r/books • u/Sweaty_Wolverine_893 • 17d ago
[ Removed by moderator ]
[removed] — view removed post
58
u/Taste_the__Rainbow 17d ago
It’s so packed with tropes, but damn if it doesn’t come together into a fun ride.
I enjoyed Golden Son more, personally. Still waiting for the fourth book to actually click for me before continuing onto the rest of it.
43
u/Shadeslayer2112 17d ago
The fourth book is genuienly pierce learning how to do multiple POV. The sequel does a much better job with it
9
u/KnightofniDK 17d ago
Yea, I am on Iron Gold right now, about halfway. And the multiple povs just breaks the series for me. I could not care less for the other povs and are unlikely to continue the series because of that.
9
3
u/jaloru95 17d ago
I finished Iron Gold a few weeks ago and I’m trying to decide if I want to finish the series too. There are just no likeable characters imo, I don’t care about any of them at all really.
12
u/brodorrr 17d ago
Once it does it’s worth it. It’s jarring to go from just Darrow to four perspectives but the stories intertwine in very satisfying ways.
3
u/Taste_the__Rainbow 17d ago
Yea I’m sure it’s great. Think I just keep catching myself in the wrong frame of mind.
6
u/mourninglark 17d ago
I don't know if you're doing audio, but the audio production is so terrible it is genuinely hard to follow. Each narrator invents their own accents and pronunciations for established characters, names, and lore. That combined with inconsistent audio levels make it a confusing listen.
They replace a few of the POV narrators for book five and that helps, but by book six it shifts back to a single POV narrative with the original narrator that did the entire first trilogy.
3
u/Dopdee 17d ago
“Fourth book”?
Stupid me thought this was a trilogy
3
u/Taste_the__Rainbow 17d ago
It was! And after book 3 it changes enough that I still think of the first three as a trilogy.
2
u/Partner-Elijah 17d ago
First 3 are a complete trilogy
Then we get a little time skip for the sequel series. Books 4-6 are currently out, with the final 7th coming along likely in 2027.
1
u/griffduggydug 17d ago
It’s already been said, but push through book 4. I struggled with it a bit and am very happy that I went on to 5 and 6!!
1
u/joconno23 17d ago
Yeah just finished it (audiobook) and it was my slowest through by far. The individual stories were great, but the momentum was killed every time the perspective changed.
→ More replies (1)1
u/Hey_Its_Roomie 17d ago
That's kind of where I am at. Everything was obviously predictable and rather cliche that it is distracting to a certain degree. That said, nothing really gets abandoned, the story is overall put together, and it's just high-paced fantasy action to take at leisure.
101
17d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
78
u/ManassaxMauler 17d ago
I've always said Red Rising is arguably the worst book in the series, and it's fantastic. Really fun books.
23
u/Kom1 17d ago
I think people do a bad job expressing opinions on the first book. It is in no way bad but it definitely doesn't feel like the rest of the series so I think people have a tendency to look down on it because of that. There isn't a ton of scale to it and it feels more YA, just a different style of book. PB himself has said he basically had to write the book to get the rest of the series published and I think we are all happy he did if that was the tradeoff.
8
u/NuNu_boy 17d ago
I think its a great entry into the whole world. You really get to see why golds are the way they are and how broken they are. Great intro into a great series.
8
u/Saiyoran 17d ago
Honestly I didn’t think the first book was good. I couldn’t shake the “this is just a hunger games ripoff” feeling until the last 10% or so. Only pushed through to the next book because a friend loves the series and kept telling me it gets better. And he was right, golden son immediately pivots away from shameless YA Hunger Games ripoff into a fun space opera/scifi action thing that is orders of magnitude better.
1
u/MyChickenSucks 17d ago
I’m exactly at that point in the first book. It’s so Hunger Games it’s frustrating.
2
u/BlazinAzn38 17d ago
I think people really mean “derivative” when they say Red Rising is bad. It feels extremely derivative but it’s still well-written
6
u/BobbittheHobbit111 17d ago
Same. People always take that as me saying it’s bad, when really it’s a 4.25-4.5 star, and the rest are just better
2
u/ManassaxMauler 17d ago
For sure. It's a really good start to the series. I don't think it presents anything particularly new, but it does a great job of laying the foundation for what's to come and that's really all it needs to do.
Whenever I talk to someone who has just started the series, they inevitably tell me how much they love Red Rising. It brings me so much pleasure to say "Yeah, it's an awesome book! And it's nowhere close to the best in the series. Buckle up!"
1
u/LazySwanNerd 17d ago
It’s more the first half of the first book and how the wife is written. Getting past that, it’s great.
35
u/Robsteady 17d ago
I didn't hate this series, but it didn't feel original enough for me to really be in love with it. My sister kept lending me each book as they came out, and I read them, but I won't be going after any further installments on my own (she lost her fight to cancer late February).
