Reviews with content warning for Rape - Red Rising

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

474 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

mshiley's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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mayhem9683's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

spatterson7's review against another edition

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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

_mayaaa's review against another edition

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2.75

The idea is cool, but oh my god the rape pissed me offff. It was used only as a way to try an excel Darrows progress as a leader. Every. Single. Assault. Went back to him, from characters using it to ‘show him up’ to only discussing how he dealt with the rapist and how that made him look as a leader. Also just the pure sexism against these GENETICALLY MODIFIED STRONGEST WOMEN was so annoying. There was no woman in a place of power who wasn’t written as a joke, a love interest, or a traitor. Also going back to the assaults, seriously pierce brown needs to like talk to a survivor for like five minutes. I feel like he swept the atrocities under the rug so fast, going as far as redeeming the assaulters throughout the book. Like no, just because he didn’t rape someone because he wanted to rape someone but because he wanted to have control doesn’t make it ok. Like use your brain maybe?

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gracemegredy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

I cannot believe this book stayed off my radar for so long. It is one of the most engaging books I’ve read in a while and a prime example of the YA dystopian genre. Though most of the main characters are 16-18, I am in my early 20s and felt it was great for my age.

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kirstym25's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.25

Content Warnings

heyitsmehyuppers's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war.”
That’s the first line of the book. I’ve never been sold so quickly.

Red Rising is the first book in a series consisting of Two Trilogies. And it is off to a great start. This is a soft start to rebellion. Laying the groundwork and dipping the reader’s toes into this new world. But it’s so fast paced and exciting that I am so upset I can’t immediately start the Golden Son.

Darrow is an endearing main character. He has clear goals and is very ambitious. His confidence that not only will he be in the rebellion one day, but that he will lead it astounds me. But I love that about him. Because he is so quick to take responsibility. When he makes a mistake, he feels a deep pang of guilt. When others make mistakes, he feels guilty for causing that mistake.

Sevro stole the show for me though. I am a big softie for characters who are ride-or-die. Fiercely loyal and extremely confidant with the most crass personality. The biggest point in his direction is that there are no instances that I can recall where he is needlessly cruel. To anyone. He says what he says, and he puts in the work.

The main love interest fell a little flat for me though, I’m hoping that she is more developed in Golden Son because for now I don’t have much to say about her.

The banter in this book is witty and fun, but I feel like the writing is its strongest when conveying ego. Everyone has big egos in this book. Even people that shouldn’t. It makes some characters more endearing when they’re boasting (Pax), and others look like enormous tools (Tactus). It’s the main point of contention, most battles and conversations are about who has the most power. Darrow often must change strategies to find the best way to work around his party’s ego. Give too many orders and it comes across as if he believes he’s their king. Don’t give orders and he becomes a doormat. It’s a fine line he has to figure out to navigate, and honestly when he finally hones that skill it’s very compelling.

I have one problem with this book. And it’s a bit of a biggie, enough that it’s a 4-star instead of a 5. I feel that violence against women is used a crutch for Darrow’s progression. He’s married so his wife can die. As hes being carved, a Pink (an entire branch of people who are produced for ‘pleasure’ reasons) girl is the one who takes care of him. Its not enough that Titus is cruel bully to try to overthrow him, he has to rape the women he captures. Tactus, a character I really like when you completely remove this aspect, attempts to rape a slave as a power move against Darrow. It’s a crutch, and not a good one. I understand that the book is trying to convey the gritty savagery of the Gold’s. But violence was getting that across just fine.

I think this would be less of a major issue for me if the violence was equal. While I am sure there are Pink men, never were they mentioned. Except to be used as an insult against another gold: “youre pretty enough to be a pink.” Which unfortunately, without evidence of pink men existing reads like “you’re pretty enough to be a girl.” No men suffered sexual violence, which you could argue was a strength issue. Which leads me to the women all being frail and dainty except Pax’s “Helga.” The only beneficial physical attributes given to women were “fast.” Why are women able to participate in the academy at all if they’re so physically inferior? I can’t even recall an instance where Mustang fought. She won battles, but not within view of the readers. It’s incredibly frustrating because I like this book so much.

I would recommend this book to people who are looking for something harsher than Hunger Games but still lean towards young adult.

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muyaya7's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-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

Content Warnings

wardenred's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

Life is the most effective school ever created.

I feel like I’ve made a mistake in picking this up as an audiobook. The writing style is the kind I can better perceive, perhaps even enjoy, when I see the words in front of me on the page. In this format, though, it ended up being kind of distracting and almost dense, which likely colored my perception of the story to some extent.

As for the story itself… Well, plenty of people have recced it to me with a comment that this first book is deliberately crafted to match the Hunger Games-style tropes popular at the time, but grows into something more unique and expansive in the latter books. That sounded super interesting in theory, but now I’m not so sure if I want to continue to those latter books, tbh. Maybe I’d rather re-read Hunger Games.

I wouldn’t call the book bad, and I’m actually really impressed by the worldbuilding. A lot of it is really intricate and thought-provoking. I also generally like plots focused on going undercover to stay among the enemies, and this one has its awesome moments. But in general, there were just too many aspects here that aren’t to my taste. For example, I’m definitely a character-first reader, and here all the characters just so obviously exist as vehicle for the plot and the themes. This was hard for me to vibe with.

I also found the way all the brutal violence is handled here off-putting. Not just the quantities of it, but like, the way it was spoken about? Maybe it’s at least partially on the narrator, but I felt like it was constantly crossing into torture porn territory. Finally, the pacing was just too rocky, with a loooong expositin that had me wondering if the inciting incident would ever occur, then big sections moving at breakneck speed around the middle/in the second half of the story, making an already dense story with lots of characters harder too follow.

All in all, lots of cool ideas here (and really great worldbuilding!), but I’m not sure the author is for me.

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