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A review by kanairam
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This book is basically a hastily contrived amalgamation of other, better books. A bit Hunger Games and a bit Harry Potter, except Pierce Brown has neither the nuance of Collins nor the character development of Rowling.
The worldbuilding is sloppy. Information is thrown at the reader at weird times and in strangely shaped packages. It’s clumsy and makes it difficult to actually understand how the world is constructed. The allegedly sci-fi language is a joke. I mean, gravBoots? FloatChair? HighLingo? They don’t sound futuristic or otherworldly. They sound dumb.
All of the characters are one- or two-dimensional. Darrow is blandly talented in the most self-insert protagonist way. I thought we as a society had moved passed “my wife is dead” as a main motivator, but apparently not.
Female characters are treated even worse than the male ones. Brown uses casual misogyny and sexual assault to seemingly make characters “evil” in our minds, but then doesn’t address it beyond basically saying “this was bad.” Gender role bullshit continues to exist despite the fact that this is some several centuries in the future.
The plot of this book moved well after the first third. The only reason I finished it is that, despite all its flaws, it did make me want to know what happened. That, however, was its only saving grace. This is a cookie cutter dystopia for boys who like to feel powerful and are oblivious to the actual world.
The worldbuilding is sloppy. Information is thrown at the reader at weird times and in strangely shaped packages. It’s clumsy and makes it difficult to actually understand how the world is constructed. The allegedly sci-fi language is a joke. I mean, gravBoots? FloatChair? HighLingo? They don’t sound futuristic or otherworldly. They sound dumb.
All of the characters are one- or two-dimensional. Darrow is blandly talented in the most self-insert protagonist way. I thought we as a society had moved passed “my wife is dead” as a main motivator, but apparently not.
Female characters are treated even worse than the male ones. Brown uses casual misogyny and sexual assault to seemingly make characters “evil” in our minds, but then doesn’t address it beyond basically saying “this was bad.” Gender role bullshit continues to exist despite the fact that this is some several centuries in the future.
The plot of this book moved well after the first third. The only reason I finished it is that, despite all its flaws, it did make me want to know what happened. That, however, was its only saving grace. This is a cookie cutter dystopia for boys who like to feel powerful and are oblivious to the actual world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Sexism