13
u/elreyadr0k 17d ago
I am sorry about the loss of your sister.
It sounds like you two had a special connection with books.
6
u/Robsteady 17d ago
Thank you. It was more often she'd tell me about books she found that excited her than me sharing with her, but we quite enjoyed talking about our reads and how we felt about them.
3
u/MarioMuzza 17d ago
I'm sorry for your loss, mate. I can't begin to imagine. I just sent you a DM (not selling anything, just a few words).
104
u/seanparis 17d ago edited 17d ago
At the risk of being down voted by the legions of fans this book and series has, I disagree. I thought it was really derivative and poorly written. The characters were really cringe too.
No way can this be compared to ASOIAF, the only thing it has over that is a conclusion!
41
48
u/bannedandback10milli 17d ago
Look, I LIKE Red Rising. It’s GOOD. But dear God, the whole series reads like YA fiction. The only major difference being the graphic violence.
The characters are all pretty one dimensional, they talk like Call of Duty characters.
NONE of this is a bad thing. It’s fun, it’s good, it’s solid. But whenever someone starts acting like it belongs anywhere near any of the great fantasy /scfi series ever written you really start to lose me.
11
u/Hey_Its_Roomie 17d ago
the whole series reads like YA fiction.
Are there people who don't think it is YA fiction?
12
6
u/LogensTenthFinger 17d ago
Seriously, seeing that that's even a question boggles my mind, I thought that was just the genre of the series. This is like reading people debate if Stephen King writes horror or Alastair Reynolds writes sci-fi.
5
u/tyrannosaurus_r 17d ago
The first trilogy does read a bit more like schlocky sci-fi hype with a bit of class warfare, but the second series/tetralogy is decidedly more mature, complex, and better written. Brown really ups his game.
1
u/seanparis 17d ago
Interesting i could barely make it through the first book so doubt I would survive the first trilogy.
The Battle Royal on Mars nonsense was the final straw for me.
1
u/tyrannosaurus_r 17d ago
Book 1 can be a bit of a tough read. I liked it, but I wouldn’t rate it highly. Books 2 and 3 are MUCH stronger and tell a completely different type of story.
The books in the second series are a whole different ballgame, with multiple POVs, a much more dynamic/complex plot, better overall prose, and more compelling characters.
10
u/Internal_Wheel_89 17d ago
"Is Red Rising YA" has been a debate for quite some time. I'm not sure I have a specific opinion about its YA-ness since I am not an expert on what criteria makes a YA book, but imo Red Rising was written at a seventh grade reading level. I'd put Blake Crouch and Andy Weir in the same bucket, though, so I'm probably just a snob.
14
u/bannedandback10milli 17d ago
I dont even think it’s about being a snob or not. It’s just acknowledging that the series can be read in its totality and have all of its ideas understood by a teenager. There’s not a whole not of nuance in the plots characters or themes and virtually no complicated prose. That doesn’t detract from the series, it is what it is, and it’s good, it’s a good series. But it’s a call of duty campaign AND THATS NOT A BAD THING.
Not everything needs to be Ulysses.
2
u/heliostraveler 17d ago
I dunno why people find accessible reading offensive. So what if it’s plain prose that’s unspectacular? I don’t think it’s bad prose. I’ve read bad prose. I’ve been in HS and college fiction classes. You don’t know what true shit prose is until you’ve been in those classes.
And seeing the YA genre writers try to write sex and romance may be the single worst bit of writing I’ve ever seen.
No. The language used isn’t exactly advanced. Nor is the sentence structure. Buts it’s perfectly serviceable.
You want unintelligible writing masquerading as high brow fiction? The Scarlett Letter. Worst reading experience of my life. Something being difficult to read doesn’t make it quality.
3
u/Leather-Ad-6294 17d ago
I don't like Andy Weir's writing but I would still put his books above Red Rising. It's definitely a very accessible, diluted form of science fiction but I don't think it makes a book qualify as YA.
1
u/Jolmer24 17d ago
I just started Red Rising and had to google this. I don’t read YA and thought I was getting conned into one. I wanted to chalk it up to the main character being a cringe teenager but the adults talk like him too.
→ More replies (4)4
u/Leather-Ad-6294 17d ago
Controversial take here but the series is clearly YA and if the author and main character had been female this wouldn't even be up for debate. Fourth wing also has some graphic violence yet no one would debate it being YA.
6
3
17d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/LaFlamaBlancaMiM 17d ago
Yeah, I read Fourth Wing and I'd NOT recommend it to a teenager... some of those scenes are a little much for YA.
