Red Rising

So this book was a proof of my sometimes-lameness in reading certain book. I purchased the kindle copy last year, started reading it for the first time around February, and now 3 months later I just finished it after having long battle with side of me that wanted to keep putting it down. I swear this was my first time of needing such a long time to finish a fiction., I personally was in total awe with this book and Pierce Brown. Red Rising was a debut novel and the author outdid himself with all the rich details and the unthought-of plot, ever. And not to forget his imagination to build up a fantasy of the whole Mars and all its complexity, it was dead awesome. Bloodydamn. Just where did he gather the inspiration to write this trilogy?, ‘I was not raised in palaces. I did not ride horses through meadows and eat meals of hummingbird tongues. I was forged in the bowels of this hard world. Sharpened by hate. Strengthened by love.’, (Prologue, Red Rising), Sixteen years old Darrow was a Red. A Red by all means was meant to be a slave to higher colors, specifically Gold. Sad truth Reds sat on the very bottom of society which made them slaves to every color. Darrow never dreamt of living more than what his current life offered now. He was a helldiver, the youngest in history, the best in history. He married a beautiful brave girl named Eo. He had his family all living together even though his father was long gone when he was still a kid. He thought no more than spending all his life in Lykos as Red Lambda where song and dance was the comforts to their rough life., But nothing remained forever in life., “I live for you”, “Then you must live for more.”, (Chapter IV, Red Rising), The day the nightmare happened, all Darrow wanted was to follow the smell of death. And that was what about to happen except a group of rebels wanted a different path for him., Away from Lykos, family, and all familiar thing back in Red ground, Darrow was shaped to a whole different form. Red Darrow was now a Gold. Well, at least that was what shown on the outside. Darrow was still Red in heart and sure he would never change. Disguised as Gold, Darrow tried a risky step to infiltrate the evil color from the inside. And just like another teenage Gold, he stepped up to join a Gold institution where he could pick a start of revenge. Little did he know that the institution wasn’t at all like its simple name. It was not a school. It was more like a life-and-death battle to be the only one ArchPrimus. Darrow used all his strength to be the said Primus and found along the way how exactly it was to be a real Gold: mean, unforgiving, and unstopped. He began to question himself about all he’d done to get the title, wondered if that would make him no less than an evil Gold. But he did it all for Red, for people back in Lykos, for every Red blood who put their faiths on his shoulder. Surely that would make a different, right? As he questioned himself that, he was faced with another surprising fact that Gold could be a loyal friend if treated right. Struggling with all these complicated dilemmas, Darrow was once again reminded by the fact that in the end, after all the torture, blood, pain, and death, it was only just a beginning., I remembered became all teary inside once I finished it. Not because the story, though, but because the fact that I was finally able to reach the last page., My first impression about Red Rising was hardcore dystopian., But first thing first, let me say something., I NEVER like dystopian book., I hate it. I do. Dystopian infuriates and depresses me at the same time. I always avoid this genre at all cost. I believe that reading is a joy where we could fully escape to the story without having to worry about being lost because we can always close the page any moment to come back. But the ‘misery’ from reading this genre seemed to haunt my soul forever no matter just when I decided to stop reading it., So we could easily conclude that I’d hate this book. What with each violence scene was being described very casually here., But here I was going to say something that would make my whole speech above pointless: I loved Red Rising., I know, I am being confusing here but this was what exactly I felt. This book had me at mental battle between loving and hating this book. I hated this book that I couldn’t stop wincing at all those miserable scenes which practically on EVERY page. Yet my mind was in a superb awestruck condition by all the details that I could not forget this book until this very second. Hell, Red Rising might be the first dystopian book that I ever loved., The author did characterizations to each character very well. Darrow was my top favorite. I loved that Pierce Brown didn’t make him as this flawless hero but simply as human who made mistakes and learned from it to be better. I loved Darrow’s way of thinking despite his young age. He