Red Rising (April 2023) Buddy Read Discussion - Edith & Melissa

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Welcome to the Red Rising Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on April 1st and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 04/01
April 1st: Chapters 1-6
April 2nd: Chapters 7-12

Week of 04/03
April 3rd: Chapters 13-18
April 4th: Chapters 19-23
April 5th: Chapters 24-28
April 6th: Chapters 29-33
April 7th: Chapters 34-38
April 8th: Chapters 39-44

PARTICIPANTS
~ Edith
~ Melissa

[Melissa]

my copy should arrive on Sunday!! glad to read this one! :)

[Edith, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I'm excited as well, I've been eyeing this one for a long time now!

[Noran]

I'm in as well!

[Edith, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Awesome, the more the merrier!

[Shanon]

I am in as well! I’ll try my best to keep up with the recommended schedule.

[Edith, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Glad to have you all! I started about a day early, mostly because I tend to fall behind, so here are my thoughts so far:

Ch. 1 &2 (view spoiler)[ Chapter one starts off with a bang. If not with the main character’s personal loss, it’s with the current situation of the story and Darrow’s willingness to take control of winning the Laurel. I was intrigued by the jargon used throughout the chapters and it left me wanting more from the story. A good start nonetheless. (hide spoiler)]

Ch. 3&4 (view spoiler)[ Don’t like the MineMagistrate and his snobbish attitude. Have a feeling he will come into play later on in this story. And of course, it’s an unfair win from the Gamma’s part. Somehow the garden scene brought knots into my stomach, and the end of the chapter proved me right 😭 (hide spoiler)]

Ch. 5&6 (view spoiler)[ So much happens! I truly hope Darrow learned the meaning of martyr by the end of the chapters. I didn’t expect the main characters to just…poof. Kinda reminiscent of Game of Thrones to me. I was honestly hoping to get a lot more from Eo too. She had such a fiery spirit. Hoping there’s some way to come back from all that 😬 (hide spoiler)]

So far I’m liking the story, though not super impressed with the writing lol. Can’t wait to hear everyone’s thoughts! :)

[Shanon]

Caught up with todays reading and omg! I was not expecting what happened at the end of chapter 6. I had to go back and reread thinking I missed something. Definitely starting off fast and I’m looking forward to see where it goes from here.

[Melissa]

wow, so far the first 5 chapters are quite engaging! I agree with the simplified writing style, the plot works well so far. reminds me of hunger games or divergent. I didn't read game of thrones....but yeah, quite engaging of a story. will read more tonite and hopefully catch up to everyone. :)

[Shanon]

I’m up to chapter 27 now. It does have hunger games and also Ender’s game vibes. Brutal, war games and strategy. I look forward to reading but also nervous because I’m worried what’s going to happen next.

[Edith, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I haven't caught up to the schedule yet (surprise surprise lol) but I'm also really liking it. I agree, it gives off Hunger games vibes off for sure. Also hoping to catch up soon though!

[Shanon]

So it definitely picks up and I couldn’t stick to the schedule lol I’ve finished already. Whenever I read these types of books I always think I would never be that clever as these characters. Lots of twists and things you expect but not in the way you expect it. I gave it a 4 but maybe more like 3.5-3.75. Still thinking on it. But I hear the series only gets better from here!

[Edith, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

It's all good! I knew I was going to fall behind eventually lol, but I'm liking it so far as well. It's mostly on a friend's recommendation that I decided to pick it up but he also said that the series gets better from here on out, so I'm excited to see how it turns out.

(view spoiler)[ So I'm on chapter 21, Darrow has just finished the passage and he is "grieving" for Julian. It seemed obvious to me in which direction the author was headed once they were all shepherded to the institute together, but I was still shocked nonetheless when Fitchner paired the two together. I'm curious to see how Cassius will take it when he finds out it was Darrow though, because there is NO WAY in hell that Cassius will forgive Darrow for lying to him about his brother's death. (hide spoiler)]

[Edith, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Ch. 23 (view spoiler)[ Ugh! Okay so I'm mad because everyone is supposed to conquer other houses but effing DARROW had to go and pick a fight with Vixus and Titus!!! He had ONE job! Any chances of getting the tribes unified are gone now, which they desperately need, and I'm lowkey scared that something is going to happen to Darrow now. Omg I'm sooo frustrated lol (hide spoiler)]

[Edith, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Ch. 24-33 (view spoiler)[ How in the gorydamn hell have I not read this book before? So much has happened! Most notably, Lea and Roque’s part…sucks that Darrow has had to reluctantly sacrifice their friendships in order to preserve his overall mission—especially since he’s actually grown close to them and mostly thinks like a gold now. He reminds me a lot of Reiner from Attack on Titan (in case you guys have watched it). Anyway, have finally gotten to the part where Cassius has found out about Julian and suffered the consequences(….even though he didn’t have a choice 🙄) Not sure what to think about it yet though. (hide spoiler)]

Sorry for my ramblings, it just seems that I finally have time to really plow through the book 😂

[Shanon]

Ok so now I can right more since the time line is up 😆 I will try to use spoiler tags anyway hopefully I figured it out.

(view spoiler)[ OmG so many betrayals in this book. I was so anxious for Darrow all the time wondering who was going to betray him next. And when we found out about Mustang 😧😧. I’m so glad it worked out for him.

I was also thinking is the colors thing a statement about our society? How certain races/ethnicities are treated a certain way? Also made me think about the structure of their civilization and how it was all rigged regardless of what you did, the “winners” and “losers” were already chosen. (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Edith, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

You know, now that you mention it, it does make sense that it would be some kind of statement geared towards that. Definitely wouldn’t put it past the author, given the very heavy political messages peppered through the book.

(view spoiler)[ I just finished it and my only gripe is that the ending felt very anticlimactic for me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that the relationship with Mustang didn’t take much damage but I do kind of wish there would’ve been some kind of struggle—especially since it kept building up throughout the book. Jackal’s loss just felt too easy in my opinion lol. Other than that though….great book! I really really enjoyed it, more so than I thought I would. Didn’t know if I was going to end up continuing the series at first, but after the ending, I definitely will be 😂 (hide spoiler)]

Thanks for reading it with me!