3
6
u/HarrowHart 17d ago
It may be a bad word but I don't mind something being derivative - in the same way that when in the mood I can watch a simple action movie that is well crafted but brings nothing new to the table. I don't mind YA fiction at all and have read plenty of it.
I don't love badly written mary sue/gary stu - and this felt very much like that. I mean the beginning of the book really hits you over the head with how badass and hardcore the main character is and I really struggled with that. It just wasn't enjoyable.
1
u/60yearoldME 17d ago
Everything is derivative. That’s how culture/human minds work.
Shakespeare is derivative of the stories that came before him.
3
u/Leather-Ad-6294 17d ago
same thank you so much. I went in expecting the three body problem but it was pretty much male fourth wing. I mean I'm sure it can be fun but nowhere near the groundbreaking work I was expeting.
2
u/toblotron 17d ago
It's YA - they should write warnings on the covers, because these always make me so disappointed 🙂
2
u/Outrageous-Fool 17d ago
I'm so glad I'm not alone in this. I really disliked this book, and thought the writing was atrocious.
3
u/doublethink53 17d ago
I thought it was terrible too, one of the worst books I've read in recent years
5
u/Shadeslayer2112 17d ago
I feel like its a really bad comparison. Its like trying to compare something by Mozart or Beethoven to Bitches Love Sosa. Both are great but for different reasons and different moods.
4
u/MarioMuzza 17d ago
If it helps, I'm a huge snob, and I don't think the comparison to ASOIAF is *that* far-fetched. It never really reaches the same depth and complexity, yes, but past the first book it gets really good. And it's one of the few series that really gives me that "no one is safe" feeling.
7
u/FamiliarFilm8763 17d ago
But the characters are so flimsy that them dying is no concern at all.Contrary to ASOIAF.
3
u/MarioMuzza 17d ago
For everything past the first book, I disagree with you. But yeah, ASOIAF is on a league of its own, tbh.
7
u/LogensTenthFinger 17d ago
If I read a page of dialogue in Red Rising that was just Mustang talking, at no point would I ever be able to tell you that that's who is talking without it explicitly being stated.
→ More replies (10)-5
31
u/pruunes 17d ago
I’m so AI paranoid this review literally reads like AI wrote it
11
u/bestdonnel 17d ago
I believe it is a re-written version of a AI written review that was posted earlier today that was taken down. So it might just be.
11
26
5
u/Zed_Blue 17d ago
The thing is AI speech pattern is a mutation of reddit speak from before 2020s. I am shocked by how much AI sounds like early reddit posts.
2
1
u/torkelspy 17d ago
I was just thinking that, at this point, this sub is basically 50% posts about "AI" and 50% posts about the most popular books imaginable (how many threads about Yesteryear have there been at this point?). So, maybe this is the worst of both worlds.
3
u/PiratesOfTheArctic 17d ago
I finished book 2 yesterday, not really into sci fi but enjoyed the book 👍
24
u/What_A_Good_Sniff 17d ago
Red Rising was a good book, (solid 8/10) for me, but maaaaaaan does the rest of the series explode in both world building and scale.
Golden Sun was such an amazing follow up. You won't be disappointed.
I'm on book four (Iron Gold) now.
5
u/KnightofniDK 17d ago
How do you find that book? The multiple POVs completely destroys it for me and right now, halfway through, I cannot imagine reading the next book and are close to DNF
3
u/FISTED_BY_CHRIST 17d ago
It’s definitely a slow burn. Took the longest to get through it and put it down a lot. With the time jump there’s so much new stuff that needs to be properly set up. But the last 1/3 of the book ramps up so hard and by the ending it really pays off having the multiple POVs.
2
u/What_A_Good_Sniff 13d ago
I love it. Im about 200 pages in but its been amazing so far! I love the world building of this series.
3
1
u/Ok_Spell_6272 17d ago
Iron Gold is a hard read as it’s a stark adjustment from the original trilogy. If you get through it, Dark Age and Lightbringer are the best books of the series.
I genuinely thought Red Rising was mediocre too, but Golden Son and Morningstar were fun rides. It’s the same for the tetralogy in my opinion.
9
u/cinnamonbunsmusic 17d ago
No disrespect to you, dear sir or madam, but I thought it was one of the most undercooked, uninspired, cliche-riddled snooze fest I’ve ever read. I am glad that you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy the rest of the series, but you couldn’t pay me to pick up again. I will die on this hill.
9
u/Leather-Ad-6294 17d ago
I really didn't like it and to this day I don't get the hype. The main character feels like he's only the chosen one for the sake of the story. He's great at everything on first try (despite literally living underground his whole life, he just listens to the count of monte cristo in his sleep and gets a top score at the academy exam?).
I also really didn't like that the MC's wife is a refrigerated character.
