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Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)

Pierce Brown

Start date: July 21, 2014

Finish date: August 20, 2014

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Why we're reading this: Group Contemporary Novel Discussion July 2014
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Feb 02, 2015 Barbara rated it liked it

3.5 stars

In this sci-fi thriller, the first book of a trilogy, humans are divided into caste-like categories with the ruling "Golds" on top and the low-level "Reds" - essentially slaves - doing all the drudge work. Other color groups are artists, soldiers, law-enforcement personnel, pleasure givers, bureaucrats, and so on. Darrow, a 16-year-old mine worker living in an underground colony on Mars, is a very low Red. The Reds - whose lives are generally short, hard, and hungry - are constantly b
3.5 stars

In this sci-fi thriller, the first book of a trilogy, humans are divided into caste-like categories with the ruling "Golds" on top and the low-level "Reds" - essentially slaves - doing all the drudge work. Other color groups are artists, soldiers, law-enforcement personnel, pleasure givers, bureaucrats, and so on. Darrow, a 16-year-old mine worker living in an underground colony on Mars, is a very low Red. The Reds - whose lives are generally short, hard, and hungry - are constantly bombarded with propaganda praising them for their help in terraforming Mars so that humans from an overpopulated Earth will have a place to live to in the future.

When Darrow and his young wife Eo run afoul of the law tragedy ensues and Darrow realizes that the Golds - concerned only with their own power and comfort - have been dishonest and manipulative. Encouraged by his dying wife Darrow becomes determined to get revenge and free the Reds. Helped by his uncle, Darrow falls in with a band of rebels who "transform" him to resemble a Gold. This allows Darrow to gain gain entrance into a selective academy that prepares Golds for the highest positions in society.

This is no regular school however, and what follows is like a hyper version of 'The Hunger Games'. The academy students are divided into 'houses' - mentored by praetors - that battle each other until one house is the winner. The whittling process takes many months during which the students try to demonstrate their intelligence and battle prowess in hopes of getting job offers from the most prominent Gold families. The students are forced to perform horrific deeds, which some do reluctantly and others revel in. Alliances form and fall apart, cheating occurs, and not everyone is who they seem.

Darrow is smart and capable but seems to be thwarted every time he's about to achieve an important goal. Thus he must learn to be cleverer, sneakier, and more politically astute than his rivals. In the course of the story Darrow evolves from a complacent teen to a warrior determined to get justice for the Reds. I liked the book and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.... ...more

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Jan 08, 2016 Scott Firestone rated it it was ok

I get it. When there's a wildly popular series, then we get a flood of books that follow the same broad premise. Or at least seem to. I think sometimes we create these links when they're not always apt.

Having said that, Red Rising certainly feels like The Hunger Games on Mars.

In the future, the universe has a caste system that divides everyone into colors from birth. Golds at the top. Lots of other colors in the middle, performing various functions based on that color. Reds at the bottom. They I get it. When there's a wildly popular series, then we get a flood of books that follow the same broad premise. Or at least seem to. I think sometimes we create these links when they're not always apt.

Having said that, Red Rising certainly feels like The Hunger Games on Mars.

In the future, the universe has a caste system that divides everyone into colors from birth. Golds at the top. Lots of other colors in the middle, performing various functions based on that color. Reds at the bottom. They're the slaves, mining helium-3 deep underground on Mars. They're kept in the dark--literally and figuratively--because almost none of them are aware that the surface of Mars has been terraformed.

Darrow is a minor and a miner, and he and his wife have a storybook, loving relationship. At least for the few passages where we see them together. (view spoiler)

The book tries very hard to be EPIC. To be the story of an everyman overthrowing his oppressive chains. Except Darrow isn't an everyman. He's superman, and it gets really old. The guy is perfect. And even the thing he's lacked due to being born a Red--education--is just taken care of with a magic +2 Potion of Knowing Every Dang Thing. What?!

So we have a Hunger Games style Capture the Flag game. But where the Hunger Games were at least interesting in their brutality, here they're incredibly boring. The Hunger Games was made up of a mixture of kids from different classes, so some were spoiled and snooty, but others were salt-of-the-earth people. It made for diverse and interesting characters. But when everyone is from the undisputed highest caste, then everyone is an a-hole. Why would I want to read a book about spoiled brats fighting other spoiled brats? You can imagine everyone talking with snooty British accents.

I did appreciate that he didn't info-dump the vast back story, terms, and societal structure. It's revealed naturally and in ways where we can intuit what's happening. But ultimately, I just didn't find myself caring about that well-revealed story. Red Rising was a slog. ...more

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Nov 26, 2016 Paula S rated it liked it

I had some trouble getting started with this book. I have read a ton of YA dystopias this year and Red Rising didn't seem very interesting compared with some of the others. Maybe because the story doesn't really take off until the second half of the book, or maybe because it was a male protagonist and I'm used to female protagonists. I don't know.

I didn't like that the author killed of some people that I found more interesting than Darrow. I didn't like the way the MC had to be pushed onto the ...more

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