Red Rising / Pierce Brown

Red Rising
(Red Rising Saga #1)
by Pierce Brown

science fiction

copyright 2014
read in June 2015

rated 9/10: really, really good

Wow !

I've not even read to page fifty and I'm blinking back tears. How could this happen ? Such planned, cold, vicious cruelty ! Not through detailed blood and gore...

I am already empathising with key characters. Enough so that a single loss has me upset. This loss drives the hero. But it does not drive the book.

From humble beginnings... Okay, it's a cliché. Humble hero becomes superman so that he can beat the oppressors at their own game. It's a cliché that is told so very well.

The hero is young, yet he learns hatred. And then he learns more.

The bulk of this book is sword and science action. Cunning, treachery, violence and suffering. Mixed in effective proportions with heroism, friendship, hatred and personal growth.

Okay, the plot is a straightforward flow, from A to Z. Once the hero knows what he should do, it never fails. Simplistic ? Bloody good fun !

Through all the boys' own adventures, characters are interacting. Friendship, jealousy, sacrifice, loyalty. Totally unbelievable. Totally acceptable.

The hero is driven by the need for revenge. Then he learns that revenge is not as sweet -- not as satisfying -- as he expected. The oppressors are evil. Then he learns that there is good amongst the evil.

The hero's goal is to overthrow the oppressors, to bring the slaves out to rule their brave new world. I'm betting... I'm hoping... that by the end of the trilogy the hero will have done better than that. The way he's going, the hero will not just overthrow the oppressors... He will lead oppressors and oppressed -- together -- to build a better world.

I would not be surprised. He's that sort of hero.

I raced through this book. Finished... and thought, Wow !

Put it down. Forced myself to wait a week. Read it again... And, again, thought, Wow !

This book, is really, really good.

I hope I don't have to wait too long to read the next.

===

03mar20:

I've just reread this book. It is as good as it was on the first (and second) readings. I completely agree with my original review, above: Wow!

This time, I'm more aware of the prepared links into the next books in the series. It's not just, Win the game. There is also, Win the game and make some friends and enemies for the future. I must get the next book :-)

I also made a minor change to the above. It's no longer "1 of 3". The trilogy is complete, a follow-on series seems to have started. But -- good news -- the fourth book is introduced as, It is ten years later... So I am happy that the "trilogy" will, indeed end. But the adventure will continue.

Weltanschauung: A comprehensive conception or image of the universe and of humanity's relation to it.