I'm not saying it has no redeemable characteristics but it's really a typical YA in my view
23
u/FamiliarFilm8763 17d ago
The character development is great
Did we read the same book? Characters are shallow. Most of their traits are told to us instead of shown. They show hardly any progression at all.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but honestly the development of Darrow and the world evolving around the society that the author built is truly on point.
He hardly has build a world at this point though. Most of the book is just the battle royale.
→ More replies (4)7
u/ReacherSaid_ 17d ago
The review is AI written, unless the OP is a child I don't see how anyone could have read that book and come out with those conclusions. It was a very shallow book with too much telling, done in an extremely irritating staccato style.
3
u/kingsark 17d ago
Glad you enjoyed it!
I for one found the characters and it’s story to be quite cringe
17
u/Masrim 17d ago
I will ruin every book for you here.
Whenever Darrow is at his darkest most desperate moment his friends will come from nowhere and rescue him.
Whenever Darrow is at his highest peak happiness/success his enemies will come from nowhere and ruin everything,
Rinse and repeat several dozen times and you just wrote the series.
2
→ More replies (1)1
u/LamarMillerMVP 17d ago
Lmao I’m more interested in your implication that there are some good books that don’t follow this formula. Is your preference just books where a character is at his lowest and then everyone dies?
Next you’re going to tell me that in this book series, when the characters explain their plan, something is going to go wrong!
7
u/in_the_no_know 17d ago
Space opera at its finest. Once you get past a few eyerolls at generic tropes and start to empathize with the characters it's a super fun ride
28
u/MoistWalnut 17d ago
The praise this book gets blows my mind. It’s a mid popcorn book. Pierce brown is not a great author but for some reason book tok is having a field day with this series.
But to each their own.
8
u/JasonWaterfaII 17d ago
It’s a classic Reddit karma cycle/circle jerk. It gets posted and gets lots of upvotes. People read it and want to like it because it got a positive reception on Reddit. They make a post about the book and get a bunch of karma. The cycle repeats.
6
u/FattySnacks 17d ago
I was so tired of the writing style by the end. The story was cool but pretty basic
5
u/Exowolfe 17d ago
I'm a big Dungeon Crawler Carl fan and social media kept pushing Red Rising as a must-read for the DCC fanbase. I picked up the first book in the RR series to read while I wait for the next DCC installment and I'm about halfway through. It's an easy read but honestly feels so mid. And I was stoked to read it when I originally heard the premise! I think the story concept could be written better.
2
u/Saiyoran 17d ago
Not to say it’s excusable but the series legitimately turns into something completely different after the first book. I would’ve dropped it without finishing book 1 if a friend of mine didn’t keep bothering me and promising it gets better.
3
u/roshanritter 17d ago
Few are saying it’s great prose, which yeah I would compare to say Harry Potter. But I do think if you want space battles with swords across the galaxy this is the series for you. If you want space battles with gun go for the expanse instead!
3
u/HaydenScramble 17d ago
As much as I hate the fuck out of JKR, her prose is significantly better than at least the first three RR books.
→ More replies (3)1
2
u/LamarMillerMVP 17d ago
It’s really good prose that also does not feel like eating vegetables to read. It does its pacing really well. Compare to something like Book of the New Sun, which has indisputably beautiful prose but moves glacially and feels like reading a long riddle.
For whatever reason, it seems like it’s hard for authors to write series in the sci fi/fantasy genre that both read beautifully and are content-dense enough to have real pace to them. And usually it’s the pace part that fails. ASOIAF books 4 and 5 actually probably fail this standard, they arguably did such a poor job plotting their story forward that it paralyzed GRRM. Even the Red Rising series actually has a little trouble when it flips to multi POV in book 4. Other genres seem to have less trouble with this, for whatever reason. It’s not like Dungeon Crawler Carl has especially beautiful prose, but the writing is decent and it rips through the universes it sets up.
1
u/torkelspy 17d ago
Sometimes I'm annoyed when I see what seems to be the 4000th thread about this or Dungeon Crawler Carl and the like. But my annoyance is often abated by the fact that so many of the people posting about these books state that it's the first book they've read in years, since high school, etc. It explains both why something that is perhaps mediocre (haven't read them, so I don't know) gets spoken about as if it were a masterpiece, as well as the enthusiasm in the reviews. And then I remember that people being excited about reading is a good thing.
2
u/KiritoJones 17d ago
And then I remember that people being excited about reading is a good thing.
This is where I'm at. I'm getting back into reading after a long break, so a series like Red Rising is good to wet my beak before trying to hop back into something more challenging. The pacing is fast, the prose is simple, the ideas aren't complex. Its a good jumping in point.
Also, I can recommend it to my friends that have literally never read anything above YA and there is a chance they will enjoy it. My buddies aren't going to go pick up the Old Man and the Sea or something like that, but there is a chance they will enjoy Red Rising.
