Natalie's Book Reviews

Summary:

Red Rising is a mature science fiction book by Pierce Brown, set hundreds of years into the future and into a rigid caste system. Every caste has its purpose and color, and and every genetically modified human bows under this system. Failure to bow entails horrific consequences, but bowing to your social position already entails horrors…

Darrow, a native to Mars, tells his story. From the very bottom of society to the very top, he begins it with tragedy after tragedy, leaving him with no options, no choice, and nothing to lose. Undergoing gruesome surgery and learning the savage ways of the “noble” upper class, Darrow works towards infiltrating the hierarchy and dismantling it.

Morals: Justice over revenge, long-term over short-term, pagan morals on full display

Recommendation:

Without God, man becomes monstrous.

This is not something you would find in Christian library, yet I will still recommend it because of this: If God granted humanity a thousand years to turn away from him and still succeed, then what could it look like? Red Rising does not glorify this supposed perfect system man created, despite all of humanity’s accomplishments in that world. God is not honored in it and it shows through billions of horror stories living alongside the protagonist’s own.

It’s entertaining, funny at times, and shocking at others.

Read this if you want something truly out-of-the-ordinary.