Published- 28th January 2014
Publisher- Del Rey (Random House)
Pages- 382 pages (Hardback)
Red Rising is about Darrow's mission to become a Gold to save his world from all the powers that rule over them. However, will he be able to complete his mission and make everyone believe he is truly a Gold and not the Red he was born as? Will everyone survive the battles throughout this novel? Who will live and who will die, that is the main question.
This was a brilliant debut novel by Pierce Brown. The only other novel I've read that was set on Mars was The Martian by Andy Weir and this is much different from that novel. The Martian did not include as many battles and fights as this novel did. The Martian was more about science and trying to rescue a stranded astronaut from Mars. The action scenes were spread throughout the whole of this novel rather than just coming at the end of the novel. For example, you had action at the start between Eo and Darrow, then throughout the middle with the fights in the woods and the big fight scene at the end of the novel.
In terms of characters Darrow was a great lead character as he would do anything to help the people of Mars so he can defeat the powers that rule over them all. The title is also about Darrow as he was born a Red and he is trying to rise up and become powerful so he can defeat the powerful. Pax and Tactus became loyal followers of Darrow and would do anything to support him on his mission. Mustang was also a great female character even though she was hiding a big secret from Darrow. She was strong, cunning and in some ways quite mysterious. One character I loved was Sevro as he was very quick, could strike without anyone seeing him and he was very loyal to Darrow and loved him like a brother.
The plot flowed really well and it was easy to follow the whole way through. It never felt slow or made me want to stop reading as there was always something happening. For example, when the fight scenes occurred you wanted to read the next chapter so you could find out who survived that particular battle. It was quite sad when some characters you hoped would be in the next novel didn't survive and you had to read their death scenes. However, I won't spoil it for people who haven't read this novel by saying who lives and who dies, and I won't give away any major spoilers.
Pierce Brown created lots of his own language and weapons throughout the novel. For example, Gravboots, holoImmersion room, pulseShield, etc. It's always interesting to me when authors come up with their own language or weapons or place names for any world that they have created. It gives the novel it's own unique feel and makes people want to learn more about the world they are currently reading about.
Overall, I give this novel 5/5 stars. It was a great debut read by Pierce Brown and makes me want to carry on with the next novel in the trilogy, Golden Son, very soon. Golden Son will pick up from where Red Rising left off which is great. The final book in the trilogy has just been released and it is called Morning Star. Pierce Brown has also just announced a new trilogy which will also be set in the Red Rising world, but it will have a new host of characters. However, it will feature some old characters such as Darrow, Sevro and Mustang.
This was a brilliant debut novel by Pierce Brown. The only other novel I've read that was set on Mars was The Martian by Andy Weir and this is much different from that novel. The Martian did not include as many battles and fights as this novel did. The Martian was more about science and trying to rescue a stranded astronaut from Mars. The action scenes were spread throughout the whole of this novel rather than just coming at the end of the novel. For example, you had action at the start between Eo and Darrow, then throughout the middle with the fights in the woods and the big fight scene at the end of the novel.
In terms of characters Darrow was a great lead character as he would do anything to help the people of Mars so he can defeat the powers that rule over them all. The title is also about Darrow as he was born a Red and he is trying to rise up and become powerful so he can defeat the powerful. Pax and Tactus became loyal followers of Darrow and would do anything to support him on his mission. Mustang was also a great female character even though she was hiding a big secret from Darrow. She was strong, cunning and in some ways quite mysterious. One character I loved was Sevro as he was very quick, could strike without anyone seeing him and he was very loyal to Darrow and loved him like a brother.
The plot flowed really well and it was easy to follow the whole way through. It never felt slow or made me want to stop reading as there was always something happening. For example, when the fight scenes occurred you wanted to read the next chapter so you could find out who survived that particular battle. It was quite sad when some characters you hoped would be in the next novel didn't survive and you had to read their death scenes. However, I won't spoil it for people who haven't read this novel by saying who lives and who dies, and I won't give away any major spoilers.
Pierce Brown created lots of his own language and weapons throughout the novel. For example, Gravboots, holoImmersion room, pulseShield, etc. It's always interesting to me when authors come up with their own language or weapons or place names for any world that they have created. It gives the novel it's own unique feel and makes people want to learn more about the world they are currently reading about.
Overall, I give this novel 5/5 stars. It was a great debut read by Pierce Brown and makes me want to carry on with the next novel in the trilogy, Golden Son, very soon. Golden Son will pick up from where Red Rising left off which is great. The final book in the trilogy has just been released and it is called Morning Star. Pierce Brown has also just announced a new trilogy which will also be set in the Red Rising world, but it will have a new host of characters. However, it will feature some old characters such as Darrow, Sevro and Mustang.
Rating 5/5