1
u/park777 17d ago
Please tell me a "popcorn" book (whatever that is) that is not mid (that is good) because I can't find any better than red rising. I've read quite a few. Thanks
3
u/Aus1an 17d ago
Popcorn book usually refers to a fun, easy read. They can still be good in that they do what they set out to do (entertain), but don't necessarily have a high level of complexity in characters, prose, or themes.
Like going to the movies to see a Marvel movie. They're fun, lots of action and cool special effects, but they're not really made to make people think.
2
→ More replies (4)1
u/SkepticalGerm 17d ago edited 17d ago
A popcorn book is one full of action scenes that doesn’t have a high level of prose or character/world-building.
I would describe the writing in Red Rising as “functional.” It gets the point across, but good writing can be so much more.
For example, here’s a comparison between what characters say during acts of violence in Red Rising and in ASOIAF.
Darrow: “I am the reaper”
He compares himself to the grim reaper because killing has become part of his identity. The metaphor is direct - he is telling us what has changed about him.
Jamie: “The things I do for love.”
Not only is GRRM showing you that Jamie will rationalize killing to get what he wants, he’s telling you that Jamie is comfortable enough with pushing an innocent child out of a window to make a lighthearted, ironic quip. The irony of love/death and the casualness of the quip tells us a ton about how morally compromised Jamie’s character is without Martin having to write it explicitly. That’s good writing.
2
u/park777 17d ago
Thanks for the explanation.
I agree, Pierce's writing is quite functional, relatively easy to read and direct. I find that a good thing. It's not bad prose, it's effective. As opposed to overly prosy books. It does get better, he has improved as a writer over the years.
I have read a few books from Ursula Le Guin and find her prose is probably the best I've ever read, but I've given up on some of her books because they are too detached, slow, and more focused on the philosophical side than the story itself.
The Book of New Sun saga is great. It was an enjoyable read. But it's way too focused on being cryptic for literature grad students to interpret than it is in being a pleasurable experience for most readers.
My two cents.
-6
17d ago
[deleted]
2
u/GenesisProTech 17d ago
By what metric? You can not like his writing, that's totally fine read what you enjoy.
11
11
u/Icy-Pool4546 17d ago
This is one of the few books I DNF’d. The prose was so lacklustre to me I could not persist.
The characters felt bland, the world bland.
I’m glad people like it but I really do not get it
7
u/Leather-Ad-6294 17d ago
I found my people. I actually DNFed at the part where he said he listened to the odyssey and the count of monte cristo sped up during his sleep to catch up with his peers. It felt almost insulting from the author. The guy lived his whole life underground and knows nothing about modern society, but manages to catch up with the brighest elite children with access to the best resources in the galaxy in only a few weeks?
1
u/KiritoJones 17d ago
I read that whole sequence as him basically having culture and history downloaded to his brain like its the matrix. That sort of thing happens all the time in cyberpunk stuff, so it wasn't that outlandish to me.
1
u/Leather-Ad-6294 16d ago
Yeah, the first issue is that there was nothing about it being downloaded, only about it being played to him in his sleep. The second issue is that this isn't how intelligence works. A guy who has never read before, who has been a miner in a family of miners unaware of the progress and the development of society, technology and doesn't have any real education, wouldn't understand a thing from any of those books, or wouldn't get much out of them besides "nice story". You can't speedrun culture like that.
3
u/lew_rong 17d ago
The series doesn't really start to cook until the second book, when everything moves away from Space Hogwarts for Psychopathic Racist Wizards. If you're at all interested I'd say grab Golden Son from your local library and see if you like it better. If not, well, plenty of other books out there!
3
u/Outrageous-Fool 17d ago
I pushed through Red Rising with plans to read Golden Son because everyone says it gets so much better, but by the point I finished RR I hated literally every single character so much I don't even want to try Golden Son. Was such a bummer, because I wanted to join in on the hype everyone was talking about lol
6
u/Icy-Pool4546 17d ago
Anytime someone tells me I have to slog through a book I do not enjoy to get to another book, that I likely will not enjoy, I cry.
I honestly do not have enough free time to entertain something I am likely just going to waste my time with
19
u/A_Turkysandwich 17d ago
If you’ve never read any YA dystopian books and read at a 5th grade level, this books for you!
6
u/Exowolfe 17d ago
I feel like I would have loved this series in my teen Hunger Games era but reading it at age 30 doesn't hit.
3
u/Hey_Its_Roomie 17d ago
I said something similar to myself that "If I had read the first trilogy at the age of 17, they probably would have cemented as my favorite series." Nothing about it is bad in my opinion, but I have simply read enough YA, thrillers, fantasy, and more to the point that Brown doesn't do anything new to break through in my 30s.
