Via Justine De fant

Red Rising

Pierce Brown

3 / 5 Stars

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I’m kind of disappointed that I don’t like this book. The fan-base behind this series all seem so fun. To preface, I’m not a sci-fan fan nor do I care much for dystopian literature. I really was bored for most of the novel, and I wasn’t a fan of Brown’s writing style—short, almost harsh sentences stacked in a staccato.

In Red Rising, Darrow is a Red. A Helldiver content living in the lowest division of a societal hierarchy where Golds reign. When his wife is killed for her political act of rebellion (singing a rebel song as is usually the case in dystopian novels), he is rebirthed into a Gold by a group of rebels seeking to subvert the corrupt power system from within.

There’s no doubt that Brown is skilled at world building. The setting he creates is easy to follow and its systems aren’t overly complicated in their execution. It’s really his characters that I take issue with.

Darrow is meant to be an underdog, but for a Red he is so good at being Gold. He gets a near perfect score for his entrance exam into some war (?) institute and his transition from a nobody into a Primus, or leader of his house, seems almost effortless despite coming with its own hurdles.

More than that, his entire rebellion is incited by his grief over his wife’s death, his love for her. And yet, almost directly after he still has it in him to notice how attractive some of the women around him are. This is not to say you can’t find others attractive even while grieving but for Brown to write those scenes into the novel cheapened the believability of his character’s motivations.

I also wasn’t a fan of the rampant sexual violence nor the way its perpetrators were depicted.

SPOILER For instance, one rapist (or almost rapist if you want to argue semantics) is whipped as a form of punishment. Then… forgiven. WHAT? And then there’s the mass rape enacted by Titus, another Red in hiding amongst the Gold. They’re not detailed nor gratuitous rape scenes as they are only alluded to through the screams of the women. But the ease at which Darrow becomes the “hero” in these instances as well as the way he still feels a bond or sympathy with and for these men feels icky to me. END SPOILER

I will say, there are a lot of great twists in the novel and I would like to learn more about the individual factions. I was also left with a lot of questions at the end of the first novel that I am dying to know the answers to… and yet, I’m not in any rush to read the next installment. Perhaps I can convince my friend to spoil the ending for me (Thanks, Ken!)

If you’re a fan of sci-fi, pick this up. But if you’re like me, maybe try the Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin if you haven’t already and you’re looking for something with a kindred feeling.