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Red Rising - First Thoughts
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Kim
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Nov 01, 2015 09:54AM
What are your first thoughts on this book?
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Looking forward to reading this, as I have heard a lot about it. Initially put off due to the (inevitable?) YA Hunger Games comparisons, a genre filled with imitations at the moment, it seems.
I got this checked out from the library. Looking forward to reading it.
I started this some months ago but it didn't immediately grab me, so I put it down in favor of other things.I still need another R book for my annual alphabet challenge, though, so I'll give it another go.
I kept putting this one off, being a bit burnt out of YA Dystopian fiction, since so many series don't seem to go anywhere.I was pulled in very quickly. My first impression was that Red Rising was darker and more intense than most.
You guys are in for a treat this month! Red Rising is probably the best book ever written in it's genre, and it's sequel even better. The first 40 pages are somewhat confusing, so don't put it down based on introduction!
Lol to the guy above me. I read 5 chapters and I felt so put off that I swore not to read anymore. It's so unrealistic and very VERY YA which is a genre I cannot stand. Then I read chapter 6 and thought well it might be worth a quick read and that is where I stand. I hope the might character does not become a Mary Sue and that is my fear, at this point none of it makes sense. The Reds live in a place that could not exist because how could it? Unless IQ's were seriously lowered across the board and isn't that how YA come into existence in the first place?
To me it suffers the same issues as Divergent, Hunger Games, Uglies, etc. YA dystopian novels are just too simplistic.
Kim wrote: "To me it suffers the same issues as Divergent, Hunger Games, Uglies, etc. YA dystopian novels are just too simplistic."Probably -- but sometimes I am just in the mood for some simple fun. I'm going to try and fit this one in for this month.
Heh, I got my copy through a goodreads giveaway he did. Yeah I won it. And I started reading it as soon as I got it. Finished it too. It was a great book, in my opinion. Up with there when I decide to read it again and again. lol. I loved the main character though. Such a great person the author created all.
Kim wrote: "To me it suffers the same issues as Divergent, Hunger Games, Uglies, etc. YA dystopian novels are just too simplistic."It's interesting what each of us defines as "simplistic". I guess much of it boils down to a simple rule: Does the readers view of world and character connect or match with the authors, and thus the protagonists?
Personally I found Red Rising to be very complex and deep layered. Intellectually challenging and emotionally binding. Personally I would define Red Rising as adult dystopian scifi, with strong elements of epic&heroic fantasy.
Kim wrote: "To me it suffers the same issues as Divergent, Hunger Games, Uglies, etc. YA dystopian novels are just too simplistic."That's interesting. Most of these novels seem to be allegories then?
I started to read it and thought the very beginning was pretty good, but then the author piled on so many horrible things which made it such an obvious sympathy ploy to get the reader on the side of his character, that I thought he really over did it. The writing style too seemed as though the author was trying too hard for affect and felt choppy instead of affective.
Also for me, setting is a big factor and I did not like the setting, too obviously in hell. And-it is not my vision of Mars. So bottom line, not my cuppa and did not get very far. That said, it is still enormously successful so I just was not the reader.
I'm about halfway through. Impressions: This covers some familiar territory...Brave New World caste system, oppressive totalitarian government, impossibly grim conditions. However, a scene a few chapters in is one of the most emotional scenes I've ever read and that really hooked me. I do feel this is really dark and grim territory with some of the things Darrow is forced to do. (It's like somebody read Hunger Games and said how could I make everyone more miserable and ruthless.)
I see the connection with hunger games that people keep making but in my mind it's a lot better. I've read a lot of YA dystopian stuff through the years and this one stands out. You can certainly tell it's the writers first novel over the first five chapters or so, as he had to cover a lot of ground to get the plot moving. From there on out though I thought it was well paced and I really enjoyed it. Graphic without being over the top. Real with out being wishy washy.
*Small Spoiler*
There is the argument that he's a 'Mary Sue'. In my opinion you're missing the point. That is exactly what they created him to be. Top of the line, brilliant at everything, but to not stand out too much that he'll be noticed for being different in a bad way.
