Red Rising Paperback – 25 Sept. 2014

Excellent world and character creation, strong narrative and great balance between detailed descriptions and straightforward writing. Great novel, love it!

Red Rising:“I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war.”So I can safely say that all the praise this book gets is well deserved!I always a little bit nervous when reading works of an author I have not read before, and even more so when said books are so widely loved. Not in the sense id be worried about rating it low, because that doesn’t overly bother me, it is that your expectations are set so high that they can often be the ruin of the book. It works both ways, I have watched films and read books that’s have been slated and loved them because I had such low expectations. Thankfully, those who have praised this book are people who I respect the opinions of and having cracking taste!It usually takes me a good chunk of time to fall into the rhythm of a new authors writing, especially when in first person. I have nothing against first person, it’s just that for some unknown reason it takes me longer to get into the grove of the writing. However, this was not an issue at all with this book, I fell into it almost too easily.I have described writing before using words such as clean, simple and sharp. Though, never have I read writing quite so sharp. Pierce does not over embellish his writing, it is straight and to the point, while not seeming inferior or of a lesser standard. There is a quick feeling to his prose, they are swift and effective. That's not to say there isn't description there most definitely is, it just felt less prevalent.There is something surreal about Pierce's writing. At first I thought it more magical, when Darrow was describing the beauties of nature he sees or cities but I realised it was actually a part of Darrow. It emphasises the point that he believed his world was baron and red and that it would never be more, that he would never be more. It was incredibly immersive and truly brought out Darrow’s character more and more.I found Darrow easy to love, I liked him from the start and that didn’t change. It was very interesting to see the two sides of Darrow, not in a two faced way but we as the reader see a truer version of him whereas the other characters of the book see the image he puts forth. There is a duel at one point, one of the opponents says ‘to yield’ while Darrow shouts ‘to the death’ and it just clicked how differently the rest of the characters see him to how we see him. I was really cleverly done, I don't doubt other books do it to some degree but I really saw it in this.“Yielding,” Pax says impatiently. “To the death,” I correct. Really it doesn’t matter. I’m just screwing with them at this point. All I have to do is give the signal. “To yielding,” Mustang confirms.”I felt like I was able to resonate with some of the initial emotions that Darrow experiences. I live in a tiny town, so when I moved to the city for university it was a big shift in gear. I remember I was walking from my university accommodation once and I saw a tractor rolling through Leeds and I nearly peed I was that excited, it is so strange to go from a place you know near everyone and where everyone but the grumps smile at you to a city of drones. A place where you are the strange one for smiling at the person walking past you!“In Lykos, I would have been jostled by men I’d grown up with, run across girls I’d chased and wrestled with as a child. Here, other Colors slam into me and offer not even a faint apology. This is a city, and I do not like it. I feel alone.”Pierce also gave us so many other great characters, Sevro was brilliant! Some had past dealings that would make you think them oily and sneaky, others you would pity and some you hated. Pierce makes you feel every brutal emotions for these characters and more.“Sevro snorts. “What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time, you silky turd? Wanking off in the bushes?”The descriptions in this book are beautifully done, the forest, the baron slums Darrow lived in, the busy cities full of Colours, are all so vivid and creative. I said earlier that Pierces writing, through the eyes of Darrow, seemed surreal and often magical and it does but Pierce also managed to show us an utterly savage world one win which life is not fair, it is not equal and you do not win. The story gradually gets darker and darker, while still holding tight the dream that this all begun for.“On Mars there is not much gravity. So you have to pull the feet to break the neck. They let the loved ones do it.”This book is so fast paced, and it is utterly relentless. I didn’t feel like there was a single point I could put this book down the wheels of the game just kept on churning! Which is probably why I was up until the butt crack of dawn reading this book. So, if you starter reading this book do so early and make sure you have the day free because you will not want to stop.It is a brilliant start to the series and I cannot wait to read the next book, which is already downloaded on my kindle and ready to be read once I have posted this review!“Alter the paradigm.”

An exciting first instalment for what is surely going to be an epic ride! Love Brown’s writing, his characters are amazing, as is the world building. Can’t wait to go straight into book two!

As a fan of dystopia series generally I am surprised that it took me so long to get round to this, but with the third book in the trilogy due out early next year, I thought I'd finally give it a go. I am very glad I did, and will no doubt be polishing off the second book pretty quickly in anticipation of the concluding instalment.It is true to say that the plot to Red Rising isn't going to win any prizes for originality. The first fifth of the book sets the tone, with the protagonist, Darrow, finding out that his arduous life as a 'Red' mining precious minerals to ensure the survival of the human race is not all it seems. Not by a long shot, actually, as it turns out that the 'Reds' are effectively slaves in a society run by 'Golds', who rule from a position of luxury and power at the expense of all others. Darrow finds himself in a position to infiltrate and challenge the 'Golds', and so the main part of the book charts his progress through a very Hunger Games esq artificial scenario whereby he is one of a group of teenagers that must work out not only how to lead their own group, but how to ultimately conquer and win over the other groups that have been placed in the same environment.If the actual blurb of Red Rising threatens to be lost in what is a very competitive genre, the writing ensures that it has the quality to very much stand out. Simply put, this book is written very well indeed, and is driven by the myriad of flawed characters that Brown manages to make both relevant and distinct. The narrative moves quickly but is engaging, with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader hooked. The fact that the 'arena' section involves groups of teenagers rather than just an 'every man for himself situation' results in the plot as a whole having a lot more depth then Hunger Games. It's also significantly more brutal, and whilst it's not quite up to Game of Thrones level in terms of violence, it's certainly a good notch above what you would expect in a YA novel. It's also worth noting that whilst there are sic-fi elements to this, they are very accessible and do not suffer from the over complicated technical language that I find is present in a lot of sci-fi novels.Ultimately as first books in a trilogy go it's difficult to find much better examples in this genre. It really is excellent and I found myself flying through it with little concept of the passage of time, which is always a good sign. Despite having bought numerous books in the Kindle sale whilst I was reading this, I have just bought and moved straight on to the second book in the series. I hope that the trilogy lives up to the standards of this first book, but until I find that out for myself I can only recommend Red Rising as an excellent sci-fi dystopia novel.