A review by maggiestraveledbookshelf
Red Rising by Pierce Brown

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

๐Ÿ“– Red Rising
๐Ÿ“š Book One of Red Rising Saga
โœ๐Ÿป Pierce Brown
โ˜‘๏ธ Science Fiction/Dystopian
Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ

โ€œ๐™„ ๐™–๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ง๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™จ๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ก๐™™๐™จ ๐™–๐™›๐™ž๐™ง๐™š. ๐™„ ๐™–๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™๐™–๐™ข๐™ข๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™ง๐™–๐™˜๐™ ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ.โ€

This was REALLY good!! 

Overview:
โ€ขDystopian Society on Mars
โ€ขClass Hierarchy Sorted by Color
โ€ขFight-to-the-Death Competition
โ€ขHidden Identity 

๐——๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ, ๐——๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜„ (๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ) ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐˜๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ, ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—š๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ๐˜€ (๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ). ๐—›๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ณ ๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ผ.

I really enjoyed this!! A solid first book in a new-to-me series. 

Because I donโ€™t often read science fiction or dystopian novels, it took me a while to get hooked, especially with the expansive world building. But I was invested by the 20% marker!

Darrow is the heart of this story. Yes, there are overarching themes of politics, racism, classism, and slavery, but his character brings the necessary touch of realism and relatability. He is both smart and naive, selfless and self-aware, brave and fearful. 

โ€œ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™œ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™—๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ก๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™๐™–๐™ง๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ก๐™™. ๐™Ž๐™๐™–๐™ง๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™™ ๐™—๐™ฎ ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š. ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™™ ๐™—๐™ฎ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š.โ€

Action drives the story at a steady pace. There is tactical planning, heart-stopping failures, and plenty of violence. Battles are never my favorite part of stories, but these had me right in the middle of it.

โ€œ๐™„๐™› ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™‚๐™ค๐™ก๐™™ ๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ, ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ž๐™ง ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™ข.โ€

The character interactions and dynamics were SO interesting here! The changing alliances and evolving bonds kept me on my toes, trying to figure out who would be loyal and what secrets would be revealed. And there was some sassy banter which I LOVED. 

โ€œ๐™’๐™š๐™ก๐™ก, ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ค ๐™—๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™š๐™ซ๐™š ๐™„ ๐™–๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ,โ€ ๐˜พ๐™–๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ช๐™จ ๐™™๐™š๐™˜๐™ก๐™–๐™ง๐™š๐™จ. โ€œ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช, ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™—๐™ง๐™ค๐™ค๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™›๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™, ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง.โ€
โ€œ๐™๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ข ๐™„?โ€ ๐™๐™ค๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™š ๐™–๐™จ๐™ ๐™จ. โ€œ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™?โ€ โ€œ๐™”๐™ค๐™ชโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™›๐™ช๐™ก๐™ก ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ž๐™ฉ,โ€ ๐™„ ๐™จ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ. โ€œ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ.โ€

This book makes me excited to read the rest of the series! Itโ€™s definitely dark and interesting and unexpected, and Iโ€™m ready to see how the world and characters evolve in the next one. 

โ€œ๐™„ ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ก๐™ก ๐™๐™ž๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™…๐™–๐™˜๐™ ๐™–๐™ก ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™–๐™ข๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ. ๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™™๐™ง๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ข๐™š. ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™ง๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ-๐™ค๐™›๐™› ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ง๐™–๐™œ๐™š. ๐™๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ, ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ง๐™–๐™œ๐™š. ๐™„๐™› ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™จ, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ž๐™› ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ž๐™ฉ, ๐™„ ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ข๐™–๐™กโ€”๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š. ๐˜ฝ๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™™๐™š๐™š๐™ฅ๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š. ๐™‡๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š ๐™™๐™ง๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ข๐™š.โ€

Itโ€™s worth noting that I have 65 highlights from this book, which is more than double my average. There are so many well-worded lines that I wanted to keep and potential foreshadowing that I wanted to remember.

Book MVP: Servo. Iykyk.


Overall, I would definitely recommend this book when youโ€™re in the mood for some dystopian world building!


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