Admittedly, I don’t have a particularly interesting reason for picking this one up. It seems to have done well enough in terms of sales, hitting # 20 on the NY Times Best Sellers list back in 2014. But it was never nominated for any awards (that I’m aware of), and I can’t say it’s been a big part of any of the conversations happening in the genre spaces I pay attention to. I’ve heard from friends that it’s huge on BookTok, but so far it hasn’t hit my feed there (maybe now it will!).

It doesn’t seem to provide context for another current work (as did Jackalope Wives, another recent read originally pub’d in 2014), nor can I point to Red Rising as some sort of personally formative work like The Matrix or The Mummy (1999).

I sorta just found it on my bookshelf and just decided to give it a go.

I have vague memories of maybe getting the book in one of those promotional bags they sometimes give away at conventions. I don’t remember which convention or what year. In essence, Red Rising kinda just followed me home one day.

That being said, I’m (generally) pretty glad it did!

First impressions Pierce Brown’s Martian epic are simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. Overwhelming in the sheer amount of information we need to take in to get started on our rise to power, and underwhelming in the sense that little of this information is very distinguishable from other pillars of the genre. The intergalactic scope of Brown’s “Society“, with its focus on lineage and contracts (both military and civil) feels reminiscent of Dune, while the book’s invocation of Roman gods and goddesses as “house leaders” feels like something pulled from Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians – The Lightning Thief. Then of course there is The Institute, a kind of war college centered around an ultra intense survival game, which seemed to almost quote the Battle School from Ender’s Game.

Actually, this book seems to owe a pretty hefty debt to Card’s classic (and no I did not intentionally read them back to back, that was actually just serendipity). Parallels between Darrow and Ender seem obvious; both are outsiders whose defining trait is seemingly their ability to out-think their opponents. House Mars’ proctor, named Fitchner, occupies the same role in Darrow’s story as Colonel Graff does in Ender’s: that of an antagonistic mentor. The two even seem to share some stress-induced eating disorders. That the name Wiggin is mentioned in a list of old earth conquerors seems to confirm the novel’s prominence in the author’s mind when writing.

And there were plenty of other pop-culture references within Red Rising as well. I caught a mention of Osgiliath, which is of course a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien‘s fantasy classic, The Lord of the Rings. Assuredly there are other easter eggs I missed.

In terms of genre, I wouldn’t really consider Red Rising a Godpunk novel, however it does have the shape of one, aka. insignificant mortal becomes significant by killing corrupt immortal gods which mistreat the noble but powerless masses.

The game’s proctors are not literal gods (although they are named after Roman deities), but they are so powerful within the setting that they might as well be. Since this narrative arc is so well rehearsed, Red Rising does not really hold much tension in whether or not Darrow will survive all the games and machinations of his supposed betters, but how will he survive them. How will he win with such high odds stacked against him? What can he do, and what will ultimately be the cost? What won’t he risk? How far is too far? It’s all pretty brutal.

This is of course, quite a powerful narrative, and I would say the thing that carries the novel despite what I would consider some missteps.

The first of these missteps comes right from the beginning and is pretty baked into the premise of the story. I’m talking (small spoiler) about about Darrow’s wife, Eo, getting ‘fridged’ pretty much immediately. Since reading The Refrigerator Monologues back in 2017, I notice this trope in tons of works and always find my eyes rolling a bit now when I see it. In Red Rising it’s especially egregious because it almost happens a second time with Darrow’s new love interest getting captured and put in need of saving near the end of the book.

This is probably the most obvious instance of (I’m going to assume unintended) misogyny within the book, but I found a pretty interesting discussion of some more hidden biases explained in a post titled Building Mars: How Red Rising Flubs Class Conflict over at Mythcreants.

My second hiccup with Red Rising involves its use of the Color-Coded Castes trope in which their society is divided into a spectrum with “golds” at the top (the haves) and “reds” at the bottom (the have nots), and a myriad of in-between colors with various roles in the society. This is obviously quite a common trope, and some of my favorite fantasy series have made use of it (see Shadow and Bone, Harry Potter, and Wheel of Time).

And while I can see the benefits of this kind of world building — easy shorthand for characterization, instant conflicts between castes that historically hate each other, quick identification of allies and enemies — I wonder if abandoning this trope might actually provide for more rich and interesting stories.

Things might get more confusing, sure, but wouldn’t a more satisfying experience come from sussing out whether a character is a friend or enemy by watching what they do, and having to pick up on clues in their behavior? Couldn’t characterization be developed through an extra scene here or there? And how much more tension could a scene hold if we just didn’t know for sure where allegiances lie?

I think the answer to all of these questions is yes and a lot, and probably I’ve just reached my limit on this particular tool.

Give Red Rising a Read?

I would say yes, but with some pretty big caveats. This book has some issues, which I’ve tried describe without spoiling too much. But it also has some good things going for it as well. I’m not a fan of its sexism and its use of some tropes (fridging and color-coded casting), however, I did enjoy the main arc as well as any little references or allusions to other genre titles. I listed many books which it seems to share some common elements with. I enjoy those other books and so I found myself enjoying those parts of Red Rising.

I can see that this series has about six books in it already, so I expect I’ll end up reading the sequel and continue to refine my opinion further as I go.

That’s all I have this time. What is everyone else’s take? Has anyone else read this yet? Are there any tropes you just hate to see? Any you love? Leave your thoughts in the comments, I’m looking forward to chatting about this one!

Until next time!