Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

59 reviews

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Red Rising will never cease to amaze me. No matter how many times I read this book, I am always left surprised and in constant awe of Pierce Brown's brilliance. There are not many writers who could fill 400 pages with near-constant strategy and incredible insight into human civilization.

In my opinion, worldbuilding is one of the most crucial elements of a good book/series, and there are no worlds better written than the Society in Red Rising.

The complexities of this world vary from the obvious (the color system), to the minute (the use of bloody instead of gory), and they are shared with the reader in a way that feels completely organic and unforced. 

And then there are the characters. 

**Spoilers Ahead**

On the one hand, Darrow is the textbook definition of morally grey, but on the other, he couldn't be more different. He has a good heart, but it is because of that good heart that he is able to commit normally heinous acts. Not once did his mind stray from his overall mission (at least not to the point of hindering his mission), even when his goals required that he sacrifice his own morals. 

I was never really a fan of Cassius. He expected respect without earning it, even while constantly disrespecting his friends in little ways. He wasn't capable of putting his goals above his personal opinions and vendettas. 

Sevro is just his own breed. Utterly perfect in every way. I'll fight anyone who says a bad word about Sevro. He deserves everything good in the world (but probably doesn't want it).

Mustang was the character through whom Brown's brilliance really shown. Her unwavering logic and strategy made her loyal in a way that wasn't blind but was genuine. She always reminds me of Annabeth Chase (another daughter of Minerva/Athena).

Pax au Telemanus. 

Such a soft heart in such a hard form.

I will never forgive Pierce Brown for what he allowed to happen to Pax. Never.

If you haven't yet read Red Rising, I suggest you sit down and start right now. It's the kind of book you'll always wished you'd read sooner. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

spatterson7's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

underthemoon_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

4.5 stars for pure entertainment. -.75 because the book seems to want to communicate a clear moral but fails to consistently state what that moral would be either structurally or in text. I've never read a book about eugenics where the author's own opinion about eugenics is this unclear. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Violence, War, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Medical trauma

Minor: Excrement, Cannibalism, and Dysphoria

insideunder's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A vivid young adult sci-fi dystopian novel with interesting world building and a main character who absolute goes through it. I like Darrow, especially since he has a character flaw - rage - that I find cathartic and relatable. His anger makes him impulsive and passionate, and gets him in trouble as much as it helps him. The performance of this audiobook elevated the story for me by at least one star. Wasn't sure I'd care for another War School story, but this one managed to have enough new and interesting ideas to keep me on my toes.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Excrement and Cannibalism

erinmassey23's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

Minor: Trafficking

rmb27's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

This book is a very dark hunger games full of vengeance, death, loads of swearing, and frequent discussion of sexual assault. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone and wish I had DNF. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and War

te_pa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I did not expect this at all. All I new when I first picked up this book was: sci-fi from Mars and that everyone I know gave it five stars. I must say, if I knew a little bit more going into this, my rating might have been higher. 
This book is for the teens who grew up reading The Hunger Games and Divergent because the second part of the book is very reminiscent of these stories.

I really didn't expect to read about castle sieges, kids murdering each other for sport and houses fighting over who's better.

I did enjoy it, but it was not what I expected from a sci-fi book happening on Mars. 
The book was very unputdownable. Strong scenes go into even stronger more brutal ones with ease and you cannot stop reading. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Rape, Excrement, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

psocoptera's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Excrement, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, and Sexual harassment

mayabaxx's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Who TF is recommending this as YA?
Picturing a white man sitting down and writing this level of graphic violence, gore and sexual assault makes me uncomfortable. And it’s only ever been recommended to me by a man who says it’s their favourite book ever. Like ok. Don’t ever come near me, thanks.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Colonisation

bookishholly's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I have so many conflicting feels about this book.

Potential spoilers and TW for r*pe mention

Overall I enjoyed Red Rising, I liked the setting and the overall story. I don't think it's saying something new or really adding anything of value other than entertainment to the world and sometimes that's ok. 
There were multiple times where I felt uncomfortable with the clear misogyny that I don't even know if the author is aware he has written. I admit that it was written 10 years ago but I thought even then that the insult of doing something "like a girl" was outdated. Also to me it feels like there is an undertone of casual homophobia. 
Essentially all of the main cast are insufferable and the fact that one character's attempted r*pe of another is so quickly moved on from is hard to swallow, especially since beginning book 2 and realising that they are still around. 
At this point, I intend to keep reading but that may change.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, and Cannibalism

Minor: Excrement