I have waited a loooong time to share with you the delicacies of this morsel. (I read it October 2013!) Believe me when I say…
Also, I’m part of the RED RISING release day Flash Giveaway! (Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray for the e-ARC!)
Darrow is a miner and a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he digs all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of the planet livable for future generations. Darrow has never seen the sky.Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better future 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 joins a resistance group in order to infiltrate the ruling class and destroy society from within. He will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
Pierce Brown’s first novel, RED RISING (Del Rey Books), debuts January 28, 2014. It is the first instalment in The Red Rising Trilogy.
Pierce Brown spent his childhood building forts and setting traps for his cousins in the woods of six states and the deserts of two. Graduating college in 2010, he fancied the idea of continuing his studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a magical bone in his body. So while trying to make it as a writer, he worked as a manager of social media at a startup tech company, toiled as a peon on the Disney lot at ABC Studios, did his time as an NBC page, and gave sleep deprivation a new meaning during his stint as an aide on a U.S. Senate Campaign.
Now he lives in Los Angeles, where he scribbles tales of spaceships, wizards, ghouls, and most things old or bizarre.
Do you know how HARD it is to write a review for a book that smothered you with brilliance? It’s hard, okay? So I’ll attempt to thump my high regard for this novel into a coherent review. (No promises on being logical, though.) IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE! What do I start with?!
The writing: ohmygosh, slay me, I love writing this raw and vicious. There’s no excess.
The characters? Knocked me down! They were all so well written. They breathed fire and ice and you could feel that from the first hundred pages. I’m not joking, guys. In a FEW WORDS the characters blossomed into 3D people.
Darrow is the narrator. He’s 16-years-old, which drones of the typical dystopian age, but he’s cast in a new light. In his hole in the ground (literally), you live hard and die young. At 16 he’s married to Eo, the love of his life.
I’ll slip in a word about the names too. Very Roman, but I loved how they weren’t typical Roman names. Sure they had Pollux, Julian, and Antonia. But there were brilliant ones like: Cassius, Eo (gosh, that is such a good name), Sevrus, Priam, Pax. Just let me take a moment to appreciate the brilliant names.
The plot?! As a vivacious bookworm, I demand a good plot. I love something that’ll keep me on my toes the whole time. GOSH. I was kept on my toes with this one. I confess, it was complex. Not in a detailed way, more in a everyone-has-Roman-names-and-double-identities way. In all honesty, I don’t think there were enough clues laid for the plot twists. They just socked you in the jaw. Nice, but it could have been refined. But seriously – the ending? I didn’t know what Darrow would do. I had half a foot in each camp and the answer he chose: I died and cheered all at once.
BUT (here comes Miss Raincloud), I do have to note here: this is like a more violent and psychological version of THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins. Every other book that has used elements of THG, I’ve automatically disliked. RED RISING is an exception and it took me a while to decide why. I think it does stand apart, even if it uses a lot of the same elements. There’s Roman names and themes, there’s a type of “arena” where students basically fight-to-survive-and-dominate, and there’s a tipping point (Prim/Eo). Honestly, I think RED RISING scrapes way to close to THG for comfort. It annoyed me, but only slightly. I think RED RISING had a different enough sci-fi feel to escape my frownie face. (I really think YA should lay off the Roman-ness, too. Overdone? How about YES.)
Instead of Districts (THE HUNGER GAMES) or Factions (DIVERGENT), we have colours! Yay! I like colours! I love how the colours wore woven in (Gold being the top dog). I love the slang and culture of each colour. There is so much thought in this book. I never once thought, “Well, that wasn’t thought through well, was it?” Everything was spectacular.
I’m in danger of gushing (too late), so I’ll end with AHHHHHH. I needneedneed the next book. (Is it even legal to write this well???)
Besides working on her Loki impersonations (she practises avidly), Cait has been busy reading. Not writing the millions of book ideas she has. No. That would be funny. But reading is writing research. So is Pinterest. Currently, she’s reading SISTERS RED. (Red is popular in YA books apparently.)
I NEED this book!!! It looks way to good!!!!:D
You do need it. EVERYONE NEEDS IT.
I cannot wait to read this book – it has gotten so many amazing reviews!
It's totally worth reading! 😉 Ohgosh…I LOVE IT.
Definitely putting this on my TBR list! 🙂 The color thing sealed the deal for me. (I'm weird like that).
I thought the colour caste system was really unique, too!! It's definitely different to all the numbers that seems the trend these days. 😉
YES, oh my God with the numbers!!! I'm so tired of characters like Six and Three and Twenty-Two. Four was one thing, but it's getting a little ridiculous.
Damn, entered not realising this was for US residents only. Awesome giveaway, but not keen on moving to the US to accept my prize should I win :)Loved the review. It's sounds like a gladiator style Hunger Games.
Eh, I know how you feel. 🙁 I feel kind of weird doing USA only giveaways since I'm, um, Australian. It's more gladiator than Hunger Games, but yes, it's definitely another Arena style thing. Usually that ticks me off…but we all have our exceptions, right? 😉
I WANT THIS BOOK, SO BAD! I think I may need to order myself this… even if I did promise myself I wouldn't buy any more books in January! Great review 🙂
IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH READING. You know, promises are great and all…but shhh! Just, you know, sneak around yourself and definitely get this. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission…? Or something like that.
hahahahhahah "slay me", you girl, are hilarious. I can't decide whether I'm starting this one or Cruel Beauty first aaahhhh #bookwormproblems. I've heard elsewhere this is better than THG too, EEEK Great review! And by great review I mean thanks for my tom hiddleston fix 😉
ACK. I HEAR YOU. That is the top bookworm problem of my life. I spend a LOT of time deciding which to read next (I could probably read more if I picked faster, eh??! XD) THG still has a very special and top spot in my heart. But I really liked this one. :)You are most welcome for your Tom Hiddleston fix. I try, I do try.
Okay, I SO want to read this one now. You have no idea how much I love my dystopia and this one sounds like a winner in every way. I'm not sure I totally mine it being like THG because hey, no idea is truly original. Great review!
(Psst. Just between you and me? Yes, you do need this.) I LOVE my dystopias too! Oh gosh, I read, like 30 last year. I love them so much.
I am seemingly one of the few who was underwhelmed by this book. I LOVED the beginning, but then the book, which I thought would be a great spy/revolution story, turned into a step by step guide for military strategy. I just didn't get it. But I'm glad you liked it. :)Stephanie @ Inspiring Insomnia
It definitely went in a direction I wasn't expecting…I think it might have suffered a tiny itty bitty bit from middle-of-book-syndrome, but I'm willing to overlook that because I LOVED it. 😉
I don't think I've seen a single negative thing said about this book, other than that it's violent, and that's not always a bad thing. My coblogger LOVED this book like I don't think she's ever loved a book before, so I'm trying to make time for it so I can find out why. Your review only makes me want to find time that much sooner. 🙂
Heh, well, YES, it is very violent. (So I guess it's not for the squeamish?) I've seen a few people who reeeally didn't like it. I think it's an absolutely LOVE or HATE book.