A review by sashawins
Red Rising by Pierce Brown

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

📚Book Review📚
Rate: 4.5🌟🌟🌟🌟💫/5

🎼Song for Book
 " We dream of Stars" 


Fav Quotes
" Emptiness is life without freedom."
" Man cannot be freed by the same injustice that enslaved it."
" Not all scars heal. Not all sins are forgiven."
" I will make my purpose your glory."

My Review
"Perspective is a wicked creature."
  Red Rising is a book about oppression, greed, politics, and the poison of power.
Humans and those who are superhuman now live on Mars after the destruction of Earth. The Mars society is made up of 14 colors and influential families. Each color plays a vital role in this world. Hierarchy is essential; at the top, the Golds are the ultimate beings; they are super strong, fighters, and more-- they run shit.
    Then you have the Reds who are oppressed-- they live underground in squaller, in poor health, and are hardworking. Their primary employment is Helldivers digging for Helium to " Make Mars a safe and better place for all the colors"-- sadly, when we learn it was all a lie. For centuries, Red families and their descendants toil on the red soil. Until one day, the death and song of the girl, Eo, set the stage for Darrow to set off.

The book started slowly; some parts were very dense, as I had to learn about the roles of the different colors and their purpose. Once the action started, it did not stop! As the main character, Darrow was not my favorite-- he was cocky, arrogant, and hard-headed. Yet, I respect his desire to uphold Eo's dream of freedom and " To live for more."
His intense transformation to become a Gold was WILD -- the mental, physical, and emotional toll he endured to become them was executed well by the author. Once he became a Gold---his perspective changed after he saw how the Elite Golds operated in the name of strength and obedience.  

The relationships built between the characters were genuine until death came again-- Though I wasn't a fan of Cassius at first, I felt sad for him. Yet, I can't believe he spit blood in Darrow's face, and Darrow didn't bust his ass ( that is a whole other conversation)...

I loved all the supportive characters, especially Servo, aka the Goblin. As I read his parts, I told myself he was crazy. The whole sleeping in the belly of dead horses...took my gross meter to another level. Then, we meet the crazy-ass Jackal--- the man who cut off his damn hand---with no problem. Like was slicing a damn apple #Dead.

The " adults" Protors glorious seat of power on Olympus was destroyed by a group of hard-ass teenagers-- I was Happy!  They deserved all that smoked!

I am still reeling from that ending-- I can't believe Darrow choose to align with the Augustus family... my hope is book 2 explains this choice. I truly can't accept it.

💓What I loved
•That plot twist at the end-- the •Twin Augustus
•Darrow becoming Primus
•Potential Love
•The Rage of House Mars
•Pax au Telemanus-- Big man with •a Big heart and a girlie laugh
•I love the space element of the story

👀What I dislike
The language used was weird  " Bloodydamn," " Gorydamn," and " Goodman"-- threw me off, but I understand it depicted the different dialects of those higher up on the hierarchy of prestige.
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