Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars
Rating Breakdown:
- Originality: 4
- Character Development: 5
- Plot: 4.5
Genre based ratings:
- Young Adult: 4.5
- Science Fiction: 4.5
- Dystopia: 4.5
This book has been on my To Reads list for a long time, so I finally ordered myself a copy from Amazon and gave it a go. This book is a quick read.
Darrow was a young driller in the depths of Mars. He was married young, as is most of the society. Then one day, his wife is killed (not a spoiler). This made him angry and he did something that would also cause him to be hanged, only it didn’t work. He was altered by the Sons of Mars into a member of the Gold Society. He went into a special schooling that determines where a Gold fits into society. He is expected by the Sons of Mars to excel and “weasel” his way into the Gold Society in order for the Sons of Mars to come in and cause mass chaos and destruction.
It will be interesting to see how this manifests through the series…I have some inklings about what will happen based on some instances in the book, but you never know I suppose…
In regards to character and character growth, I gave this book 4.5 stars. Darrow was very annoying for me at first, however, I believe he had significant growth during the book. He was very cocky and arrogant for the better part of the story, up until the last few chapters. I found I enjoyed him more overall after he was knocked down a few pegs. (I wont go into more due to spoilers)
I had hope for a lot of the characters in the story, but some of them really turned into villains, so I am looking forward to reading more about them in the series. My hope is that, there is more character development and less of the arrogant ass behavior exhibited by various characters. I felt that Brown really villanized characters who would be a potential alley and I am hoping for some more growth in that area of story and plot development as the time goes on.
In regards to originality, I give this book 4 stars. I think the concept is great, however, seen before, in different formats. Oppressed sector of Mars, lower levels are abused and kept out of the know of what is really going on, one person chosen as the one to bring the system down…catch my drift? Even if it has been used before, it is still a worthwhile and enjoyable read. There is a lot of blood and death in the book, so keep that in mind in the event that is not your thing.
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