Red Rising by Pierce Brown
(Red Rising, Book 1)
Released: January 28, 2014 | Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera
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Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.
But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.
Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
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When writing Red Rising, Pierce Brown put character names in a hat and randomly drew one to decide who would die. One of the most heartbreaking results was Pax au Telemanus, whose death became a major gut punch for readers. Brown has explained that the randomness reflects the brutal reality of war: sometimes, a character’s story ends before it feels finished.
REVIEW
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆
Bloodydamn! 🌹
I’m very much delayed in writing a review for Red Rising, more so considering I made a blog post a long time ago about The Problem with Red Rising, but this is because it’s easier to articulate why you dislike something rather than why you like something.
To take an excerpt from that post:
There may be some debate around this, but I think many fans will agree with me when I say that Red Rising is the worst book in the series. It’s important to understand exactly what people mean when they say, “OMG, I love Red Rising!” They’re not talking about the first book that’s actually titled “Red Rising”, they’re talking about the series as a whole. This is the biggest detriment to Red Rising growing its fanbase. People get drawn in by the hype, decide to give the first book a try, come out the other side disappointed, and are simply told, “it gets better.” But it’s hard to explain just how true that is. What you just read was the series at its absolute lowest, and going into the second book, the quality skyrockets. Whenever I’m recommending Red Rising to someone, I always try to make it clear that the first book is a bit of a grind. It’s all introduction and setup; world building and character development. It’s very reserved in its exploration beyond the hierarchy and caste system, with comparisons to other battle royale themed books being very evident and offering little deviation.
HOWEVER, this lack of “more” isn’t necessarily a bad thing and may be best for the series as a whole. The world-building is almost perfectly balanced with the pacing of the story. You’re told what you need to know when you need to know it, rather than being handed a giant info dump. This drip-feed of information simultaneously leaves no detail neglected, while making it much easier to keep track of everything without getting lost, allowing you to take in and appreciate the depth and expansiveness of the world.
This format is applied to the characters and their development as well. They’re steadily introduced throughout the course of the book and clearly distinguishable from each other. It’s very rare that you need to remind yourself who a character is, they all have something about them, when they enter a scene, you know who they are. As much as you are disgusted by Sevro, you love him. As much as you despise The Jackal, you are fascinated by him.
Lastly, a hard to miss standout aspect of this book is the prose. Oh, the prose! Elegant and beautiful, as if it were written by the Golds themselves, Pierce Brown is a master of monologues, build up, and making you feel the emotion you are meant to be feeling in that moment. I think it would only be appropriate if Red Rising were to ever be printed in calligraphy.
