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plutoreads · 4 years
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red rising - pierce brown
7.5/10
5/10/20 - 5/22/20
red rising follows darrow, a lowcolor red, as he infultrates the golds in attempt to bring justice to the reds.
NON-SPOILER REVIEW. the first third of the book was slow, maybe even first half. but once the book got going, it was so worth it. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK. it was well worth the boring start. the characters, especially the main character, are so strong. the character growth that takes place in this novel is so well done, and reminded me that books really can make you feel something and feel less alone. in the last half of the story, there is never a dull time. right as things might start to be looking just prime for the characters, some new problem arises. this isn’t an annoying thing, though, it just keeps the characters moving. if I haven’t made it clear enough, this book is so worth it. the characters are worth it. the last half of the book definitely makes up for the first half. this novel--outstanding.
this book is hard to rate on a scale out of ten. the first third was slow. very slow. as a writer myself (wow, that sounds pretentious), I could see his reasons for the way he paced the novel all the way through. but the beginning was still so slow. the second third was more interesting and encouraged me to keep reading because I knew something big was coming. and that last third. THAT LAST THIRD Y’ALL. really. really. good. and so worth it. let’s talk about the specific notes I took while reading.
the rest of the review has spoilers. you’ve been warned.
DARROW, THE MAIN CHARACTER.
i’ve seen a few reviews, and some people really don’t like darrow. I do! a lot! as a character in a story, pierce makes sure he’s the one making moves and pushing the plot forward. there are events that push him (like the proctors taking their horses, etc.) but darrow takes matters into his own hands. this makes him a way more interesting character than he would have otherwise been. an example of this is
THE LEGEND OF THE REAPER. I absolutely LOVE the way the legend of the reaper grows. I love how aware darrow is of himself, how he goes out of his way in order to make the myth grow larger. this reminded me of the mockingjay with katniss in the hunger games, but this was even better. it was darrow himself ensuring that the legend grew, rather than it happening on it’s own. another instance of how proactive darrow is, and how it makes him a more interesting character to read. along with that, his
CHARACTER GROWTH was something I was able to see, in a good way. I don’t remember the last time I read a novel and was able to see a character grow, written in such a good way as this book was. darrow grew. he learned how to not let his anger control him. most important, his leadership skills grew, and I loved watching that. also, his love for eo is so sweet. everytime he talked about her I got all butterfly feeling hehe. anyway, because of his character growth, specifically his leadership,
NOTHING FEELS HANDED TO DARROW. at different times in the novel, when he becomes the leader of different groups in the game, it never feels handed to him simply because he’s the main character. we were able to read about his growth, see him making mistakes and battle others through short sentences to see who has the power and who is dominating. I love that about this book. I love the small exchanges between wannabe leaders, all the minuscule things going on that mean so much, and any small movement can change who the dominating force is.
OTHER CHARACTERS
ROQUE AND SEVRO. I love roque. he is set up as the perfect character for someone like me to have a special place in their hearts for. he also seems like the perfect character to kill off in the last book to tear a reader’s heart to shreds, and I have a strong premonition that he’ll suffer in the next books. and sevro sevro made me laugh when I first started reading about him--living alone in the woods, killing wolves, possibly raised by wolves. and then he really came into play in the story, and everything changed, and I love sevro now. who doesn’t? roque and sevro deserve the best.
MUSTANG and her ANGER. she was a very unexpected character for me. at times, she was definitely not my favorite character. but I will never stop loving her anger. I love it so much. mustang’s anger comes from a pure want and will for justice. this passion often surprises darrow, and I love it even more because of that. she longs for the right thing to be done, always, parallel to
EO. we were robbed of more time with eo. she brought so much atmosphere to the story. whenever she was on the page, I was automatically more interested in whatever I was reading. especially because oftentimes her and darrow disagreed on things. so much more interesting to read than her agreeing with everything he said, or vice versa! I get that mustang is very similar to eo, but I want more real eo time. I hope in future books there are flashbacks or something, just so I can see more of eo. next in my notes, I wrote about
WRITING/PACING
THE WRITING STYLE. i’m a little conflicted with this. when I first started this book, and probably up until the halfway mark, I caught myself rereading sentences because they just didn’t flow well. they were abrupt, not written in a style I typically read. this book is harder to read at times than most YA books, but maybe this style is meant to remind you that there is more to be said than the usual flow easy-reading of most YA books. along with the writing style, pierce brown is able to get a reader
WRAPPED UP IN THE STORY. he does this well enough that at times, you 1) forget it’s a game darrow’s playing, he’s at a school, and 2) you like most gold’s in the game so much that you forget that darrow shouldn’t be liking them, either. this is a nice real reminder that darrow is struggling with the same questions we are. rather than reading about darrow grappling with this, you as a reader are actively wondering about the same things, which makes the story that much better.
! PLOT TWISTS !
-I definitely thought there had to be another red in the game, but I was shocked to find out it was titan. I want to know so much more about him and hope he comes into play in the next two novels--i’m sure he will, pierce brown seems like the type of author who writes so that everything matters. who found titan, how did he come to be a gold, what were his goals? I need answers, pierce. going. while I was reading, I tried to figure out who might be a red in the novel--sevro and roque seemed like too obvious answers, but it didn’t feel like any of the other character’s darrow was close with were reds, either. titan was such a good twist that I should have seen coming. very well done.
-sevro and fitchner--did not expect. while I read the novel, I was so scared that sevro might die because of how much darrow and fitchner put into protecting him. but it didn’t come in this book. I have a feeling something terrible will come to him in future books.
-mustang. now, i’m not sure what you were thinking when you read this book, but darrow was oh so worried that she was going to ditch him for her brother. but really? did you really think that while reading this? because I know I didn’t. never for a second did I doubt that she was loyal to him. she already seemed so estranged from her brother from all the things that we had heard--especially with her father making sure the jackal won the game but not doing a thing for her. favoritism if i’ve ever seen it.
PREDICTIONS. 
-sevro will die. for sure. this will be painful to see, but this has to happen, right?
-roque will go through so much traumatizing pain--will he even remember who he is? I don’t know If pierce will go so far as to kill both sevro, and roque, and I think, at least for roque, it would be more painful for him to live but have some type of pain occur.
-where will future novels go? I’m very interested to see what will happen next--I hope they’re as good as the last half of this novel. I really have no idea where the next novel in this series will go. 
FINAL THOUGHTS
GOOD BOOK. READ. this book is worth it. darrow, while not my favorite main character, he’s a dang good main character. pierce brown knows what he’s doing with plot, characters, growth, twists, even pacing--or at least he’s good at faking it.
IF YOU LIKED THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE
legend by marie lu. I will forever encourage people to read this book, but this time I definitely think that if you liked red rising you’ll enjoy legend. legend is a quicker read, but they both include strong main characters and you won’t want to put them down once they get going because of the non-stop action and the lovable characters.
best wishes!!! pluto <3
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