Book stats (from Amazon):
- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Del Rey; Reprint edition (July 15 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 034553980X
- ISBN-13: 978-0345539809
Goodreads rating: 4.2/5 stars
Summary (from Amazon):
“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”
“I live for you,” I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”
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 reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds 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 have to be honest. I did not expect to like this book. I love sci-fi and dystopian, but the back of the book just made it seem dull.
I wouldn't say this book is Young Adult, per say, but it is often called that because Darrow, the main character, is 16 years old. Despite his young age, I would say the book tends more toward an adult market. It's certainly suitable for an older teenager, but as a lot of readers start moving into Young Adult in their preteens or perhaps younger, I feel the need to caution people against giving this book to younger teens, although ultimately it is up to them and their parents/guardians if they are mature enough to handle it. That being said, this book doesn't have any graphic sex scenes in it, but it does have some fairly graphic violence. I didn't find it stomach-turning or even particularly gruesome or disturbing beyond a few instances of "okay, that sounds really painful", but again it's up to you what you can handle. It does, however, cover some topics which may be sensitive subjects for some people, such as rape and prostitution. I found that these topics were covered very carefully and inoffensively, but if you are disturbed or offended by those issues, you may want to steer away from this novel or skim over some parts.
Warning: This review will contain no major spoilers, but due to the nature of the plot and the twists that occur, it would not be possible to detail everything I loved about this book without some minor spoilers occurring. You have been warned.
This book is written in first-person from the perspective of 16-year-old Darrow, later Darrow au Augustus. He is a Red (specifically a lowRed), a member of one of the many colonies of oppressed miners living below the surface of Mars under the pretense of making the planet habitable for the rest of humanity. Obviously, Darrow figures out that he has been tricked, and, with the help of a rebel group called the Sons of Ares (I have to admit, I loved the story behind the name, but I love Greek and Roman mythology so maybe I'm biased), he infiltrates Gold society.
I have to say, the worldbuilding in the book is incredible. The universe Pierce Brown creates is amazingly real, and what few large blocks of worldbuilding-information there were were fascinating and didn't pull me out of the story at all. The majority of the information, however, was woven beautifully into the plot, and the slang the characters used is self-explanatory after a few uses and isn't overpowering.
The plot itself was, in my opinion, masterfully executed. It is reminiscent of The Hunger Games and other popular dystopian novels, but despite the similarities, at no point in the story did I feel as if I was rereading something I had already read. I think this novel's plot was one of the freshest dystopian takes I've read in a while. It clearly draws inspiration from other popular dystopian novels, without being a rip-off. Another thing I absolutely loved in this novel was that, near the end, something happens that presents a supposed roadblock for Darrow - perhaps a fatal roadblock. But Brown doesn't use this to present an actual conflict - instead, the character who was accused of being a traitor turns out to be completely loyal. Some readers may find this a deus ex machina way of making Darrow the hero who defeated his enemy without any real effort, but I found it very well done. After all, Brown could have chosen not to have occur this at all, and stretched out the plot more by having Darrow hunt down the enemy, which quickly would have gotten dry and blended in with all the other searching/marching/battling that occurs, rather than feeling like a "final showdown" of sorts. I also admire what I think is foreshadowing on Brown's part - I can't say too much without spoiling, but I think Brown is setting Darrow up for a bit of a conflict of interest, especially where loyalty is concerned.
I find that interesting, dynamic, quirky characters are often what brings a novel from great to incredible, and Red Rising definitely delivered on this front for me. The characters all have complex motivations and often they have shifting loyalties, which I found fascinating. None of them fall into the trap of being "good-then-bad-no-good-no-bad-no-I-was-good-all-along-surprise" or flip-flop back and forth. Darrow himself was an interesting character, and I liked how he was written. What I especially enjoyed was his struggle over his loyalty to his late wife, and his affection for another girl. I thought he was a very realistic character - he was loyal to his wife, but was not the completely virtuous, would never look at someone other than their soulmate type of character that many main characters seem to be. He could also be just as ruthless as many of the other characters and made mistakes, but learned from them as well. However, I have to admit, Sevro was my favourite character. He is unabashedly quirky, even bizarre, and an absolutely fascinating character. There are too many characters that I loved for me to ever be able to mention them all, but Roque, Lea, Fitchner, Eo, Narol were definitely some of my top characters in addition to Sevro and Darrow.
I couldn't help but laugh when I read about Sevro's Howlers - soldiers who charge into battle wearing wolfskins and howling like wolves - because it reminded me of a childhood memory of mine. When I was around the second grade, perhaps a bit older, a friend of mine (I won't name him for the sake of not embarrassing him, but you know who you are if you're reading this) went on a field trip with our class to a sugar bush, where they made maple syrup. Of course, we'd tried quite a bit of maple syrup and had quite a bit of sugar by this point, and - although it is very embarrassing to admit - we were very hyper and for some reason decided it would be a good idea to run through the maple trees howling. Like wolves. *bad poker face* Anyway, the reason I chose to tell this story, was that I noticed Pierce Brown had been asked on Twitter who Sevro was based on, and he replied that he was based on someone he knew as a child, to which someone replied that they hoped Brown and this friend had run around howling like wolves as children, and I thought the opportunity and the connection was too good to pass up.
Overall, I adored this book, and I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy, Golden Son and Morning Star. Golden Son is out now, while, according to Goodreads, Morning Star will be out in January. This book is a fantastic choice for older teenagers and adults alike. Science-fiction and dystopian fans will find connections to their favourite novels, but I don't think anyone would find this book cliché or repetitive.
5/5 stars!
