Red Rising by Pierce Brown Review

Spoiler Free Review:

Red Rising is the first book in the red rising series. The story follows a Helldiver named Darrow O’ Loykos, in a world where his people the Reds are slaves forced to build worlds for the rulers of society the Golds. The Golds are the perfect beings; they are stronger, faster, smarter, and bigger than the rest of society and have been ruling over the solar system for over 7 centuries. The hierarchy has a total of 14 colors, they include Golds, the rulers, Obsidians, basically killing machines whose whole life is war, and Pinks which are mainly used for pleasure by the Golds. The Blues are pilots, Oranges are engineers, Coopers are politicians, Silvers are bankers and control the money, and then the Reds are the slaves and builders of society. Darrow’s story is one of triumph, sadness, and death, as he tries to infiltrate the Gold society and tear it down from the inside and stop the oppression of the Reds and the rest of the colors.

Spoiler Review: 

There are a lot of things that I like about Red Rising but my favorite thing from this book was probably the world building that we saw. Loved the period of time after Darrow got carved and before he went into the Institute and he was learning about how the Golds live. I love the way Pierce Brown made the world with the Golds always not eating 20% of the food on the plate as to not give and to lose to their temptations. I also really like the society and how the Golds run things. I hate the trope of the rulers of society being these lazy privileged people that make no sense why they are in power still but with Red Rising you completely understand why the Golds rule. They build warriors, they force these young Golds to go into the institute and basically play war so they can become better rulers and warriors. Also before they go into the institute they have to go through the passage where the bottom half of students face the top half of students in a fight to the death with no weapons, just fists. Darrow faced a young Gold named Julian after meeting him and honestly starting to like him despite the fact Darrow hates gold, he scene was very emotional, and was a pivotal moment for Darrow because it makes him realize that not all Golds are blood thirsty monster oppressors like he originally thought. I do also like how the book takes place on Mars and how it talks about this big expansive society that spans all across the solar system, but we really don’t see that in this book it isn’t until next book Golden Sun that we get to see more of the world. Now my 2nd favorite thing about this book was probably the characters. The main characters I like in this book are of course the main character Darrow. I love how he is flawed and his rage. The scene where he kills the proctor Apollo is amazing and is one of the best scenes in this book. There is also his wife Eo who is basically a martyr and the main reason Darrow joins the Rising and tries to bring down the society. Cassius is a great character. I love him and Darrow and the scene where he finds out he is the one who killed his brother Julian  in the passage was heartbreaking. I also love Sevro, him, Darrow, and Cassius being the original Howlers and all the scenes they have together were so fun, if a character represented the story of Red Rising the most it would be Sevro he is just everything this book is, and it is perfect I love Sevro and his friendship with Darrow.. I also loved Roque and he is one of my favorite characters in this book. I love how he is compared to the other Golds and how he is a comforting figure, being the only one to talk to Darrow after the Passage and being another reason Darrow starts to rethink his opinions on Golds. However, none of those characters are the best because the best character in this book is Pax. I love Pax. He is amazing and perfect in every way. He is loud, massive and incredibly strong, and also loyal to Darrow and is just an amazing fun awesome character, and I hate Pierce Brown for killing him, I miss Pax. Anyways Mustang is the main female character in this book and is kind of the 2nd main character being at first an antagonist but slowly her and Darrow grow closer and closer and it starts to turn into something more romantic between them, she is also the daughter of Nero au Agustus who is the Arch Governor of Mars and is the man responsible for the death of Darrow’s wife Eo. The main villains of the story are Titus who is an awful and I mean awful person. He is the cause of a lot of awful things that happen in this book. It is revealed that he is also a Red that was Carved into a Gold as basically a backup plan if Darrow didn’t work out. However, he dies around the Midway point of the book Cassius is the one who kills him. Now the Main Villain of the story is the Jackal who is just wonderful. The amount of build up for him was amazing and so when we finally met him the scene had to be amazing it did not disappoint. This is the best scene in the whole book. It started with Darrow stabbing the Jackals hand into a table then offering him the option to saw his hand off to walk free, and he actually does it! I love when Darrow realizes that he is actually going to do it and realizes how insane he actually is. He decides that he actually will not let him go because he is just too dangerous to be let free. Jackel is also the son of Nero, and the twin brother of Mustang, which is something I don’t really like because it was revealed super late in the book. I felt it was kind of cheap and was only there for a cheap shock but overall it doesn’t change much overall in the story. Red Rising as a series is known for bug hype moments and there are a good amount of them in this first book of the series. The best scene in this book is easily the first time we meet the Jackal, the amount of build up to this scene was insane, and it did not disappoint one bit. I have already talked about it. I just wanted to say it was the best again. It is that good. Other great scenes are when you first meet Pax when house Mars and House Minerva are fighting and he and Darrow fight each other, and you immediately love Pax because he is just such a fun character in this book. I also love the scene when Darrow and Eo are getting whipped and then she decides to sing the forbidden song which ends in her death. The opening of this book is just amazing. Darrow saying there isn’t much gravity on Mars and as a result when hangings happen they have the loved ones pull the feet to break the neck. It is a perfect introduction to the world of Red Rising. To sum everything up there is just so much to love about Red Rising. It is a very good book and a great introduction to the series. I would give it a very good 8/10 and would definitely recommend it to people.