A review by b0okcupidity
Red Rising by Pierce Brown

4.0

I believe that the narration of this one helped with my enjoyment of the story - it didn't allow me to get caught up in the details of the world building and, instead, hone in on the emotional nuances. A much grittier take on a story similar to The Hunger Games - revolution, class systems designed to impoverish the lowest, a rigged game with an important outcome. This story, however, shuns the overt condemnation of violence in Hunger Games in lieu of a larger theme of justice over vengeance. This means that there is a lot of violence in this book and my main gripe about that is the use of rape as a tool of control in this story. I've complained about this in stories before, when I feel like it relies too heavily on this particular violence to set up the vile from the redeemable. Red Rising perhaps muddles that point and almost takes an allegorical turn.
It helped that I only sort of liked the characters so that I wasn't too hooked on their outcomes and look forward to seeing how Darrow is going to manage to make all of this right, it seems it's up to him alone.

Spoiler:

Spoiler

But, Pax. I was actually really sad about his death because he was a decent, dumb lug of a gold.