paperback, hardcover, ebook, audibook, 382 pages

English language

Published June 9, 2014 by Del Rey.

ISBN:
978-0-345-53978-6
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4 stars (152 reviews)

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 …

7 editions

Review of 'Red Rising' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

This might be both my fastest DNF to date, and a surprising one. I always have a soft spot for scifi generally, and am especially compelled by any intersection of labor and any speculative fiction.

Maybe the strongest antipathy I have is toward the protagonist, which I register is something that could just be a matter of personality. Like, I can’t say I was fond of Ignatius J. Reilly, but I was almost always interested in what he was thinking. And an important detail here is that, at least as far as I got, the protagonist is just a kid (a 16-year-old boy) living a nightmare.

But as I read more, I realize more often that I’m always working with a finite and fluctuating pool of charity toward any given book (I tried at least twice before this year to read A Confederacy of Dunces and didn’t have the patience). …

Review of 'Red Rising' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This one was a surprise. I didn't expect to like it as the military school trope has been done to death in both sci-fi and fantasy. However this one grabbed me early on and never let go. It started a bit slow for me but built up to a good story with a fantastic ending.

Review of 'Red Rising' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

  • beginning was a little rough, main character just magically wins everything despite having far fewer advantages than his competitors
    - Main character is really annoying until halfway through the book
    - Gets much better in the second half
    - not going to comment on the rest cause spoilers, but it's really good
    - In summary, first half of the book is not terrible but pretty rough, second half is pretty good.

Review of 'Red Rising' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

If I hadn't promised my spouse I would read this book, I would have quit sometime in part 1 or 2. In the beginning I found everyone unlikable—the main character, Darrow, was annoying; his wife, Eo, was very two-dimensional; and moving on to the surface of Mars I liked Matteo, but that was about it. Through all this, I hated the narrative voice. There was just something about it—petulance, arrogance, then highbrow British boarding school-esque talk—that just grated on my nerves. When Darrow finally got to the Institute, though, things got interesting.

Finally, I saw some character development for people beyond Darrow. Besides that, I enjoy a good war story, with all the betrayals, strategy, shifting alliances, and machinations that go into it. For all that I hated the first couple sections, I do have to admit that Pierce Brown knows how to write a page-turner, and that was very …

Review of 'Red Rising' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Familiar-feeling distopia in which people are acknowledged for their differing talents and abilities but our hero just doesn't fit the neat boxes. And because the system doesn't work for one person, it MUST BE DESTROYED.

There's a little glimpse now and then in which our hero sees that yeah, the Golds are actually pretty excpetional. Not morally superior, sure. But better at everything else.

The love interest is pretty good. And I really enjoyed the line Who does he think he is? Ceasar? Patton? Wiggin? That was pretty great.

Review of 'Red Rising' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

"This is the problem with youth, Darrow. You forget that every generation has thought the same."

"But for my generation it is true." No matter his confidence, I am right.


I knew nothing of the series before starting and was entertained all the way through. I would have liked to spend more time with Darrow in the mines but once Eo shared "her surprise" with Darrow the story went in a different direction entirely and I was fine with it.

As the story progressed I couldn't help shake some similarities with other books but I'll cover that below.

A fair bit of the book was devoted to the Institute. The game consumed the lives of those playing while there was a whole civilization, above and below ground, that was existing and struggling. I wanted to know more about Mars and see what was happening behind the scenes but the story …

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