Joshua H

This will actually be my second time reading the series. My first exposure was an absurdly well voiced audiobook. With some time for the experience to breath, I have revisited this masterful tale of uprising in a world rife with the rot of classism.

The story is reminiscent of numerous YA titles in many regards. The first book in the series tends toward unbridled familiarity with other works in its particular niche of sci-fi YA. If that is not a style that interests you, fret not, for the series lands far from its initial launch. Unlike others of that ilk, Red Rising harnesses the velocity in action without compromising prose. The setting allows for the archaic maneuverings of days long past to cordially meet a distance future of technology. As such, we find the language of many characters to be antiquated and political maneuverings familiar without it feeling too misplaced.

It is difficult to write a review for a book like this without spoilers. Every chapter will leave you craving the resolution in the next. If there is one fault I have found in these books, much like our main character's own life, there are no moments to breath. With a first person narrative, this makes logical sense. However, there is continued acceleration throughout which often undermines the attempt to have a real discussion about class disparity.

The narrative does not have a moment to breath and neither will you as you wait with baited breath for the next chapter.

The book finds a comfortable home for those wishing to get their liminal fix. There are issues I have with the book, but at its core, I must admit that it achieves what it sets out to do.

To expand upon what I enjoyed about the book, the themes surrounding how fickle our minds are, how integral memory is to who we are, and how we rationalize experience to fit into a preconceived framework, all felt gracefully integrated into the plot with little to no heavy-handed inference. The book takes a relatively modern mythology and canonizes our post-lockdown zeitgeist.

If you enjoyed the consummate professionalism of Susan Calvin in Isaac Asimov's Foundation, if you couldn't get enough of the progressively wilder antics in Stephen King's Dark Tower, then this book is right up your alley. Alas, to me, our main character lacked a core through line, the author's voice seemed to wield his characters as tools to acheive his narrative goals without willingly sacrificing his own intentions for what the character would do. We follow a few characters in this book, and if I were to shuffle them into different parts of the story, there would be no change in the actions taken.

The storyline maintains a consistent growth throughout the first half of our journey. That is, until U-3125. To avoid spoilers I will only say that the premise for this unknown is intriguing. However, the story begins to self-iterate until it loses form and grows unsemetrically into the disfigured mass we find at the end.

The book is very digestible, which makes up for many of the narrative shortfalls. I do not quite understand why this book is reviewed so highly. The only reason why I did not give a 2 star review is that some of the inconsistencies and characters flaws could be written off as a purposeful choice, given the subject matter. Give it a go. The book is what intends to be.