From the Bookshelf of Challenge Corner…

Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)

Pierce Brown

Start date: July 1, 2020

Finish date: July 31, 2020

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Aug 12, 2020 Celia Buell (semi hiatus) rated it liked it

Shelves: class-differences, friendship, decisions, family, american-author, gave-away, dont-need-print-but-may-revisit, romance, series, first-in-a-series

Trigger Warning: (view spoiler)

There are so many books I read because others have read them, and I see them a lot on Goodreads, and if friends rated them highly I am more likely to enjoy them, because I have the same taste as a lot of people on here.

Unfortunately, this was not the case with Red Rising. This was made even more disappointing because one of my favorite authors Trigger Warning: (view spoiler)

There are so many books I read because others have read them, and I see them a lot on Goodreads, and if friends rated them highly I am more likely to enjoy them, because I have the same taste as a lot of people on here.

Unfortunately, this was not the case with Red Rising. This was made even more disappointing because one of my favorite authors, Scott Reintgen, cites Pierce Brown as one of his biggest inspirations. And I could definitely see those influences, but where Reintgen excelled, Brown fell flat.

One big thing about this is the character development. The whole first part of the book sets up a scene that never becomes important in the novel, and it doesn't really reappear throughout the rest of the story. Darrow, the main character, doesn't really seem to grow from this experience, and this sets a precedent for the whole novel. Things just kind of happen, and the characters don't really do anything about them, or learn anything from them. The story is supposed to be all about breaking the status quo, and yet the characters who are supposed to do that don't really do much of anything. Almost nobody is really given any personality traits, other than physical, and those who are are killed off quickly.

There's also the setting and circumstances of the novel. Why Mars? This reads like any other dystopian novel, and made about as much sense as it would on earth. The landscape or the fact that they were in space didn't seem to mean anything. Neither did the color classifications. Red are shown to be the lowest of the low, but others are very impoverished as well. As far as I can tell this discrimination doesn't seem to be based on anything historical, or even anything physical like race or Earth ethnicity, because none of that is ever referred to in the novel. It just kind of is, and this is another way the book falls flat. Because we have no reference for the status quo, this doesn't completely illustrate how Darrow and others intend to break it.

All of this is accompanied by the book's passive voice and telling instead of showing narration. Things happen without a lot of fanfare or consequence, and sometimes it is just glossed over that they happen. Even at the most climactic scenes, there is little follow up and problems are solved too quickly without any reflection or much action.

And then, of course, there is the violence. It's hard to tell what the point of anything in this novel is when so many early characters are killed off so quickly after earning some merit. There just doesn't seem to be a point, and it really doesn't add much, and in fact takes a lot away from, the point of the novel.

I'm not jumping at the chance to read Golden Son, although I would be interested to see if this series has the potential I had hoped its first novel would. I hope it is, but it really is pretty flat from the start, and I don't have high hopes. ...more

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May 16, 2025 Kai Gordon rated it it was amazing

I seriously am furious that I have to wait to start the second book. This was so bloody good and I’m actually kind of pissed that no one has ever recommended this series to me before! This book was amazing and I hope the rest of the story is just as good. Yes, this is similar to the Hunger Games and Ender’s Game, but so far I think Brown does a better job of really showing the difference in wealth distribution that currently exists. How those in power so easily control and rule the lower classes ...more

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Mar 21, 2024 Jeidyne rated it it was amazing

Looks like I’m obsessed with yet another series. This book was amazing idk if I have anything else to even say except WOW

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Mar 30, 2024 Brooke rated it liked it

Generally this type of book is my favorite! Alternate reality, dystopian, good vs evil…the first half of the book was outstanding, in my opinion, but once they got past developing the main character, I got kind of bored with the story. However, I see why a lot of people like this book. For me personally, the conflict and fighting for the “game” or whatever they called it dragged on and sometimes the characters got confusing because there were so many.. The plot was very slow going and the high f ...more

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