Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Recommended Read!

“Read Pierce Brown… I highly doubt you’ll be sorry.”
~ Under the Covers

Well, I finally read it and you can add me to the one of millions of Pierce Brown fans. I heard a lot of buzz about this book when it first came out but I didn’t jump on it because one, I never give into hype and two, a friend of mine kept comparing it to the Hunger Games. In fact, she said it was even BETTER. Well, we all know how I felt about the first book (spoiler: I loved!) and then we know have I felt about the last book (spoiler again: I HATED IT with a passion of a thousand fiery stars!!!) so I was really hoping the Hunger Games comparison didn’t fall through with the last book in the series. Since all the books are out now and nobody has thrown the book at a wall (like I did with MOCKINGJAY), I decided I’d man up and read it.

I’m so glad I did.

While I can see the inevitable comparisons to the Hunger Games in this book, Pierce Brown has a completely unique and alluring world here. First off, it’s set on Mars and the world that our protagonist, Darrow, lives in isn’t very pretty to look at. He’s considered as of the lowest, the reds and their purpose is to dig for Helium 3 that is needed to terraform the planet and make it livable. This job is highly dangerous and Darrow risks his life day in and day out but he seems happy in the beginning. It’s when the book progresses that things continue to get harder for him and we see more than just a great hero. We see a man who can make a difference.

One thing you’ll immediately notice about Darrow’s character is that he is incredibly romantic. How he thinks, how he acts, is all something that a Romance hero would do. I think that’s how Brown is able to allow the emotion come through. There is an almost poetic flare to his narration. Darrow feels everything, so his anger, his grief, is immediately felt by the reader as well. Because of this though, I could predict some of the events that happened in this book but I don’t necessarily think it was a bad thing. The worst had to happen to Darrow before the real story started.

This book actually reminds me a lot of Ann Aguirre’s Science Fiction series. Both the Sirantha Jax and her Dred Chronicles follow the same harrowing tone. But if I had to pick a more truer comparison, this series reminds me a lot of Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking series. Remember that series? Poo, Todd! I still die over that and I feel like readers will have the same reading experience if they enjoyed Ness’s books. So if you’re a fan of any of these books, you definitely need to check out Pierce Brown. And even if you aren’t, read Pierce Brown anyway. I highly doubt you’ll be sorry.

[about-author author=”Pierce Brown”]

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