Jan 29, 2014

Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Title: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: 1.28.2014
Pages: 400
Genre: Adult, Dystopian
Series: Red Rising #1
Source: ARC from BEA

Rating: A+

Summary (from Goodreads):
The war begins...

Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars. Generations of Helldivers have spent their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that one day people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left.

Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. Mars is habitable - and indeed has been inhabited for generations by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. The Golds regard Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.

With the help of a mysterious group of rebels, Darrow disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside.

But the command school is a battlefield. And Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda...

Review:
Did you read The Hunger Games? Forget about it. This is not even a comparison. Red Rising deserves to be in a category all by its self. Nothing can touch this. Nothing can even come close.

While there are extremely mild comparisons to The Hunger Games, Pierce Brown created a dystopian that equals no other.

Set on Mars, with complete solar system colonization, Darrow, lowest caste member of society, a Red, learns of the lies and deceit of his superiors, the Golds, through pain no person should go through. You watch as he grows from a 16 year old boy and becomes a 16 year old man. He discovers the truth and lives to be Eo's dream, in the flesh. You have not read about this level pain, mental and physical, ever before. Forget about anything else.

Darrow, Eo, Mustang, all of them were real people. So much thought, background, and emotion were put into these characters that they were just a page away from being real. You felt and understood right along with them. You squinted when they did, clenched your fists in unison, and held back anger as if it were your own. You triumph along side them, felt the pain, betrayal and the love.  It was hard to remember they were just kids, younger then myself. And that's what makes a great book.

One of my favorite things was the input of Greek mythology. It is crucial to this story as air is to breathing. It gives it an edge, almost an understanding to their behavior and actions.

It is almost hard to boast about this book without spoiling everything. It is a whole new level of dystopian with epic war fantasy, and a touch of sci-fi. The levels of pain, trust, friendship, betrayal have no comparison. The twists leaving you gasping. The pain makes you want to cry.

If you have it, read it. If you can get it, do it. If you don't, find a way! You will not be disappointed in the least.

Buy: Amazon

4 comments:

  1. Oh man. This was high on my list even before I read this review. Now I'm absolutely rabid to get my hands on it!

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  2. Wow! This sounds amazing. I haven't heard much about it (except for a blurb in Entertainment Weekly) but I'm definitely adding this to the TBR!

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  3. Wow sounds pretty good! I like your analogy of the necessity of the mythology.

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  4. So excited to hear that you loved this! I was able to get a finished copy at ALA this past weekend and can't wait to start reading it!!

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