was so much mature, well, being Red it was common though., The other character, Eo, also took special place in my heart. There was this one particular scene where she did something that later became the turning point of Red Rising. I loved Darrow for loving her so deep. Never once he forgot her while doing his risky mission. After all, what he’d done was all started because of Eo’s move first., ‘And she may be like me— from a clan of Red earth diggers, a clan of song and dance and soil— but she could be made from air, from the ether that binds the stars in a patchwork.’, (Chapter I, Red Rising), I super loved the details about Mars, how separate the life of each colors there. I kept saying about rich details here because that was what the author did. He went all out with details for everything. When devouring all these details, for a second there, I could easily forget my hope to get an HEA from this book. Clearly, the author knew very well what he wrote and what to do to engage readers to stay put until the end of the book., Anyway, there was one thing that bothered me a lot about the title., First time I read the title ‘Red Rising’, all I could think of was this book would be about Red people fighting their rights, like they were having actual war of getting justification somewhere in the middle of the book. Instead it was focusing more on the preparation of rising, like how Darrow went through all those awful phases transforming into Gold, then more about how Gold’s world worked. Gold took like 80% of the book. I kept thinking when the rising would occur only to find out on the last page that everything was just a beginning. The actual rising didn’t even really happened here. It annoyed me when the title of the book misleading what I thought about the story inside., Oh, another complaint: just how many odd terms on this book made it rather difficult sometimes for me to immerse into the story. This might be one of the reasons I kept putting it down. Just put glossary in the end of the book then problem fixed!, So, despite my complaints and my speech about hating dystopian book, here I said that I loved this book, or more like awestricken by this book. I wanted so bad to read the continuation of Red’s rising under Darrow’s command but I still don’t know when I’d read the next book because clearly I needed time to recover from the torture caused by Red Rising before firing it up again with second book. Well, hopefully soon.

So this book was a proof of my sometimes-lameness in reading certain book. I purchased the kindle copy last year, started reading it for the first time around February, and now 3 months later I just finished it after having long battle with side of me that wanted to keep putting it down. I swear this was my first time of needing such a long time to finish a fiction., I personally was in total awe with this book and Pierce Brown. Red Rising was a debut novel and the author outdid himself with all the rich details and the unthought-of plot, ever. And not to forget his imagination to build up a fantasy of the whole Mars and all its complexity, it was dead awesome. Bloodydamn. Just where did he gather the inspiration to write this trilogy?, ‘I was not raised in palaces. I did not ride horses through meadows and eat meals of hummingbird tongues. I was forged in the bowels of this hard world. Sharpened by hate. Strengthened by love.’, (Prologue, Red Rising), Sixteen years old Darrow was a Red. A Red by all means was meant to be a slave to higher colors, specifically Gold. Sad truth Reds sat on the very bottom of society which made them slaves to every color. Darrow never dreamt of living more than what his current life offered now. He was a helldiver, the youngest in history, the best in history. He married a beautiful brave girl named Eo. He had his family all living together even though his father was long gone when he was still a kid. He thought no more than spending all his life in Lykos as Red Lambda where song and dance was the comforts to their rough life., But nothing remained forever in life., “I live for you”, “Then you must live for more.”, (Chapter IV, Red Rising), The day the nightmare happened, all Darrow wanted was to follow the smell of death. And that was what about to happen except a group of rebels wanted a different path for him., Away from Lykos, family, and all familiar thing back in Red ground, Darrow was shaped to a whole different form. Red Darrow was now a Gold. Well, at least that was what shown on the outside. Darrow was still Red in heart and sure he would never change. Disguised as Gold, Darrow tried a risky step to infiltrate the evil color from the inside. And just like another teenage Gold, he stepped up to join a Gold institution where he could pick a start of revenge. Little did he know that the institution wasn’t at all like its simple name. It was not a school. It was more like a