Published: January 2014
Pages: 382
Series: Red Rising Saga #1
Summary
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.
My thoughts
This is a pre-warning that my review seems to be greatly in the minority, at least compared to Goodreads. But I did not enjoy this book and I can’t pretend that I did because I see everyone on Bookstagram rave about it.
This book had such a strong start. Really, really strong I’d argue. There are huge stakes at play, we are gripped by the characters and their conditions. the lives that they lead. We are taken on an emotional journey that really sets up our main character. I was completely taken by the first few chapters of this book. If the whole thing was like that this would have been an easy five stars.
“I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war.”
Sadly, once the first few chapters are done and Darrow leaves his conditions beneath the planet and finds out he has been lied to, the whole thing takes a turn. The pacing, the plot line, the stakes, it just slowly fell more and more a part for me. So much of this book is him having a makeover and learning to be a Gold and oh my god is it boring. So incredibly boring. I should have put the book down then but I had convinced myself that everyone loves this book for a good reason and I musn’t have gotten there yet.
“I live for the dream that my children will be born free. That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.’
‘I live for you,’ I say sadly.
She kisses my cheek. ‘Then you must live for more.”
It didn’t really give me more. Darrow goes through the miniscule amount of growth which given everything he’s gone through I had greater expectations of his character, maybe that was my fault. There are moments in this story where there are some smart writing choices but they are so few and far between with everything else just so boring, I just did not care.
I did not care for these characters, I even lost much sympathy for Darrow himself. Perhaps this is a set up for him becoming an anti-hero (?) I don’t know but he does feel that he has lost his way. I’m not sure where his drive for vengeance went but I stopped feeling it in this book. The other character I did not care for one tiny bit. They are all very self absorbed fools caught playing in this giant game. Perhaps its not their fault, they are their parents children and it is their parents that play such critical roles in this democracy or lack there of.
I saw another review which said much of this book is pointless chaos and I absolutely agree with that sentiment. It really made no sense, for this whole school to be built to mimic war with the purpose to not have anyone die. Yet they are given weapons and have a lack of food and resources.. what did they really expect? Did the author think this rationale through or did he just chuck it in because then he had more freedom to do what we wanted. This school by the way, is meant to be the top of the top. The absolutely best, 1% on the planet. Yet there is so much culling it really doesn’t make rationale sense why the game exists. They couldn’t teach these lessons in other ways?
“Man cannot be freed by the same injustice that enslaved it.”
There was one character in particular I felt “Hmm they’re not all bad then” but I was just so bored. This is a seven or eight book series, I’m not clear I don’t believe it is finished yet but it’s definitely not one I’ll be finishing. Sorry bookstagram this is not for me but the art on the special edition is phenomenal.
Would I recommend?
It’s tricky, this book has so much love so it must be loved for a reason, but for me, it started off really strong and fell a bit flat. It’s probably not one I’ll actively recommend.