The amazing part is that a Red evolved the mental and physical capacity/capability to compete with a Gold (obviously not all the physical enhancement stuff which obviously had been done for them too) or at least to undergo the changes that would allow him to. Evolution, over thousands of years, granted a red with some of the same capabilities that perhaps the first Golds had. The Golds over-looked nature and it's come back to bite them in the ass.
Besides that the political intrigue adds another element of interest. I feel I understand this world more than hunger games as it is more centered on families of the 'nobility' if you will. Which is an easily understood fantasy system and makes a lot of sense in comparison to Hunger Games loose government filled by mostly severely unwilling city states who seem to have far too much autonomy in the first place to function as it is suggested. The 'gentry' in this world are firmly ensconced due to their very apparent physical/mental superiority.
The second book it much better as well and I look forward to seeing where the series takes us.
James wrote: "The amazing part is that a Red evolved the mental and physical capacity/capability to compete with a Gold (obviously not all the physical enhancement stuff which obviously had been done for them too) or at least to undergo the changes that would allow him to. Evolution, over thousands of years, granted a red with some of the same capabilities that perhaps the first Golds had. The Golds over-looked nature and it's come back to bite them in the ass."This paragraph tells me you didn't understand the book at all.
Kim wrote: "James wrote: "The amazing part is that a Red evolved the mental and physical capacity/capability to compete with a Gold (obviously not all the physical enhancement stuff which obviously had been do..."Hahaha alrighty almighty one. Enlighten me please :).
I thought the start to the book was great. I understand the comparison to Hunger Games and Divergent, but I also think there's an added depth to Red Rising that's not in those other books. I thought there's also better emotional development within the plot. That said, I'm not sure I understand the difference between the Reds and the Golds. If it's not evolution, then what accounts for the different skin color? Is there something I missed?
Bruce wrote: "That said, I'm not sure I understand the difference between the Reds and the Golds. If it's not evolution, then what accounts for the different skin color? Is there something I missed?"They don't have red skin... The red hair could be down to genetic manipulation or even selective breeding. Also 700 years is barely a drop in the bucket for evolution. There would be some changes due to things like lower gravity, but not on the large scale.
Yeah, sounds like genetic manipulation, or maybe I'm getting ahead in the story, but forced manipulation?
Bruce wrote: "Yeah, sounds like genetic manipulation, or maybe I'm getting ahead in the story, but forced manipulation?"(view spoiler)
To me, when all was said and done, it read like HG for boys with a sop thrown out for girls in that all the boys are hot.
Bruce wrote: "Yeah, sounds like genetic manipulation, or maybe I'm getting ahead in the story, but forced manipulation?"I'm guessing a combination of selective breeding, i.e. everyone who looks/acts a certain way gets classified into a color, plus genetic engineering.
I thought Red Rising transcended typical YA fare, I inhaled it the first time I read it. It was dark and gritty yet incredibly readable.
I wasn't expecting much out of this book, but it surprised me. It's not the best book I've read recently, but I enjoyed it and devoured it quickly. The second half was much better; I sensed an inspiration from Ender's game that I liked.
I was put off by the jacket hype, and the author’s prefatory note (camouflaged as an acknowledgment) that I’m “going to bloodydamn love these books,” not just this first one, but apparently all of them. It makes the author sound naïve, which I suppose many authors are. And he needs to come up with a better YA expletive placeholder than “bloodydamn.” Aren’t most of Carlin’s seven monosyllabic, except for the ones that try to make a general curse more specific (e.g., mf, cs).I’m about halfway in, and it feels like something written to a template, but why Mars? Brown doesn’t seem to understand the logistics of a low-gravity planet. He also doesn’t seem to understand the importance of relative scarcity (enabling social cooperation) how people learn, or the varied ways humans respond to oppression. When Darrow says things like “my voice is withering in its condescension,” he doesn’t feel like a teenager reared in a mining community.
I enjoyed it and did move on to the next book which really steps up the action. I think there was too much hype about the first book and people's expectations were too high.
