BOOK REVIEW: RED RISING BY PIERCE BROWN

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Published: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 389
Rating: 4/5

This is the first book in the Red Rising trilogy.

Summary:
On Mars, the Reds, the lowest class in a color coded society, are working to extract enough elements from the ground to terraform the planet so that humans can live there. At least that's what they've always been told.

Review:
This is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable books I've read all year.

I've seen this compared to The Hunger Games and I feel like that comparison is accurate. It has a lot of the same elements to it, like how unfair the society is and how our main character is from the lowest class etc. I think there's something really compelling about that kind of thing, because it mirrors things in our society that is not great, which is what dystopian novels are supposed to do. It's an exciting, enthralling and fun book to read.

I quite liked our cast of characters in here, although there are a lot of them and it's sometimes a little hard to keep track of everyone. I also really like the setting, I felt like I could really picture the different places and feel the atmosphere of them.

One thing I will say though is that I was surprised by how the story being set on Mars felt strangely irrelevant; the Mars is depicted in this book is basically kind of just like Earth, and I would've loved to see a little bit more of the... space aspect of it. I also thought the story did drag out a little bit in parts, especially in the middle and then I've also heard people say that this isn't YA, but it definitely is (although it feels less so than for instance The Hunger Games).

It's not an entirely revolutionary story, but there's something incredibly compelling about in nonetheless. I'm very much looking forward to reading the next one in this series, as I'm curious to see this world expand and learn more about it. I'd highly recommend it to all my science fiction fans out there.

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