Red Rising

Christ.It's not often that the comp titles listed on the front cover or in press releases of a book are so completely accurate. There are scenes in Red Rising that could have been lifted straight from [b:Ender's Game 375802 Ender's Game (The Ender Quintet, #1) Orson Scott Card https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388177928s/375802.jpg 2422333], there's even a direct reference to its characters. You can see the traces of [b:The Hunger Games 2767052 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) Suzanne Collins https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1358275334s/2767052.jpg 2792775]'s Roman-based elite dystopian society in the characters names. Everywhere in this book you can see where pieces from other stories were picked up and scrambled together. In anyone else's hands Red Rising would have been extraordinarily derivative. But put together by Pierce Brown, it is fucking brilliant. This book chews up all those conventions and tropes and turns them into a gory masterpiece. This book is a beast with a bloody red maw.I didn't get into this book for the plot, or the hype, or even Brown's pretty face. I decided a while ago that I was pretty much done with stories about kids killing each other over abitrary titles. It wasn't even any of the soaring reviews that convinced me. It was the writing. I saw samples of what this kid can do, and I thought, well shit, if the rest of the book is like that it'll be worth it. And its true, his prose is beautiful, but its more than that. I was talking to my mother a while back about how, regardless of how enjoyable a work by a young author is, you still can often see the gaps. There's almost always a kind of incompleteness, in the world-building or the story-telling or the character development. It can often be ignored to some degree, but it keeps you from getting completely engrossed. There are no gaps here. I am stunned by Brown's level of ability, not just for a young author, but for any kind of writer. He is up there with Ian McDonald and Glen Duncan for me right now, the kind of writers that inspire the most profound envy in me. In a way, I think my love for this book is an unrequited relationship. I love it, and it doesn't love me back. It stressed me out. Every time I picked it up, it slapped me in the face and walked away laughing. It's brutal, but there's such delight in its brutality. The writing is animal, the pages breathe and bleed. Imma be real, I drifted a little when there was a lot of battle tactics and strategies being discussed. Brown also has a thing for skimming, stretches of time flicker by in a paragraph, and some of the hardest parts he lets you take a step back from. But you get dragged back in so quickly by Darrow. I giggled and danced at his every triumph, his wild humor, his ecstatic approach to violence and war. Terrible things happen during this game he plays, but still it is a game, and Darrow revels in moving his pieces around as well as smashing them to bits.The plot moves constantly, like Darrow, you're never given any chance to rest or let your guard down. There's also the human, emotional element. I will admit, I'm a little wary. I love books like N.K. Jemisin's [b:The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms 6437061 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy, #1) N.K. Jemisin https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1303143211s/6437061.jpg 6626657] that give their oppressive villains no quarter. These people already have voices, and the tendency for stories to give wicked powerful people more room to be sympathetic is an old one. But it's still useful for a narrative like this. Darrow is not fighting robots, he has to entrench and assimilate himself to a society and then destroy it from the ground up. To do this, he has to know them, even love them. And Darrow loves powerfully, because he's wildly passionate and ultimately a good person. He loves Cassius who is the epitomy of Gold elitism, he loves the poet Roque who never really says anything poetic until the very end. He loves the Goblin Sevro, and god so do I, in all that boy's rabid quiet fury. And he loves Mustang, the girl who reminds so much of his late wife, so much that I was starting to think Brown was fucking with me (which is a fair assumption to make, at all times). In fact, Darrow's most difficult moment comes when he finds another Red like him, disguised among the Golds. He doesn't demonize the Golds, probably never did, like he says at the beginning of his story, he was a good slave. When he is near death at one point, he imagines his wife with golden hair, because he believes that in the afterlife that's how she would be rewarded. Even after everything he had been through, everything he's seen, he still sees them as superior. Brown has a way of drawing emotion in a truly naked way. The gloss of pretty words and a thickening plot get stripped back, and there's just a teenage boy who wants to go home, sleep next to his wife and dig. His loneliness got to me. Maybe it's because it's the dead of winter now, but open spaces around me suddenly seemed a lot bigger. Like I said, this book stressed me out. A part of me wants to run as far away from it as possible, read about something silly and happy next. The rest of me is craving the catharsis of the next book, because maybe it'll fix everything that the first has messed up in me. More likely it just ruin me even more.

I was hoping to abandon this book on the account of Young Adult genre, but other readers have questioned this classification, so I gave it a try.