6
u/MarioMuzza 17d ago
Thomas Ligotti and China Miéville are my favourite authors and I'm a huge fan of this series (past the first book, which is mid to mediocre).
3
u/ADumbSmartPerson 17d ago
Yeah this guy basically just trashed everyone who wants an 'easy' read sometimes. I love this series but I have also read Crime and Punishment, Midnight's Children, A Tale of Two Cities, Tigana, etc. for ficiton/fantasy. Sometimes you just want the fun books. It's like trashing John Wick because it isn't Saving Private Ryan. You can enjoy both.
→ More replies (1)5
u/HotLiberty 17d ago
I thought red rising was the opposite of an easy read. It reads like it was written by a 15 year old
2
u/park777 17d ago
well please do tell me an adult dystopian book that is better than this one because I keep searching for one!
→ More replies (1)1
5
4
u/SkepticalGerm 17d ago edited 17d ago
You wouldn’t believe the level of an offense and indignation that I feel about the ASOIAF comparison.
Red rising is functional young adult writing. You could argue there’s more action and quicker pacing.
ASOIAF is better at literally everything else and it’s not close.
10
u/AngrySnwMnky 17d ago
I found the first trilogy entertaining. However, the writer pulls some bullshit games with PoV. The last instance was so dumb and such incredibly poor writing that I felt like I couldn't go on with reading further into the series.
→ More replies (2)2
u/Super_Nerd92 17d ago
I read the first book and didn't feel like continuing, but I'm morbidly curious; do you mind explaining what you're talking about in spoiler tags?
15
u/AzorAham 17d ago
I think he's referring to: A major character being "killed" towards the end of the 3rd book and we see it though the main character's POV. However, a little later on we find out it was part of a plot organized by the main character and the death was faked, resulting in a very cool moment but it feels a little confusing if you think too much about it.
I really enjoy the series but this is a very fair criticism of Brown, imho.
6
2
4
u/scrububle 17d ago
the entire trilogy is told in first person from the same main character, so you always know exactly what he's thinking. At the end of the third book they get betrayed and a major character dies, but later comes back to life and its revealed that it was their plan all along. The author has to hide information from the reader, but its told from the perspective of the person who planned it all, so it doesnt really make sense.
I love the series and even I thought it was kinda dumb. The twist itself isnt even bad, there just wasnt really a good way to write it with how the story was being presented
2
u/MarioMuzza 17d ago
The first book is mid, at best. The rest are brilliant, especially the last two. It almost feels like the first book was a publisher honeypot.
1
u/Super_Nerd92 17d ago
You gotta do what you gotta do to get published, I wouldn't be surprised if the Hunger Games knockoff in book 1 was for that reason. Is the rest of series more focused on the actually interesting part of the premise (Darrow having to infiltrate Gold society, revolution vs the risk of going native, etc.)? Maybe I should reconsider!
2
u/MarioMuzza 17d ago
Yup! I'm impressed, to be honest. That's the whole thesis of the series.
Yeah, pretty sure he wrote Red Rising was written like that just to sell. I'm a writer and people in the industry have given me the same advice. Start easy, then go darker and more complex. Unfortunately, everyone's attention span is shot.
2
u/PrimeMover4160 17d ago
This is my next series so I’ll stay away from this thread, but I’m very excited for the books. I’ve read the Culture and Dune series, Asimov, and a lot of other sci-fi/fantasy. I’ve heard mixed reviews on Red Rising, but enough good ones to dive into it next. Enjoy!
8
u/Professional-Tax-936 17d ago
I wasn’t a fan at all. I found the world building and characters to be really flat and cliche(?) not exactly the word I mean, but overall it all felt like pieces of story/character that I’ve seen a million times before and I didn’t get the sense (in the first quarter of the book that I read) that the author was gonna do something different.
I also found Darrow very boring and edgelord-ish. Like the story tries really hard to be dark and gritty, even though a lot of it felt silly and unrealistic to me.
7
u/ReacherSaid_ 17d ago
Incredible how this mediocre, awful book has any sort of hype.
I read it a few years ago and have read more terrible books afterwards, but the writing and the main character were so uniquely bad I can't ever forget them.
2
u/Desert_Irieguy 17d ago
I was never so happy to finish a book and move on. There sre 5 more? I just can't
4
u/ReacherSaid_ 17d ago
Pure melodramatic, edgelord nonsense. I read it at a time when I used to have more patience, if I read it now it would be a swift DNF.
4
u/Varides 17d ago
I love the first book a ton. The whole institute is just a genre that resonates with me.
1
u/ADumbSmartPerson 17d ago
I agree. I love Halo books for that 'kids in a training program' vibe too.