life-and-death battle to be the only one ArchPrimus. Darrow used all his strength to be the said Primus and found along the way how exactly it was to be a real Gold: mean, unforgiving, and unstopped. He began to question himself about all he’d done to get the title, wondered if that would make him no less than an evil Gold. But he did it all for Red, for people back in Lykos, for every Red blood who put their faiths on his shoulder. Surely that would make a different, right? As he questioned himself that, he was faced with another surprising fact that Gold could be a loyal friend if treated right. Struggling with all these complicated dilemmas, Darrow was once again reminded by the fact that in the end, after all the torture, blood, pain, and death, it was only just a beginning., I remembered became all teary inside once I finished it. Not because the story, though, but because the fact that I was finally able to reach the last page., My first impression about Red Rising was hardcore dystopian., But first thing first, let me say something., I NEVER like dystopian book., I hate it. I do. Dystopian infuriates and depresses me at the same time. I always avoid this genre at all cost. I believe that reading is a joy where we could fully escape to the story without having to worry about being lost because we can always close the page any moment to come back. But the ‘misery’ from reading this genre seemed to haunt my soul forever no matter just when I decided to stop reading it., So we could easily conclude that I’d hate this book. What with each violence scene was being described very casually here., But here I was going to say something that would make my whole speech above pointless: I loved Red Rising., I know, I am being confusing here but this was what exactly I felt. This book had me at mental battle between loving and hating this book. I hated this book that I couldn’t stop wincing at all those miserable scenes which practically on EVERY page. Yet my mind was in a superb awestruck condition by all the details that I could not forget this book until this very second. Hell, Red Rising might be the first dystopian book that I ever loved., The author did characterizations to each character very well. Darrow was my top favorite. I loved that Pierce Brown didn’t make him as this flawless hero but simply as human who made mistakes and learned from it to be better. I loved Darrow’s way of thinking despite his young age. He was so much mature, well, being Red it was common though., The other character, Eo, also took special place in my heart. There was this one particular scene where she did something that later became the turning point of Red Rising. I loved Darrow for loving her so deep. Never once he forgot her while doing his risky mission. After all, what he’d done was all started because of Eo’s move first., ‘And she may be like me— from a clan of Red earth diggers, a clan of song and dance and soil— but she could be made from air, from the ether that binds the stars in a patchwork.’, (Chapter I, Red Rising), I super loved the details about Mars, how separate the life of each colors there. I kept saying about rich details here because that was what the author did. He went all out with details for everything. When devouring all these details, for a second there, I could easily forget my hope to get an HEA from this book. Clearly, the author knew very well what he wrote and what to do to engage readers to stay put until the end of the book., Anyway, there was one thing that bothered me a lot about the title., First time I read the title ‘Red Rising’, all I could think of was this book would be about Red people fighting their rights, like they were having actual war of getting justification somewhere in the middle of the book. Instead it was focusing more on the preparation of rising, like how Darrow went through all those awful phases transforming into Gold, then more about how Gold’s world worked. Gold took like 80% of the book. I kept thinking when the rising would occur only to find out on the last page that everything was just a beginning. The actual rising didn’t even really happened here. It annoyed me when the title of the book misleading what I thought about the story inside., Oh, another complaint: just how many odd terms on this book made it rather difficult sometimes for me to immerse into the story. This might be one of the reasons I kept putting it down. Just put glossary in the end of the book then problem fixed!, So, despite my complaints and my speech about hating dystopian book, here I said that I loved this book, or more like awestricken by this book. I wanted so bad to read the continuation of Red’s rising under Darrow’s command but I still don’t know when I’d read the next book because clearly I needed time to recover from the torture caused by Red Rising before firing it up again with second book. Well, hopefully soon.

