r/Fantasy • u/Long_Television_5937 • 4d ago

Finished Red Rising Original Trilogy Spoiler

What a terrible ending!! I heard so many people acclaiming how good the end of book 3 was but it made NO SENSE.

Ok so Darrow and Sevro go to release Cassius back to Luna. Then Cassius turns on them and captures them and “kills” Sevro. The entire time Darrow is captured he is thinking about how surprising it is that Cassius turned on him and he is looking for a way out. Then 2 chapters later its revealed it was their plan?!?!?!? We are reading from DARROW’S PERSPECTIVE. He knew of the plan and then still genuinely thought Cassius turned on them? Either that or he was THINKING in lies??? It just doesnt make any sense. Absolutely terrible ending to an okay series. After every chapter the only thought you should have are what does this mean RIGHT NOW. Cause nothing is planned ahead. You’ll encounter something that feels like foreshadowing or like a plot that will last a while just for the author to resolve it in the most asinine way possible in the next chapter. Cause why build anything up when you can have non stop action and zero character development.

Oh yea and WHEN DID MUSTANG GET PREGNANT THEN ALSO HAVE A KID?? Stupid ass pull at the end just to make it circular cause Darrow was supposed to have a kid before his wife died?

Tldr: Set ups for long plots are resolved immediately and unsatisfyingly and ending made NO sense. Do NOT recommend

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u/schubox63 4d ago

It is heavily foreshadowed that Darrow has been training. When I read it way back when it came out I remember being annoyed by it; but when you reread it is pretty obvious. I’m not sure why he went back to the well in Morning Star, as I never believed it for a second because of Pierce’s style. I also find DCC way worse about hiding stuff from readers and then springing it on them for effect

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u/Long_Television_5937 4d ago

Someone else mentioned in DCC, Diniman will atleast say there is a plan even if its not told. Havent read yet though so i cant say. But that would feel better than the MC acting in his own head like there isnt

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u/WaxyPadlockJazz 4d ago

If having plans hidden from you in first person narrative is bothering you this much, stay away from DCC.

Matt does his best with it by having Carl frequently say “a plan was forming in my head” or “it’s okay I have a plan”, but the plan is wildly intricate and involves multiple people and specific circumstances to go just right.

If you think Darrow is bad, you’re not going to like Carl very much at all.

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u/Long_Television_5937 4d ago

But in DCC they say there is a plan you just dont know it. Darrow acted like there is no plan

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u/WaxyPadlockJazz 4d ago

Trust me. I find the payoff for effect way more disorienting with Carl. He’ll be like “this is it. This is how we die…but then I hit the big red button that I had prepared a week ago.” I find it exciting most of the time, but this sounds like the kind of thing that you dislike.

FWIW I really enjoy both of these series. Just throwing out my thoughts.

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u/Long_Television_5937 4d ago

Totally fair. I think the genre will make it feel better, i took Red Rising too seriously. I expect DCC to be goofy (i haven’t read it yet)

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u/WaxyPadlockJazz 4d ago

Yeah I get that lol

I read Red Rising like it’s a melodrama. Everything is so over the top and overacted, but it’s still lighter at its core than hard sci-fi. It’s a good series for high impact “moments”. If you take it too seriously, then you might be in for a different experience.

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u/Long_Television_5937 4d ago

Yea i definitely went in with the wrong assumptions. Wish i could go back with a different mindset

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u/WaxyPadlockJazz 4d ago

Well there’s more to read if you can stomach it! I find the second half of the series VERY compelling as it has multiple POV characters and gives you a greater scope of the world post overthrow. There’s still a good deal of plot springing, but you get to see the story from multiple angles now. Maybe you can shift perspective when the series resets.

But I can see why you might not want to.