A review by ralphnc
Red Rising by Pierce Brown

funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I was disappointed with this book. It's not bad, it just wasn't for me.

Red Rising is pretty popular on Booktube and even then, a decent amount of people say the first book is kind of "ehh" or had neutral feelings about it. Even though they love the rest of the series. I read this at the recommendation of Mike's book Reviews (one of the best Booktubers out there). 

I love first person narratives. Basically every book I've read in first person has been absolutely phenomenal. Red Rising. . . didn't do it for me, and the biggest reason why is the writing style. The present tense is a little jarring but not too bad; I've read other books written in present and loved them. It's the sentences; they're choppy and short and don't flow well together imo. It also feels like some things happen too fast? Like you jump from scene to scene with no time to visualize what is happening. 

Darrow is an okay character. He's very flat with his rage and his overwhelming intelligence being only sixteen. Wasn't really in the mood for this kind of character. He's proactive though, which was enough to pull me through the story. 

Gotta say though I felt nothing for the other characters. Sevro was kind of funny, but the way this book is written just doesn't work for the comedic beats Pierce is going for. Cassius and Roque have an interesting enough relationship with Darrow. But my favorite characters in this book were Fitchner and Ausgustus.

The story is fine and I think it's structured well, but there was no emotion for me.