
Darrow mines the minerals deep below the surface of Mars. He is a Red, a race sent ahead to make the planet inhabitable for the rest of mankind. Or that is what he believes. When the ruling class take away the one thing he loves most, he sacrifices himself, though it turns out not in the way he was expecting. For the rebels have plans for him.
Itβs always with some trepidation that I pick up a book thatβs already loved by so many. I should really trust my spidey-sense, as Red Rising didnβt hit the spot (and I doubt I would have read it if not for the free copy I got at Nine Worlds). For me, it loses its way amongst the war games, not something I am particularly enamoured with in the first place. Has Darrow himself forgotten his purpose? Itβs hinted at, at times. It is brutal, something that I’m sure many find refreshing in young adult.
Red Rising has borrowed concepts from a lot of different sources. Now, Iβm quite aware that those sources my brain jumped to were not necessarily original themselves, but with some of them being such successful franchises, I do wonder if it was a book written specifically to appeal to their fans. Apart from the obvious, the battlefields reminded me so much of Dan Simmonsβ Ilium; with the gods that are not gods sneaking down to help their favourites with technology and intelligence.
I think the use of the Roman names for the gods was a bit distracting for my brain in particular. I am so familiar with the Greek names that I kept trying to match them up. And then trying to analyse the houses, which I donβt think had too much in common with their godsβ traits after all. Overall, thereβs a lot going on and the aspects of the plot I was most interested in didnβt get the focus I wanted.
Are we meant to like the Golds by the end of the book? Is the message really that colour doesnβt define these people and there is good and bad in every race? Because the start of the book is all about how Darrow has a chance to bring the Golds down. How they are oppressing his people and represent all that is wrong with the society. Instead, the bulk of the story is about his friendships and allies with the Golds at the institute, which donβt come across as faked. Perhaps this is setting up for some complex decisions later on in the series. Iβm starting to crave standalone novels more and more these days, or at least reading trilogies when theyβre compete.
The back story was far too wishy-washy for my liking. The tale of how earth colonised the planets with genetically engineered humans sounds like a good one to me. But itβs all a bit rushed, weβre not expected to question the eugenics behind all these different βcoloursβ. Iβd rather the back story is left to the imagination if itβs going to be that vague.
Iβve been told Golden Son is better but Iβm not sure I care enough about these characters to give it a second chanceβ¦ I do like the world though, so I wonβt say I wonβt read it, just definitely not straight away.
Goodreads | Amazon | Waterstones | Hive
Also reviewed @ Uncorked Thoughts | For Winter Nights
Book Source: Con Freebie
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I completely agree with most of what you've written! I didn't dislike the book in any way, but I never really got carried away like so many other seem to have been – I almost feel like there was 2 different books rolled into one, and personally, I didn't really care all that much about the war games.
"Iβve been told Golden Son is better but Iβm not sure I care enough about these characters to give it a second chanceβ¦ I do like the world though, so I wonβt say I wonβt read it, just definitely not straight away." – My exact sentiments π
Glad it's not just me!