Book Stats
- Series: Book 1 of the Red Rising series
- Publication Date: 04/03/23 (Graphic Audio)
- Format: audiobook
- Narrators: Full Cast – Stewart Crank, John Kielty, Richard Rohan, Stephanie NĆ©meth-Parker, Jenna Sharpe, Kay Eluvian, Jon Vertullo, Ian Russell, Alejandro Ruiz, Andrew Colford, Bradley Foster Smith, Christopher Williams, Chris Stinson, Christopher Walker, Colleen Delany, Elizabeth Jernigan, Eric Messner, Ian Putnam, James Konicek, Joe Mallon, Joel David Santner, Julie-Ann Elliott, Karen Novak, Ken Jackson, Lucy Symons, Marni Penning, Martin Dickinson, Matthew Bassett, Matthew Pauli, Matthew Schleigh, Michael Glenn, Michael John Casey, Nanette Savard, Nazia Chaudhry, Nora Achrati, Shanta Parasuraman, Stephone Walker, Dylan Lynch, Yasmin Tuazon and Andy Clemence
- Length: 15 hours & 50 minutes
- Narrator POV: First Person, from Darrow’s POV
Book Rating
Overall: āāāāā/5
Summary & Review
Well okay. Wow. I don’t even know how to start this review because what Pierce Brown created? It’s beautiful and unique.
He is a wonderful author, clearly able to capture not only basic human nature, but the deep reactions his characters feel. He created an entire world of fictional characters that feel so real and flawed and perfect. Complex beings that I had the pleasure of getting to know. God, I can’t gush enough about this story. It’s everything you need! Drama, betrayal, romance (slightly), political intrigue, spying, and emotionally damaged and flawed, but loveable, characters.
This book is a Sci-Fi dystopian fantasy. It follows the story of Darrow, a Red miner on mars who faces tragic loss. He discovers that the world isn’t as it seems – his people are slaves to the ruling Golds. After his death is faked (not by his doing, mind you), he is enlisted to become a new weapon – a Red-turned-Gold who can infiltrate and destroy the cruel Gold society from within.
This world is wonderfully written. It’s intense, dark, savage, and difficult. Everyone is flawed, sure, but they’re people. They have good traits along with their bad. Darrow struggles to find his place amongst the people he’s supposed to hate and the ones he’s supposed to lead.
He’s re-created into an entirely new being. I won’t spoil the story but just know this is a difficult process but he thrives, only to find himself in a more difficult situation than he thought possible. He’s meant to work against the Golds, but is it possible he could like (or even love) some of them?
Brown’s world is fantastic. A color-coded society/ hierarchy that matters more than the individual. It’s a unique story that leaves us readers wondering where we could possibly go from here.
The book is fast-paced, violent at times, and intense with strong, but flawed characters. There’s a lot of social injustice, power abuse, and unnecessary deaths.
However, I love the chaos and randomness of it all. The fact that I never know what will happen next or who might die. I love the unpredictability of it, even though it’s super stressful. š
Between Brown’s fantastic writing and the wonderful narration of the full, Graphic Audio cast? This is PHENOMENAL. I cannot wait to dive in to the next book!
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