I couldn't get past the author's prose style. As usual, no attempt to create empathy for the main character, no plot presented, boring introduction. I didn't care for the “life in Mars” scenario. Can't bring myself to be more specific.

Read 0:35/16:12 4%

Originally posted at Squirtoon's Bookish Blog

How many books can I say I started at 10pm, and finished at 3am? Not that many. For that reason alone, it's 5 stars. I value sleep like little else, but this made me forgo sleep to see what would happen next.

At first, when I first read about this, I was unimpressed. It seemed like every other YA, dystopian novel out there. How many books have the classes separated by something? Whether that be numbers, colours, looks or something else? It's now a new concept. This was a breath of fresh air for this genre for me.

I was more invested in the characters than I'd care to admit. Darrow, Mustang and Servo were just great characters. If you don't like Servo, then I think there's probably something wrong with you. He was my favourite character because he wasn't perfect like the other golds. He wasn't traditionally handsome and tall, but boy was he smart.

To be honest, parts of it aren't YA. This is a quote from the first few chapters, and when I really started paying attention to this novel:

On Mars there is not much gravity. So you have to pull the feet to break the neck. They let the loved ones do it.

This book gets better with a second reading...and third.

I just read it again because I got my hands on Iron Gold, and I love that the story still holds little surprises to find that an unaware first reader will miss. What a treat.

This is the beginning of an awesome story and engrossing all on its own. If you enjoy adventure, give Red Rising a shot. Seriously fantastic. I love the world, the characters, the challenges, and Brown makes it all keep us reading.

“Death isn't empty like you say it is. Emptiness is life without freedom, Darrow. Emptiness is living chained by fear, fear of loss, of death. I say we break those chains. Break the chains of fear and you break the chains that bind us to the Golds, to the Society.”

I don't even know where to begin with this book. It was just beyond compelling. It was such a unique setting for a dystopian. You have the main setting of Mars in the future where humans have colonized various planets. Plus you have this caste like system based on colors with Gold being the top and Reds at the bottom. Darrow, of course, is at the bottom, a Red, who drills for helium to help society. Beyond this caste system, you have the fact that Darrow and the other Reds have been lied to about the progress made colonizing the planets and moons.

Not only was the setting and premise of the book great, the writing was astounding. Even with all the jargon and world building, Pierce Brown wrote in an enthralling way that had me continuously turning the page to see what would happen to Darrow and those around him. Within the first 50 pages, Brown shocks us and ups the ante of Darrow's fight. I just really enjoyed the writing style and never wanted to put this book down (even when I had to go to work).

Once Darrow is on the surface of Mars, he meets a cast of characters who we have been groomed by Darrow's experiences to despise, but I couldn't help but love them and their personalities. Each one was different and had their own woes and struggles even if they were Golds and at the top of society.

Now that I have finished Red Rising, I want to start Golden Son right away. This trilogy has the potential to be amazing and I cannot wait to see what happens to Darrow and his companions in the final two books in this trilogy. This book was a great start to a trilogy that I assume will only get better as we move forward.

Wow! I don't even know where I should start.

I guess I should begin with saying that I loved this book. I loved it so much I read it in less than a day and I just bought “Golden Son” and pre-ordered “Morning Star.” I shall now attempt to demonstrate why.

We're all bored with dystopian science fiction, aren't we? Well, not anymore.

I don't want to give away too many spoilers, but I really want you to read this book. It does a better job of setting up a revolution than “Divergent” or “The Hunger Games.”

Pierce Brown does an incredible job of weaving a story that sucked me in and made my heart race. When Darrow experiences the worst tragedy of his life, the tragedy that makes him a revolutionary, I felt it. I felt the mounting dread as he realized what was about to happen. My heart pounded when I myself realized what was coming. And when it happened, I cried.

Darrow isn't perfect, but he loves his family, and he wants revenge. He makes mistakes, he gets things wrong. He rude, impulsive, afraid, and so incredibly angry. His rage burns in your own chest as he realizes that for 500 years, his people have been lied to and enslaved.

I enjoyed this book because I was rooting for someone who was finally realistic. Katniss Everdeen was cold and clinical. Tris was whiny.

Darrow does everything because he wants revenge, and hopefully the rebirth of a broken system. His love for his wife and the life they should have had drives him. But what's amazing is watching him evolve. Like I said, he makes mistakes, but don't we all?

He feels shame and remorse when people die and constantly evaluates if his mission is worth the cost. There are difficult sacrifices made along the way, and the people who die for him, he does not forget.

