Monday, August 21, 2017

Red Rising by Pierce Brown (audiobook)

genre: dystopian sci-fi

When you are a Red, you are at the bottom of the totem pole.  You are dirty.  You are digger.  You are working to prepare the surface of Mars for those who will come and find its home a refuge.  In this future society, Darrow knows that being a Red is ridiculous work, but it is at least for a cause.

At least, he was told it is.

And when what he loves more than anything is stolen from him and he learns the truth of his own slavery, Darrow is more than angry.  He is willing to do anything to change the society that puts Reds like him down in the dirt.

He is willing to put himself amongst the Golds.

SO.  I had two readers I trust recommend this to me,  The first time, I tried the first maybe five chapters and got so bored I stopped.  It was just like all the other Hunger Games/Divergent trilogy books.  It felt too formulaic. Then reader friend number two had finished the whole series and told me that really, you just have to get halfway into the first book and things pick up.  Oh, and do the audiobook.

I took her advice and she was totally right about the audiobook.  The reader here is incredible and I actually cared about Darrow more when I was listening to him.  He's not a very lovable character and this book is really violent.  Sometimes, surprisingly so.  LOTS of violence.  It is the first chapter in a revolution story and we know how those go.  But it is very intriguing and once I got maybe a third in, I started caring about the world and about what Darrow was trying to do.  Certain plot elements surprised me and I liked what I heard.  Is it too long winded?  Oh my word yes.  Sometimes I needed things to MOVE FASTER but by the end, I felt like I could stick with this story.  I would like to know how Darrow is going to change the universe.  Based on what I know of him so far, I think he can.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I read this book and the next one too. I don't do audio so I don't have a comparison, but I agree you have to keep going to get involved in the plot. The beginning didn't hook me either. Very well-written and unusual plot, I think.

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