I think Red Rising by Pierce Brown was just the book I was looking for. You see, some resent readings have felt like a real chore to get through. The world can be great, a character can be interesting, the plot can be intriguing, and yet nothing felt it deserved the title “page turner”. I have been in search for a new book that lets me forget I am sitting in the living room in the real world.
That book is Red Rising. A book that is thrilling and keeps my interest throughout. There is something so easy and fun about reading this book and following along on Darrows journey. Where to start…
The books pacing is fast. I like that. In the first few chapters I worried that Pierce would not flesh out his characters enough for me to care from them. I am not sure at what point in his chapters he won me over, but he did and from that point forward I no longer felt the pacing was too fast and instead felt I was jumping onto an incredible adventure.
The character themes really gripped me. Darrow is such an interesting main protagonist who struggles recognizing where his own motivations are guiding him and where he is driven by a revenge story. It also adds a layer of tension when Darrow makes a new friend in his journey, and we as readers know he will inevitably have to betray them. He is a great protagonist I had fun reading. His responses and emotions to unexpected situations keep the story tense, and his rage and hatred for the rulers of his world was so consuming I felt angry in my own home while sipping a coffee.
I was skeptical of the world building before reading the book. I had heard that this was a futuristic society where people have been separated by colours and that our main character is from the lowest class. My mind immediately wandered to the likes of Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent and whatever else I read back in school. As an adult now, that description of the Red Rising society almost lost me before I started reading. So here is my message to you, potential reader. DON’T GET DISCOURAGED. In my opinion, the Red Rising series is only similar to YA dystopian books on paper. In reality it is a gruesome and brutal space opera with flawed and conflicted characters. The world surrounding the story sounds amazing, being on a terraformed Mars with everything from rural and grubby mines to lavish and exquisite cities in a man-made utopia.
To me this book was fantastic!
Rating: 8/10