I really hope you pick this up. People say this book started out slow, but I didn't feel that way. Perhaps because I read it over the course of a single day, it didn't feel like it was dragging. I didn't feel like there were too many houses, colors, or characters. Everything had a purpose. Everyone had a job to do. And I can't wait for more!

P.S. I loved that it was on Mars! Space stuff rocks!

I read this book in bits and pieces in the beginning because it was taking a while to pick up, but once it did I couldn't put it down. Specifically from the part Darrow goes to the institute was fast paced, strategic and showed various faces of different types of humans.

In the end, I came to like a lot more characters than I initially expected: Sevro, Mustang, Pax, the Howlers in general, and Darrow himself. The protagonist is not arrogant, full of blind rage or even a complete inconsiderate person. He shows reason, fear, consideration and sees the good and bad in everyone. Most I've liked a character ever. Let's hope the trend continues in the other books.
There were no overarching conversations between characters and Darrow knew when to keep his mouth shut or when to avoid talking.

I also liked the way the author described the action scenes. Duels where everyone moves as if dancing. Elegant. The way it was written felt very new.

Also, the ending was a nice touch. Thinking logically, that was the best course of action for Darrow if he wants to climb faster.

P. S. The map in the beginning of the book really helped. I turned to it so many times to understand each time where everyone was when a house was raided.

This book soared to Sovereign heights! Its storyline was as gripping as a Reaper's blade, forging a path through uncharted territories of originality. Set in a distant future on the terraformed plains of Mars, the narrative unveils a bustling solar system teeming with life. From the outset, the narrative snatched my attention and hurled me through a whirlwind of peaks and pitfalls, weaving an unbreakable bond with its characters. The diverse spectrum of characters, from the noble to the nefarious, stood as a testament to the novel's strength.
The intricate tapestry of factions, the intricacies of the caste system, and the scholarly backdrop painted a canvas of mesmerizing depth. My copy, a flawless testament to the scribes, contained not a single blemish that dared distract from the saga. I reveled in the unexpected twists and turns, vowing to procure the complete set, to relish, revisit, and enrich my personal library. This read, I proffer as a recommendation without reservation. (Written in my version of high Gold, It's Prime!)

I came to this book with nothing more than a "you should read it" recommendation, so I didn't really know what I was getting in to, and boy did that make it a whirlwind!

I put it at only 4 stars because I found myself feeling like it was a lot closer to fantasy writing style than sci-fi, and that rubbed me a little wrong. Things happening because the author needed them to happen and it was convenient for the story usually bothers me, but I didn't mind too much here because the setting is interesting and I was very invested in the character development.

It's an excellent first-in-a-series book in that it stands alone well and if I only read this one I'd still be glad I had, but that I also can't wait to start reading the next one! Which I will do starting..... now.

This book was fantastic. The world building in it is phenomenal. It held my attention very well. The author expressed a healthy balance between explaining a scene or events but not over explaining and getting into boring detail. You are told exactly enough to picture the characters and scene in your mind.

I'm fascinated to find out what happens to the characters and to see if the author can keep up the quality demonstrated in Red Rising.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sci-fi or anyone who had enjoyed The Hunger Games or even Enders Game.

Brilliant premise for a book. Starts off really exciting and break-neck. Unfortunately it suffers from a little waffle throughout the book that may make you lose attention.

However, as with any first book in a series, it makes you instantly want to start the next. I really enjoyed the combination of sci-fi and raw surival. Two elements rarely combined and done this well!

The world created was believable and immserive too. Always can appreciate a world that's believable yet easily understandable!

Definitely worth a read for any fans of Hunger Games or anyone looking for a really good sci-fi series to begin (based on reviews of the future books)

Fun and fast-paced listen. Is it breaking new ground? No. Is it diving deep into world building or a magic system? Also, no. But, I found it enjoyable and will continue with the series to see how the story and characters develop. I think listening to this with my boyfriend also helped my enjoyment, because he was really into it.

If you like Hunger Games, Battle Royale, or possibly Ender's Game, you may like this book.

This was everything i wanted . I have no words to express my love exept i might howl because #howler !

Darrow
He's like a human monster that's really pretty too
Sevro
The smallest being on the planet but knows how to fight
Mustang
Don't mess with her please , i beg you .
There are a lot of the others that i also love to the mars and back !
this book is now my favourite
I want more from Sevro
the proctors are ridiculous
im glad all 3 books are out in the trilogy
do me a favour and read this , please .