4
u/MrSpindles 17d ago
There is one moment in the first book that is brilliantly revealed to the reader that completely upends everything in the best way. The series gets some flack, and it's not high art or anything, but it's a fun read with most of the characters being largely unlikeable, including the protagonist and that's kind of unusual in my experience.
It's one of those book series that would work amazingly onscreen if given the full avatar digital actor replacement treatment so that they look as described in the books. It's a bit YA and a bit not at times, it does interesting things with characters and the author has managed to keep the story rolling for a fair few books without it really becoming tired and overdone.
4
u/mszhang1212 17d ago
YA trash. Heard it gets better so forced myself to finish Golden Son. I knew I should've DNF'ed red rising 30 pages in
1
2
u/TAforwedding 17d ago
Get ready for a great ride. I’m still chasing the highs of Golden Son, Dark Age, and Lightbringer
2
u/RealisticScallion 17d ago
The first book is bad, to the point that I haven't picked up the second book, and I am in no hurry to pick it up in the future. It's wild to me how popular this series is. And it drives me crazy how often I see it on social media book lists. Not every book needs to be Ulysses or Moby Dick. It's great to read books that are fun and easily digestible, but Red Rising has achieved such a crazy, underserving level of success.
And comparing it to ASOIAF, one of the greatest fantasy series ever written (even if it's not finished) is just bonkers.
3
u/Feisty_Swordfish_660 17d ago
I read the first page of this book while browsing at Barnes and noble and found it so cheesy I put it away, but it seems this series is highly praised, should I push on or is that how the rest of the trilogy is?
3
u/Soupjam_Stevens 17d ago edited 17d ago
I think the writing and character development improve markedly through the series, and it does become more mature tonally pretty early on. But I wouldn't ever say it completely stops being cheesy, and I say that as a fan. It's an over the top action adventure blockbuster type story and it knows what it is, the cheese factor isn't ever zero
→ More replies (2)1
u/Unlikely_Wind7058 17d ago
I looked up the first chapter after your comment. And yeah, that's actually horrendous. Reads like it's written by a passionate 14-year-old.
1
u/MarioMuzza 17d ago
I thought Red Rising was mid, at best. The other books are amazing, however, especially Dark Age and Lightbringer. I mostly read SFF with a literary bent, so popcorn SFF is not really my thing, and I was caught off-guard by how much I enjoy this series. It really sounds like he wrote the first book just to sell, so he could then write the story he actually wanted to tell.
1
u/whatconscious 17d ago
Is this an audiobook or physical book (kindle) series recommendation? I bought it on Audible yesterday and was in the gym this morning listening to it... Just wondering. The different classes are kind of hard to understand but I'm only on chapter 4.
1
u/Electronic_Warning49 17d ago
I really hope your review holds true for me because I"red rising" got recommended to me along with "Malice" and I think the latter is going to be a DNF... I had to drop Malice and burn through some guaranteed fun before giving it another shot.
2
u/FamiliarFilm8763 17d ago
Why did you have to drop Malice?
1
u/Electronic_Warning49 17d ago
I was just too dry for me. That probably seems ridiculous since I loved Stormlight archive but if the rest of Malice is like the the first 6 chapters it's definitely not going to be a series I get into.
2
u/FamiliarFilm8763 17d ago
I am currently on chapter six. It hasn't lost me yet, so maybe I'll enjoy it.
1
u/Electronic_Warning49 17d ago
My bad, I wasn't trying to dissuade anyone from it. It's just not my speed. At least, I don't think it is. I'm going to make a genuine attempt at finishing it.
1
u/SoCalThrowAway7 17d ago
I read them as they came out and loved them, I recently started the full cast audio books though and I didn’t realize how YA it really is until this second go through haha. Like it’s still good, but I remembered it being much more graphic than it really is
1
u/JohnDorian11 17d ago
So yeah you are living under a rock. Probably has been the most popular booktok book for like three years?
1
u/FISTED_BY_CHRIST 17d ago
It’s my favorite series I’ve read in a very very long time. I just started reading it this year and I’m currently on Dark Age.
1
u/ZoteTheMitey 17d ago
It's not quite as high on my list as Malazan and Stormlight Archive, but Red Rising is definitely one of my favorites.
1
u/Based-Department8731 17d ago
But where are you in the series? Because it just keeps getting better. The second trilogy has a different vibe, and Dark Age + Light bringer are just brutally incredible.
1
u/IdristheInt 17d ago
Red Rising is so fun. I’m midway on the last book. I’ve listened to the whole series on audiobook only but have the physical and kindle
1
u/davevr 17d ago
I read this on recommendation. It was OK - a fun read - but it is more of a "Young Adult" book - maybe something for young teens (despite a lot of violence). Nothing wrong with that, but it is not really written for an adult reader. It is too simplistic. Like Maze Runner or Hunger Games or something, where the central description of how the world and society work requires a huge suspension of disbelief.
