Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

9 reviews

driedmintleaves's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

Like the hunger games but if the MC was actually the most confident sort-of-idiot ever. Sort of homestuck. Very fun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Genocide, and Colonisation

eefmaoam's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This story was different than I expected it to be, both in good and bad ways. 

I love the premise, world building, characters, and general ~vibes~. The story is pretty fast paced in the beginning, to slow down a bit after the first ~25% of the story, which gives you some to time to get used to the current situation and what has happened before that point; it really works. It’s clear from the very first chapter what this book will be about and it still manages to surprise me and not felt like a dime a dozen dystopian YA book, just going through the motions. 

However, even though the plot itself was surprising, the beginning (and also some minor plot points after that), was pretty obvious and felt a little too easy; it didn’t feel like it was the writers intention to make the reader more knowledgeable than the characters in the story, therefore not increasing tension but taking some away. This problem did let up, once the story ramped up luckily! 
Second point of ‘megh, why, otherwise this was a 5-star read’ is the weird discrepancy between the actual age of the main character and how he came across. Yes, Darrow sometimes even makes remarks about this himself, and, yes, it makes some sense in this world looking at his background, but it still irked me. Especially when

he has sex with his, also underage, wife (reading it felt pretty yucky, even if it fits the narrative)

and

when the other student, supposedly around his age and even less developed mentally then Darrow himself, start raping each other (yes, that happens in the real world as well, and I’ve read multiple books in the same genre that also discuss it, but this felt so much more jarring because of their age and the way it is discussed. And no, not in a ‘what a cruel dystopian world this is, that these things happen!!!’ kind of way)

, but also more generally it gave a bit of an ~I’m not like other people!!!~ vibe that reminded me a little bit too much of some YA troops. But, this problem has also (partially) solved itself now with him aging in the story. 

Over all I’m excited to start the second book. I’ve seen some people think that the story really gets going only during the second book, so I’m hopeful I will enjoy it even more and my icks will not rear their heads again! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and War

gabrielofthe14th's review against another edition

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

5.0

Really loved this book and just flew through it and right on to the second book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, and War

mirandyli's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

This book is Brave New World meets Hunger Games, with way more oppression. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bookfulthoughts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Magnetic and captivating ✨

“I am the spark that will set the worlds afire. I am the hammer that cracks the chains.”

I really liked this one! The story was extremely well written and interesting. The world building was excellent and extremely detailed. I was able to visualize exactly what was happening and what everyone looked like! I like that the plot was never lost in the storytelling and this book sets up for the rest of the books in the series perfectly. I do believe that I can see this book becoming a classic in the near future. I loved the concept of the color classism and how that was presented. In my opinion, that was a unique aspect of the story. I also loved that Darrow wasn’t perfect! I he has many flaws but that’s what makes this book good. It gives his character room to grow and develop in complexity.

My reasoning for not giving it 5 stars. Personally, in certain parts of the book it was very reminiscent of the Hunger Games. Having inspiration is fine and I have no problem with that. I’m not sure if it's just me but some scenes felt too familiar. Another thing I took points off for was the fact that I felt like I should have been more emotionally attached to certain characters but I didn’t feel much when things happened. I felt like it was a little cold at times with other characters. Besides these issues, I really liked this book and I do plan on reading the rest of the series in the near future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

eliaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Vomit and Death of parent

isotope_s's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

So Protestant. Knock off Hunger Games. The book is boring until you get to the games. The games were interesting to read. It wants to say something about justice and race and class. But it just doesn’t—like I said, knock off hunger games. Idk if I’m just tired of rebellion books or what. Also I can’t stand the MC. So annoying, condescending, and full of himself. Also there was literally nothing about this that was sf besides the setting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Cannibalism

its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

powkaye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

2.5

This book and series is very very grim dark. In my experience this is overlooked by reviewers who gush over the overall story and world building which is great but won’t prepare you for how dark this world is. I could only make it 100 pages into book two when I felt nauseous and dnf the rest of the series. Buyer beware.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Colonisation

You are told that it get better from the first book but with 100 pages of book two

babies are getting their heads bashed in