Book Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war

I went into this book with the wrong expectations, but it soon turned out to be so much better!

Book Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Rating:


Title & Author: Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Genre: Science-Fiction, Dystopia
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Series: Red Rising Saga
Publisher: Del Rey

Synopsis

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 spends his life willingly, knowing 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 already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks 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.

I give Red Rising by Pierce Brown four out of five hearts. I thought Red Rising was a epic fantasy, which made me feel a bit weird when I figured out it was actually set in space. But I really liked it after a couple of chapters.

Darrow is a great character. He does so much to try and make a better life for the other Reds and he really goes for the long haul. During this novel he fights himself through the entrance exam of the school of Golds. Darrow has a lot of feelings and you can understand why he has them. He loves his wife and motivates him a lot. The unfairness of the world he lives in is very believable and when she died, he decides to go against all the rules to show them.

I loved Mustang, she is cool and awesome. She is fierce. She doesn’t like the system and stands behind Darrow because of it. She is such a great friend for him.

The Jackal was insane and he creeps the hell out of me.

Pierce spends a lot of time world building to make this world intense and believable. It is great and nearly reaches that point that it is too much, but it doesn’t fall of the side of the scale. At some point I did wonder whether this is actually another Hunger Games story, but it soon left that idea behind and it came to stand on its own. The world made me feel outraged at the unfairness and

Overall I loved it, because it was such a quick read and exciting. It was so great. It’s dark, brutal and unexpected. I look forward to reading the other novels in this series.

Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.

For now, let books enrich your life!

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