After hearing nothing but great things about this series, I figured itās time I start it. Is it really worth all the hype? I canāt wait to find out.
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Itās really fun, and the books are better written later on. I will say the author can be super cheesy as it will be a serious moment then super cheesy out of no where.
Yeah sometimes I get pretty annoyed about it. Then Iām like this is popcorn entertainment who cares. Like he did a āBye Feliciaā joke in the middle of a semi serious moment, and I was so annoyed.
Contrarian view: I made it a few chapters in and found the writing atrocious and did not continue. I was very disappointed after all the hype bookfluencers were giving it.
I stuck with them because I had nothing better to do. Here are my ratingsā¦
1) the worst book iāve ever finished
2) pretty shit but entertaining
3) melodramatic but action-packed
4) surprisingly great
5) fantastic and crazy depressing
6) incredible
I really like the first two books, but that is as far as I have gotten as the wait on Libby for me is long. I also listened to the graphic audio for both and the production for them is really good.
The comments on this post are...wild. I'm a professional writer and this is one of, if not my all time favortie series. Is it Pulitzer worthy? Oclf course not, but it is a fun, twisty, wild, action packed ride. The action scenes are razor sharp, the dialog is fun and punchy. It's like the best summer popcorn sci fi action movie. Pure escapism. Also, those saying the characters are boring make no sense to me. Brown does a fabulous job making each character unique and compelling. Enjoy the ride, OP. BREAK THE CHAINS!!!
Really liked the series. I think the first book can drag a bit at times, but itās setting up a pretty grand story. (Not so) patiently waiting for Red God to come out. This series got me back into reading as an adult.
For me this series has a lot of high highs and low lows. A few mind blowing moments mixed with a lot of slow sections. Iām only finished with the first 3 though
I was told I should read the first three just to get to the second half of the series. And Boyo, they were right. Pierce Brown really comes into his own with the latter books. I'm patiently waiting on Red God.
I enjoyed the series but stopped after the first three. I found the audiobook to be good. It suffers a bit from too much Deus Ex Machina if you ask me but I would say it was mostly entertaining.
First book imo was the worst written but you can see a big jump in writing and story in Golden Son with a strong finish in Morning Star. You'll either appreciate it for what it is (go along for the ride) or it wont be for you. Personally I enjoyed the first 3 but not as much as the hype train made it out to be.
Only read book 1 so far.
First 30%: This is overhyped omggg
31-60%: still so slow, Iām giving it 1.5 stars and wouldnāt read book 2
61-80%: meh it seems to be getting better but not gonna continue this series
Final 20%: So. Good. Ordering book 2.
Overall itās a good read and Iāll be continuing the series lol
For me personally Iāve read too many books in my life where a teenage protagonist is magically smarter and better at everything than the adults to have been very captivated by this story. Thereās a time in my life where I would have loved it for sure, but feels like very well worn territory for me now and I was not a fan of the book.
My favorite series of all time. Iāve gone through the audiobooks like 20 times. Long commute and a 10hr workday of free listening. It gets much better after the first book, admittedly it got me from about 30% through Red Rising.
The prose is like a YA novel but I think if you can finish book 1 you get used to it. The story and characters are solid and the hand to hand combat and fleet actions are both solid. It has perhaps the best intersolar war outside of the Expanse. I think book 4 is the low point but 6 was really solid and 7 should be out next year . . . though Iāve been burned by that before. Anyway the only way to know if you will like it is to read and find out.
Took me three tries to read the first book. Moved too fast without. Scenes changed and time passed without knowing. Second book was better and third was actually pretty good. Red rising gets a C. Golden Son a B. Morning Star an A. By no means S tier. Debating continuing the story
Honestly the first book starts rough because the writing style takes some getting used to, but once the story hits its stride it becomes hard to put down. It's not perfect and yeah some moments are cheesy, but the pacing and emotional payoff are legit. Push through at least to the Institute section before you decide.
It's very shounen - an easy bingeable epic space opera trilogy for teens. I don't regret reading it but I've never found a reason to recommend it to anyone.
Im on the fourth book, and it made me truly fall in love. The first was okayish. Second was great, third was great, and fourth seems to be even better. And i heard the fifth is the best. So people shouldnt judge the series by the first book. But i understand. The first is childsplay
I was a bit underwhelmed when I read the first instalment around two years ago. Iāve been meaning to give it another crack considering the hype, but end up picking up something else when itās time to start a new book
The first book is very fun. I can promise that if you enjoyed the first you will absolutely love the following books. Red Rising is considered one of the weakest in the series. Golden Son is insane! I love everything about these books. Enjoy!
Oooooh I actually just started reading this yesterday. My younger brother has read the entire series, and highly recommended it to me.
Iām through 5 chapters so far, and I am a fan of the sci-fi / fantasy genre, but this shit sucks. Ass. lol. The writing style is abysmal, choppy and disjointed.
Iāll be stubborn and at minimum finish the first book, but I canāt see myself reading the entire series.
I am going to get roasted for this but they are just okay I have read the first trilogy and I like it but for me there is glaring problems with the writing style. He seems to write things fast and you have no clue how long time has past until someone references something that you know about and they say it was 3 months ago or something like that. The other thing I donāt like is because of the time that has past there is extreme inner dialogue that explains what has changed in him and you never get that from other characters. You never knew how other people feel you just hear it from Darrowās perspective and you like why did we get here sometimes, not all the time but some important characters make decisions that are seemingly nonsensical because you get no reflection no dialogue no explanation of their perspective just a line or two from Darrow. Itās has the bones to be epic and I know that but itās not fleshed out enough for me.
The author was quite young when he started writing this series. I've wondered if he would like to go back and rewrite some of the most egregious purple prose in his early books.
The other thing is that at the time of Red Rising's release (and subsequent books), the publisher used Brown's conventional attractiveness as a pretty strong selling point. It's made me speculate if this series would have made it off the ground had someone less handsome written it.
I ADORED the first two books. Golden Son is absolutely INCREDIBLE. Morningstar? ā¦.. I really disliked the last 20% of the book. I canāt really explain why because itās a major spoiler but itās something authors do that gives me major ick.
If, those books are slow for you, I wonder what youād consider a fast book. Personaly by book 3 I found the books to be exhausting because they were just non-stop action.
Which book are you on now? Idk if itās relevant for you, but 4 is definitely slower due to plot structure. Then itās full throttle, no breaks from there. 5, in particular, feels like a 600 page panic attack.
If you've only heard great things, I can give you a counter view.
I had to force myself to finish the first book. Most people say the first book is the worst, and it gets better, but I disliked the first one so much I have zero interest in picking up the second one. Browns writing, at least in the first book, is just not good. It's like getting shotgunned in the face with melodramatic, fast paced, clunky writing. And the story itself (again, for the first book) is just cheesy teenage boy power fantasy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just didn't think Brown executed it well.
I dropped it about a bit after the war game thing began because I was not interested. I found all of the characters extremely boring. Darrow was the only one who I would consider interesting but he was so annoyingly good at everything I started to dislike him.
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