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wcrobi 's review for:
Red Rising
by Pierce Brown
While this book was generally entertaining, I can't help but think that the pacing was inconsistent. The beginning was so unbelievably rushed... especially for a book that seems to take inspiration from giants of the YA genre like The Hunger Games and SF titans like Dune, the beginning should have been where this book sets itself apart. Unfortunately, I didn't really see much to really set it apart.
Also, like I've already said, Brown really does seem to draw a LOT of inspiration from other books... The cover of the book even points out the connection to Ender's Game and The Hunger Games. I don't think that this book being similar to those books is a bad thing; it could have been really interesting to see how Brown chose to make old tropes new in their interpretation. Sadly, I rarely felt like there was a spark of something new to bite into.
And that SUCKS. There was so much that could have been done differently! So, for the rest of this review, I'm gonna rant and brain dump about what I liked and what I found frustrating.
Again, the beginning was so rushed. I didn't care that Lambda didn't get the Laurel, and I didn't really... feel anything? When Darrow and Eo were flogged. And when Eo started singing while being flogged, I couldn't find it in me to care. Why? Because I only knew these characters for like... 30 pages? In all honesty, I thought Darrow was really annoying at first.
The carving felt really stupid. Like some deus ex machina premise that allowed a lowRed to just... become? a Gold. And the fact that AGAIN the process was so abbreviated that the whole thing was done in about 20 pages (or so) made it less meaningful or weighty.
And Titus being a Red, too? Really? You're telling me that not only can Reds just... become Golds through some intense, physically demanding surgeries/workout regimens/drug-enhanced audiobook binges, but that at least TWO have done it and slipped through? It must not be that hard to fool a Gold because MAN that twist was not expected and also not at all compelling to me.
I did like the dynamic between Mustang and Darrow, but I thought the ending twist was, again, not well handled. We had one chapter of political/romantic tension just for it to be turned into a non-issue when Mustang delivered the Jackal to Darrow. Let the tension simmer a little bit, jeez!
The Institute was, obviously, the best part of the book. Sadly, everything around it felt rushed. Also, some events INSIDE the sequence of events while Darrow was inside the Institute felt rushed, like his healing process and Mustang's sickness. Knowing that Mustang is Nero's daughter makes that moment feel less real. Would he have let her die in the Institute just because she was working with Darrow? I don't know.
Also, the Jackal has gotta be one of the biggest let-down nemeses that I've read in a long time. Maybe the point of the book was to build up the Jackal's mythos in the mind of the reader, just like Darrow's "Reaper" mythos was being built up in the minds of the non-Wolfpack houses. Still, his reveal, and how quickly the focus changed from defeating the Reaper to defeating Olympus was... underwhelming to say the least.
Pax's death did get to me. He was a real one.
Cassius's and Darrow's interaction at the end was also... you get the vibe at this point. Uninspiring.
Sevro was an amazing character. I always enjoyed reading about him and what he and his Howlers were up to.
Darrow allowing himself to be flogged was a nice touch, and I think that it was one of the few things that Brown wrote that truly gained my respect for its originality.
All in all, I would recommend this to fans of Ender's Game and The Hunger Games, but if you're looking for something much more original in ther realm of fantasy, science fiction, or dystopian novels, I would look somewhere else first.
Also, like I've already said, Brown really does seem to draw a LOT of inspiration from other books... The cover of the book even points out the connection to Ender's Game and The Hunger Games. I don't think that this book being similar to those books is a bad thing; it could have been really interesting to see how Brown chose to make old tropes new in their interpretation. Sadly, I rarely felt like there was a spark of something new to bite into.
And that SUCKS. There was so much that could have been done differently! So, for the rest of this review, I'm gonna rant and brain dump about what I liked and what I found frustrating.
Spoiler
Again, the beginning was so rushed. I didn't care that Lambda didn't get the Laurel, and I didn't really... feel anything? When Darrow and Eo were flogged. And when Eo started singing while being flogged, I couldn't find it in me to care. Why? Because I only knew these characters for like... 30 pages? In all honesty, I thought Darrow was really annoying at first.
The carving felt really stupid. Like some deus ex machina premise that allowed a lowRed to just... become? a Gold. And the fact that AGAIN the process was so abbreviated that the whole thing was done in about 20 pages (or so) made it less meaningful or weighty.
And Titus being a Red, too? Really? You're telling me that not only can Reds just... become Golds through some intense, physically demanding surgeries/workout regimens/drug-enhanced audiobook binges, but that at least TWO have done it and slipped through? It must not be that hard to fool a Gold because MAN that twist was not expected and also not at all compelling to me.
I did like the dynamic between Mustang and Darrow, but I thought the ending twist was, again, not well handled. We had one chapter of political/romantic tension just for it to be turned into a non-issue when Mustang delivered the Jackal to Darrow. Let the tension simmer a little bit, jeez!
The Institute was, obviously, the best part of the book. Sadly, everything around it felt rushed. Also, some events INSIDE the sequence of events while Darrow was inside the Institute felt rushed, like his healing process and Mustang's sickness. Knowing that Mustang is Nero's daughter makes that moment feel less real. Would he have let her die in the Institute just because she was working with Darrow? I don't know.
Also, the Jackal has gotta be one of the biggest let-down nemeses that I've read in a long time. Maybe the point of the book was to build up the Jackal's mythos in the mind of the reader, just like Darrow's "Reaper" mythos was being built up in the minds of the non-Wolfpack houses. Still, his reveal, and how quickly the focus changed from defeating the Reaper to defeating Olympus was... underwhelming to say the least.
Pax's death did get to me. He was a real one.
Cassius's and Darrow's interaction at the end was also... you get the vibe at this point. Uninspiring.
Sevro was an amazing character. I always enjoyed reading about him and what he and his Howlers were up to.
Darrow allowing himself to be flogged was a nice touch, and I think that it was one of the few things that Brown wrote that truly gained my respect for its originality.
All in all, I would recommend this to fans of Ender's Game and The Hunger Games, but if you're looking for something much more original in ther realm of fantasy, science fiction, or dystopian novels, I would look somewhere else first.