This book was superbly phenomenal. Heartrendingly painful and breathtakingly sweet. The first book to give me goosebumps every other page! Be that because of the sheer brilliance of Mr Brown’s writing, how his characters felt so real and made me scared and nervous and suspicious and sad with every second breath, or just the life these characters took on all by themselves. Either way, it has climbed all the way up to my top 10 favorite books of all time., A quick note:, Those who couldn’t get past the first few pages: **Push your little bum through it!** I felt this struggle in the beginning too and actually put this book away for 2 years (!) , but when I came back and just jumped in, hit that 50-ish page mark, I was complete trash for this series and the author’s writing!, The things that stood out to me about this book the most was the writing, I loved the highLingo `( camel-case (programmers unite!))` and the colored tiers. The hierarchy, how this all fits into a sci-fi world. How the world out there is so big and yet when we start reading, we can’t even fathom the chaos and vastness of it all that is brewing right atop our favorite character’s mine(read: home). We get to learn and journey along with Darrow and see the worst and some of the best parts of this new Terra-formed Mars and the world they live in through Darrow’s dry-wit and perspective. We get to see him grow as a character tremendously and I can go on and on about the fine young man he has become after the events of this book. They are forced to make some of the hardest decisions in their lives during their testing, and seeing the character growth is in and of itself something to admire, if nothing else. But, once the ball gets rolling, no amount of bodies piled up together can stop it, so enjoy helldiver Darrow-life while you can., This book is unapologetically clever, thought-provoking, ruthless, cunning, captivating, scary, and most importantly, it makes you reevaluate a lot of very important topics in society, not just in this fictional world. It’s relevant right now., <<>>, I made a note of when I officially fell in love with Darrow, Sevro, Pax, and Mustang(Virginia) on page 166. One of the sticky notes with less context simply stated: “all the goosebumps all the gorydamn time!” Books don’t do that for me. I can usually see plot twists and characters being forced to say and do things to seem “good” in the reader’s eye straight away, yet nothing was forced here. I was smacked upside the head every time there was a twist. I was still guessing right up until the last page., A few more things I adore about the writing and the world/characters:, – The color castes and how you can be carved into a completely different person, not on the inside, my friends, all outside. Super strength, extremely good looks, a really tight little bum, some jingly bits, whatever you want, but inside…ohhh, inside they are still the same pigs/broken children/men/woman, etc. They talk to one another in such a way that it just makes you feel like you could easily fit in with them. Some are vile and just plain rude, others slap you in the face with a really well-crafted set of words. It feels like they could be my friends. I only speak for myself here, but I am extremely sarcastic and would fit right in using this kinda lingo! It’s often said that those who are more verbose and non-beat-around-the-bushers are some of the most honest/loyal humans you get., – ALL the betrayal, high stakes, very much of the Adrenalin, very much of the kill-kill and some stab-stab(okay, a lot). What got me shaking my head when I finished this was how real and utterly heartbreaking every second of their trial was. The loss and the betrayal and the realization of a society that is corrupt, as many are, and then when the trials were done and our brilliant little cinnamon roll Darrow and co. kicked some butt, it was over, just like that., – He overthrew a freaking corrupt structure/society and did something no one would have dared. He took the fight to the ruthless idiots watching kids being murdered and tortured and doing nothing, and he then proceeded to stick their heads where the sun don’t shine, one by one. Also, Epic battle scene!, And to get back to my point, here we have this high-stakes, life-and-death situation, and then when it’s done, nothing. It’s like it wasn’t that serious, like lives weren’t lost and that friends hadn’t died and friends hadn’t betrayed., This makes me loves these books even more. It shows how terribly ruthless and full of sh$t this society and the hierarchy of it is. How we need Darrow and his band of misfits to overthrow society. To make a change or to just slingBlade an ArchGovernor’s head off his fake body ^.^ (no this didn’t happen bit it should!!), Bloodydamn brilliant read. 10/10 would suffer the feels again!, R.I.P my sweet little Pax, you teddybear, you

One of the best books I have read this year. It is the perfect mix of Ender’s Game, Hunger Games, Mistborn, but it is also something totally different at the same time. The style of writing makes it incredibly hard to put down. If you feel like the first few chapters are difficult to get into because of the world lingo, do not worry. You pick up on it quickly, so don’t put it down until you have given it a good shot!!

One of the best books I have read this year. It is the perfect mix of Ender’s Game, Hunger Games, Mistborn, but it is also something totally different at the same time. The style of writing makes it incredibly hard to put down. If you feel like the first few chapters are difficult to get into because of the world lingo, do not worry. You pick up on it quickly, so don’t put it down until you have given it a good shot!!

I was expecting a lot but it still blew me away! Incredible writing and character development. Action feels like a intense wildfire. Scifi with real superpowers. Impressive variety of characters that create an amazing complexity to the story and ideas that it explorers. Bloodydamn read it!