Red Rising by Pierce Brown (2014)

Red Rising by Pierce Brown (2014)

A dystopian novel with rigid social classes defined by 14 colors.

Laura’s Rating: 3/5 Stars

Plot: In a world where Golds rule, Darrow is born a lowly Red, the lowest social class in the Society. Laborer Reds compete amongst each other in mining contests, meant to distract them from the oppressive upper classes. When his life is turned upside down, Darrow undergoes a transformation to try to infiltrate the Golds from within and take them down.

Analysis: This book has a similar premise to other dystopian novels from the last decade or so: an eccentric ruling class supported by oppressed groups of laborers and other skilled classes. To quote the book, the system is “a game of merit won by birth. It keeps the hierarchy in place. It keeps us striving, but never conspiring.”

There are several tragic deaths and the book is quite brutal and violent. There’s similar competition and death in books like The Hunger Games or Fourth Wing, but the tone of this book felt darker and more serious. 

I really don’t care about most of the middle. The competition drags on and on and goes on too long in my opinion. I liked the political system and class dynamics explored in the beginning, but I think the novel loses sight of the world building and focuses too much on the action in the latter part of the story. Overall, I thought Red Rising was decent, but not my favorite of the genre.