The further I get into the book, it has more of a feel of Ancient Rome and Greek mythology than YA dystopian. The violence, the disregard of human life, the emphasis on honor over compassion, the tone of the narrative, and even the short choppy sentence structure all speak of Ancient Roman values. In this regard, Brown seems to have done his homework well.
Hmmm. From the vigorous comments above, I think it will be at minimum fun to see how the book settles out for me and whether I end up liking it or not! I started this today, got my copy from the library.
I haven't read the Hunger Games so perhaps this feels fresher to me. I wasn't getting a very simplistic vibe either, sure the easy themes are there on the surface but there are many others I found myself contemplating even after finishing.
Bruce wrote: "The further I get into the book, it has more of a feel of Ancient Rome and Greek mythology than YA dystopian. The violence, the disregard of human life, the emphasis on honor over compassion, the t..."I agree. I loved this book, and the second.
I finished it today. A case can be made the story is derivative, but I think it still should be included as a 'must read' amongst the large pack of popular YA dystopia novels which have been bestsellers for the last decade. I thought it was very exciting and difficult to put down. However, while it is an amazing book about leadership and strategy, it will not please everyone because it emphasizes elements of military games.My personal opinion is that it has successfully synthesized whatever elements and characters people enjoyed in other popular YA military dystopia books, and it boosts every strategic game detail to a higher degree of excitement and professional realism (given it is a science fiction). However, it is a bit more hardcore in tone than some.
It rivals the five-star Ender's Game in the military strategic side of things. However, I think it does fall short of being a literary classic like Card's Ender series (I do not like Card's LGBT politics, but damn it, the Ender series is definitely a Canon Classic).
But 'Red Rising' IS very very good.
saying that RED RISING is simplistic or "too YA" (whatever that means) is like saying LORD OF THE FLIES is a children's book. It is itself a simplistic and knee-jerk reaction to say these types of things about a novel which is so well written, just from a literary perspective, that it puts any similarity to HUNGER GAMES for example to shame.If the sequel is even better then that really will be something.
I just started Reading this book yesterday. Just on the notion that it was a dystopian i was excited to reda it, as it's one of my favourite genres.I've gotten a couple of chapters in and I'm not totally grabbed. I guess it's becuase of all the info-dumping in the beginning so the reader get to know the World and setting of the society. I'll try to keep on and see what happens. I guess the story in itself could be an okayish plotline but my mind Always have to battle the thought of Clans and Groups being set togehter based om some characteristic or whatever, as in Divergent and this book.
But seeing as people here have written that it gets better I'm still holding on to the book.
If it emphasizes elements of military games and strategy games as #33 I'm feeling hopeful, since those kinds of book I usually like.
Brown seems very taken with the name slingBlade (and likes to give all his imaginary weapons concatenated names with a Capital to delineate the second word) but what he’s describing sounds more like a wushu short sword (刀) rather than the Kaiser blade (Sling Blade) featured in the Billy Bob Thornton movie. It is a cool name, but too close to the movie title. While I’m at it, if Brown is trying to show the Gold’s subsumption of the mos maiorum why doesn’t he have the Golds speak Latin once in a while. When they do speak it—say, Pax au Telemanus,—it sounds like Latin corrupted by Greek (which I suppose it is, but not in the way Brown depicts). And he quotes Cicero in English; this is scifi and even if “inter arma enim silent leges” weren’t the title of a DS9 episode, it’s still easy enough to google.
I thought it was a solid entry into its sub-genre.... like a Goodkind novel except science fiction.
I know there's a lot of comparison to "The Hunger Games" (which sadly I have not read yet), but so far (I'm still VERY early in the book) I get a bit of a "Wool" vibe from this one, mainly from the description of different classes living in a deep underground society.
A lot of popular and YA books have been written in the present tense lately. I usually prefer past tense, but the present tense seems to me to work nicely for more action-oriented books like this one. What does everybody else think?
Present tense kind of jarred me at first when I started to see it in books lately, but now I'm ok with it. Good thing it doesn't bother me since it is the fad for YA and other novels. It does ratchet up thrills and chills.What I can't take is the 'you' second person. I got through two books this last year or so using second person, then I gave up books using that. However, since that 'you' bizarrely bothered me, I get it now when people are upset by certain writing experiments and authorial ticks. (I saw someone on GR lose it because of commas incorrectly placed.)