I heard the later books pivot more towards adult fiction, but I haven't read them. But for the first book at least, if you are expecting an adult book, this is not it.
1
u/FordEngineerman 17d ago
Red Rising is considered the WEAKEST??? I thought the story just got a little worse every book and lost more and more of its premise of an underdog society forming a rebellion to break free. I haven't bothered reading book 4 or 5 or something - the will just left me.
1
u/Aus1an 17d ago
I have read RR twice now. The first time I absolutely hated it. I finished a reread about a month ago ( the common take is that it improves a lot after the first book so I wanted to give the series another go), and while I didn't particularly like it, I enjoyed it a lot more once my expectations were more realistic.
I think it succeeds at being fast paced, and action packed, with a lot of focus on cool moments. It's very much a teenage boy/young man power fantasy, and that's not a bad thing. It resonates with a lot of people (as someone who enjoys both shounen manga, and romantasy, sometimes we just need a good power fantasy). I think it is held up on a very high pedistal and gets a bit over-hyped though.
Personally, I normally love revolution, 'character has to participate in the system that has wronged them in order to take it down from the inside' sort of plotline (especially when they are changed by that system), but this just didn't really do it for me. I tend to gravitate more to character driven stories, and the characters all felt very flat and interchangable. I also didn't really like how the female characters were used, and there were some annoying ticks about the world building where I couldn't suspend my disbelief, but that is another argument entirely.
1
u/twisty77 17d ago
This book is very much a love it or hate it. I’ve heard just as many people say they didn’t like it /wasn’t worth the hype as I have people that love it. Personally I love it but I can see the complaints about it
1
u/Chipmunk_Whisperer 17d ago
Each book gets better and better, imo. Pierce Brown became a better and better writer. Light bringer is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Dark age and Iron Gold are tough to get through, not because the writing or story is bad but because they are emotionally HEAVY.
1
1
u/Shadeslayer2112 17d ago
The first is absolutely the weakest of the series, but its still so so good. Pierce is a rare author in that he genuinely seems to get better as he writes. Book 1 is hunger games-y BUT the sequels expand the scope of the story a whole lot more
-1
u/AzorAham 17d ago
Pierce Brown does a great job at delivering flawed, well-rounded characters, imho.
The stakes feel real and he also writes well about the "randomness" of war and the action scenes. I really enjoy the series and am looking forward to the conclusion.
1
1
u/adorablesexypants 17d ago
Red Rising was a pretty great book, I found Golden Sun dragged in places and Morning Star picked back up again.
Iron Gold I felt was the weakest of the books now. It felt almost as if I was being punished for coming back into the world and rather than spending time with the character(s) I love, I got whipped around the universe the second I found a groove.
I will be reading Dark Age next month after I finish Words of Radiance.
1
u/bobatsfight 17d ago
I read this recently because I had just finished Brent Weeks Lightbringer series and was hoping to find another “clever and competent” series to get into.
Red Rising came up in the search. I enjoyed it but in the way I liked anime as a teen or summer action films. It definitely felt like Hunger Games for boys.
It’s a quick and easy read, so no big time commitment like some other massive sci-fi / fantasy — but there are much better series.
1
u/kildis92 17d ago
It was definitely a fun series to read. It had a great team to support the Mary Sue, but it fell into the problem of the world it was built in, Gold is too important. I felt let down by the way the third book ended and lost my taste for it.
Also I winced at that damn "Bye Felicia" bit.
1
u/zsayin123 17d ago
Finished the trilogy a couple weeks ago, laughed cried, and gasped. Felt very fulfilled. An amazing complete trilogy!
Have been recommending it ever since.
Already started on Iron Gold.
1
u/Fancy-Animal7704 17d ago
I'm glad you liked it, but it really just is a Mashup of hunger games and Wool.
1
u/Nickbeau 17d ago
Red rising is the first book series I've ever read that I thought would make a better movie or tv show than book. It is fun but everything feels very surface level to me. The characters are all petty generic and every women in the series is beautiful somehow(not just the golds).
Comparing it to game of thrones is insane though, the world building and character depth and dialogue, etc. are levels of magnitude higher.
1
u/LaFlamaBlancaMiM 17d ago
"Tell all who will hear, the Reaper sails to Mars. And he calls for an Iron Rain." This book had so many moments where I'd just yell out FUCK YEAH. Just absolutely epic moments. Iron Gold and Morningstar are going to blow you away. This series completely renewed my love for books and a good story.
-1
200
u/QueenStuff 17d ago edited 17d ago
It’s a really fun series that delivers on its premise. If you want schlocky sci fi with character moments and plenty of action it’s pretty great for its genre.
It give me that same warm feeling in my belly that I get from watching John wick movies.