La La Land Book Tag

Mia - Name a character who never gives up on their dream

Clary Fairchild from The Mortal Instruments Series

Sebastian - Name a character who is extremely passionate about what they do

Alec Lightwood from The Mortal Instruments Series

City of Stars - A book that takes place in your favorite city

Ripper by Amy Carol Reeves

Musical - Name a book you think would make a good musical

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Enemies to Lovers - Name a fictional relationship where they start off not liking each other

Feyre and Tamlin from A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

A Lovely Night - A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving

To Die For by Sandra Byrd

Another Day of Sun - A book that takes place in sunny California

I don't think I have read any novels that take place in California

Start A Fire - Name an underrated book that you think deserves more attention

Supernatural Series of Novels

"Hollywood worships everything but values nothing" - Name a book you worship

My signed Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown

Here's To The Ones Who Dream - Name a character who inspires you

Isabelle Lightwood from The Mortal Instruments Series

Dark Societies Pierce Brown Event

Saturday 20th February 2016

This event took place at the Waterstones store in Piccadilly in London. The first part of the event was Pierce Brown answering questions from the event host and the questions were mainly about the novels, how he came up with ideas, how he created the swear words, etc. At one point he asked the audience if anyone had carrot cake which he could have. He also spoke a lot about Star Wars, Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings when answering some of his questions.

The next part of the event was the Q&A session. Fans asked questions about how long publishing took, which characters he enjoyed writing about, if he knew what would happen to characters before he started writing, how he chose who was going to die, etc. Fans also asked questions about how hard it was to write the screen play for the movie of Red Rising. Pierce also told us a funny story about a fan sending him a video of this fan as a Howler in the woods. That was a really funny story.

Lastly, was the signing and photo session. I was 5th in line to meet Pierce Brown so I didn't have to wait that long to meet him after the Q&A session. The first thing he said to me was that he loved my Star Wars top and then he asked what my name was. Whilst he was signing my novels he asked who my favourite characters were to which I replied 'Sevro and Pax'. From this answer he asked if I would be one of Sevro's Howlers which I replied no. He said I would make a good Red though as I can help people. He also said one of his friend's was mad for thinking that Pierce could be a Gold, Pierce would hate to be a Gold. After I got a photo with him he said he loved my Batman phone case. He was the loveliest author I've ever met. However, I have only met Pierce Brown and Becca Fitzpatrick. I can't wait to read Golden Son soon and get a copy of Morning Star to finish my trilogy. 

Red Rising

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

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.

                                Rating 5/5