Red Rising

This was unexpectedly good for me. I am an avid romance and fantasy reader so was not sure when this book was marketed as neither. My husband has told me for months that I would enjoy this series and in typical fashion, he was right.

It is a nonstop thrill ride that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. In the first 50 pages, you get the inciting incident and I was glued from there. Not only is it a well written and entertaining story, there are a lot of deeper issues in the story. Namely grief, classism and revenge vs. evolution and growth. The grief storyline was incredibly moving and I found myself really feeling for Darrow. He is complex and he cried several times in the story! Which is refreshing to see a male author write a male character who cried and admitted when he made mistakes.

spoilers ahead*

Eo’s death was heartbreaking. Her saying to him, “then you must live for more” was profound. Part of me was a little like y’all are 16 and that’s off putting but, while they clearly had young love, you could feel it. Which made Eo’s death all the more heartbreaking. We didn’t get much time with Eo but she was clearly brave, intelligent and a spitfire rebel. When Darrow didn’t want to go on without her and purposefully tried to die, I was not sure I wanted to continue because it was so sad! Even in the first 60ish pages, Brown’s prose is so strong that I already felt for the characters. While the story has it’s surprises and sad deaths, it’s so worth it and doesn’t get to the level of Eo’s death again.

I loved Darrow’s journey as a Red inside a Gold. It was such an interesting examination of the resentment that builds among the lower class, including but not limited to working your ass off in not just poor conditions but deadly all for the benefit of the upper classs (in this case, colors) while they do nothing. Darrow does have some Daenerys vibes- he came from slavery to being among the elite and wants to make them pay for everything he and his family have suffered and avenge his wife’s needless and cruel death. He is a Red in a Gold’s body with a heart made of the same stuff. I am curious to see if, like Daenerys, he succumbs fully to power in his quest for revenge instead of just focusing on doing good for who he can.

Mustang is everything. I love her character so far and can’t wait to see where the story goes with her. She and Darrow’s connection is a lot of fun and also sweet. Darrow’s complicated feelings about his connection to her and also his grief and guilt for Eo was palpable.

The ending was a cliff hanger that would have had me sweating if the next 5 books weren’t already out. This has a lot of parts of Game of Thrones I loved, but in space and still wholly unique. I’m so excited to dive into the next one!