Bruce wrote: "A lot of popular and YA books have been written in the present tense lately. I usually prefer past tense, but the present tense seems to me to work nicely for more action-oriented books like this o..."When present tense is used too obviously to intensify the action, it is transparent and takes me out of the book. So for me, it has the opposite effect. I start thinking, does the author really need to do this? However, I'm sure I'm in the minority. The same goes for all second tense, it gets tiresome.
Some authors can throw both into a book and do it effectively, but when I start making mental notes about it, that's a sign that I'm just not the reader.
Present tense seems to add a sense of urgency or immediacy, so I don’t think it works well with 3rd person narratives. Also, I generally interpret past tense as a narrative reflection, and past perfect as a flashback. Not all languages have the same tenses, so tense assignment can’t be innately “right.”
What I can't take is the 'you' second person. The same goes for all second tense, it gets tiresome.
Yeah, I have trouble with second tense too. It's really hard for me to get past the tense and get into the story.
I finished last night, with a rather mixed final assessment, so I will keep my full thoughts for later.First impressions?
--Our protagonist Darrow seems just a little too over the top in his raging conflicted emotions and angst.
--The overall pacing is fast and engaging, so I stay interested, but it feels on the whole rather rough-edged.
--Pierce’s vernacular creations (slingBlade, duroArmor) are annoying, and the writing seems pretty sophomoric.
--The Roman mythology thing is interesting and creative. I am curious to see where we go with it.
--The whole color-caste thing feels formulaic and unoriginal. I hope we do something more interesting with it.
Edwin wrote, Our protagonist Darrow seems just a little too over the top in his raging conflicted emotions and angst.I do agree with you on that. I found nearly every gold being perfect and beautiful kind of over the top too. But then that kind of plays into the whole Roman myth thing.
So, I finished the book yesterday. My impression of the book shifted as I read a long. The book got much better once all the explaining and building up was done with and the real story and action happened. I thought it was a nice read to see Darrow's growing.
But I have to agree with those abow, Darrow's angst is bit over the top and the perfectionism of the Golds irritating. But then, during the book perhaps you'll notice that the Golds aren't that perfect, after all.
I Think the play on the Gods and mythology is interesting, and it'll be fun to read further to see where it all goes.
And fave character thus far must be the Goblin for me.
Agreed with all above about the over the top angst and emoting. Such a teenager. He's so flighty really. What I disliked about Darrow's character was his indestructibility. Nothing could touch him. This is when he's Red or Gold. The Mary Sue attribution I think is apt. He doesn't have to be like that to star in his own book.
And I agree Emilie, Goblin is awesome.
I thought the book started slowly in my opinion, but loved it once (view spoiler), and the story definitely picked up!I agree there are similarities to other dystopian novels, not to mention a bit of Lord of the Flies in there. I thought the author did a good job of covering a lot of ground in the space of a school year. It was pretty intense at times!
I'm definitely planning to read Golden Son at some point - also hope it gets picked for next year!
Hello!New to this group. Just happened to start reading Red Rising earlier this month, so fortunate timing.
My first thoughts:
1. The beginning is kinda dull and formulaic. Also, I think Darrow is really childish. But then, I guess that's how the author will show that Darrow will grow up throughout the series.
2. Some elements of the story aren't believable to me, especially (view spoiler)
3. I don't know what's going to happen in the end (still about 2/3 done with the book), but how the author names the items (like slingBlade, etc.) is similar with how we code. Perhaps, in the end it turns out they're all in a computer simulation or something ...
4. I think some of the characters are not fleshed out yet, but then the author needs to pick up the pace to keep things interesting. Perhaps, we will explore some of the background stories in the next book (like how the Golds rebelled and conquered the Earth and how some of the leading families came to be powerful).
I enjoyed and went very fast through the first two books. Second book is better. Maybe not the most complex story, but it got me thinking a lot about my loved ones and I am thankful for that experience.
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