Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

Red Rising – Pierce Brown

15839976.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: “I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”

“I live for you,” I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world 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 sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

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My thoughts: I can honestly say that I have no idea how to review Red Rising. How am I supposed to put words on all my feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, hate, joy, love, and fear without it ending up a blubbering mess? This book have it all, good, bad and it is so, soo clever written that even though it landed on a three star rating from me, I can’t stop thinking about it.

At heart, the book has a very good and clever plot, even though it is a somewhat “milked” theme by now. But I really liked the whole “low, hard and poor life, fighting for the future of their children, corrupted governments, protagonist finds out the truth, kicks ass and fights for what’s right, tries to get to the top and stop the evil of this world” plot. And it works extra good in this book since the main protagonist, Darrow, is a good guy but he does so much bad and horrible things that you at the same time as you love him, you hate him to. And he is so real and authentic in a way I cant describe. He hates what he is forced to do and he struggles a lot with sorrow and feelings of missing. He is a young guy with a hard life who gets it even harder and you can actually see him grow as a person throughout the book.

But then there is other things. There is a big part of the book that was sooo boring. I mean, “start to think about something else while reading” boring. Even “start skimming to the good parts” boring. Almost DNF boring! And I can’t really tell you why either since it are a big part of the plot and the books story. But I felt it somewhat unrealistic (even though we are in the future and on Mars) and it was quite hard to wrap my mind around a lot of it. I think I understand the purpose, it is just the ways that perplexes me and the performance is tedious and uninteresting. The ending was great though and now I’m more open to continue the series, than I was earlier on in the book.

It certainly has taken my emotions and thoughts on a roller coaster but I’m happy that I finally read it. The last thing I want to say is that, If we ever going to move to Mars, build a new civilization and all that. This is how I see in my mind it will be. The rich people always wins and rides the backs of the poor. Things will never change. Yes. I’m that pessimistic!