it.

Regardless, it's disturbingly good fun. Much like the Hunger Games, it's unsettlingly gripping to read about teenagers murdering and maiming each other to satisfy a cruel society's deeply unjust rituals. And the really satisfying thing about Red Rising and Darrow is that Darrow is just brutally good at it. Despite his setbacks, Darrow in full possession of all the facts about his situation is a Darrow who cannot be beaten. I guess it's a bit like supporting a relentlessly good football team.

Though lacking in substance, Red Rising is good, bloody, gripping, righteous fun.
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