Welcome back blog readers! No new movies seen this week so we’re going back to the well with another book blog. Last week, I read Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It came recommended (and sent to my house) by the same person who recommended The Will of the Many, and wow it did not disappoint. It’s a really similar story, vengeful outsider infiltrates the tyranny and tries to destroy from within. And I LOVE that shit. Really gets the blood pumping reading about these characters crushing those who have wronged them. Between those books and Sunrise at the Reaping, I have been exclusively reading these types of stories lately. Maybe I like reading about kids fighting to the death, I don’t know. Let’s dive in.
I’m going to try to minimize writing synopsis’s going forward, it’s tedious and better recaps already exist on the internet if you want to read them. I’ll talk about key parts and takeaways, hopefully it won’t read like a manifesto. Our main character in this story is Darrow, a Helldiver slave on Mars. Darrow is apart of the slave class “The Reds” who exist solely to serve those above him. His father and wife are both hung, and he is as well for disobeying the government’s orders. However, when Darrow is hung, he is saved by scientists who slowly rebuild his body into a “Gold” where he is physically and mentally stronger. He is now at the direction of the terrorist group “The Sons of Ares” who want to enroll him in the Institute so he can rise the ranks of the government and destroy them from within.
The Institute is WILD. Right off the bat they are paired with another student and have to fight them to the death. Darrow unfortunately has to kill Julian, the younger brother of fellow student Cassius au Bellona of the Bellona dynasty. He gets drafted on Cassius team, Mars, and befriends him; he doesn’t know what Darrow did to his brother. The goal is to conquer the 12 other “kingdoms” (other teams) by any means necessary, a test of war and strategy to get the brightest students into power. The biggest threats within his house are an evil/connected girl Antonia, and a brute named Titus.
Darrow and Cassius struggle to unify their house, and much unfolds as they find their footing. Titus causes a lot of trouble and beats/humiliates Cassius. After learning Titus is another Son of Ares operative from Mars, Darrow allows Cassius to kill Titus for raping/killing the slaves they take during the game. Cassius also thinks Titus is the one who killed his brother. They slowly start to battle the other houses; Darrow becomes quite the leader. He has a pack of “howlers” who are these little guys led by Sevro; they’re an elite stealth team and just amazing to read about. He takes House Minerva from a girl named Mustang who flees, and Darrow, Cassius, Sevro, and Antonia begin their plans to win the game.
Their proctor, Fitchner, informs Darrow of another madman taking control of the game, nicknamed the Jackal. Darrow learns the Jackal is the son of Arch Governor of Mars, Augustus, the man who killed his wife and father. While trying to conquer the game, he is betrayed by Antonia who kills his friend Lea and takes his friend Roque captive. Later that night, Cassius awakes him saying he found Roque and they go out to find him. But it’s a trap, Cassius knows Darrow killed his brother Julien and challenges Darrow to a duel. Darrow is defeated, left bleeding out to die.
He is rescued and nursed back to health by Mustang, the Minerva girl who fled during his conquest of her house. They grow close, he even nurses her back to health when she gets sick. They begin a plan to take control of the game, freeing slaves of other houses and giving them freedom in exchange for their fealty. He gets Sevro back in the fold, who has never swayed allegiances, and they go back to take House Mars from Cassius. They arrive to a dejected Cassius, who returns the thrown to Darrow but tells him they are now blood enemies. With his army and house back in order, Darrow begins to move forward. Roque is alive but wounded, and Antonia is crucified barely alive.
They begin taking out the rival houses, and finally set a trap for the Jackal. It works, they find a smaller boy well-armed alone in the castle who quickly surrenders. Darrow tricks him into getting drunk, eventually impaling his hand into the table as he reveals who he is. He makes the Jackal saw off his hand, but the Jackal then kills Darrow’s best soldier Pax and flees. Mustang chases after him and Darrow regroups. Fitchner then tells Darrow that Mustang and the Jackal are siblings, leading Darrow to assume he was double crossed.
Darrow knows the proctors are cheating for the Jackal to win, so he steals Fichtner’s grav-boots and brings his army up to Olympus to surprise them all. He and his army role through all the proctors, capturing or killing any that are cheating the game. When he returns to the battlefield, he finds Mustang has captured and bound the Jackal. There was no double cross, she was still on his team, and they win the Institute’s game.
Afterwards, Arch Governor Augusts offers Darrow an apprenticeship with him in exchange for keeping the cheating scandal quiet. Darrow accepts, knowing this is the best outcome for the Sons of Ares and puts him at the right hand of their enemy. The book ends there as Darrow begins training for what’s next to come.
My thoughts on this: this fucking ruled. Darrow, unlike Vis from The Will of the Many, loses a lot. He is not indestructible, but he has the same resilience and quick thinking. Any time he got knocked down, he came back stronger. He’s absolutely brutal, and you’re often reminded that he is almost an anti-hero. We’re literally rooting on a terrorist killing children.
The character development was awesome, Pierce Brown did an incredible job making you love, hate, and distrust certain characters. Darrow is ruthless, but he has us rooting for him to conquer the world. Cassius is going to be a great villain, no one blames him yet it’s still going to be sad if Darrow has to take him out. Mustang gave us zero reason to distrust her, but up until the end I still expected Darrow to get double crossed.
The last three books I’ve read all featured some sort of battle to the death between high school kids. I have no idea why something so horrific is so fun to read. I like to imagine myself and friends back in high school competing in these, we’d lose so quickly lmao. The whole “taking down the dystopian empire” genre just rocks and has for the entire existence of humanity.
While this is just book one in a trilogy, I believe there are six total books in the series with the seventh coming out next year. I am about halfway through the sequel, Golden Son, and it’s just incredible. I look forward to blogging it next week. I give Red Rising a 5/5, truly an incredible story and I’m so excited to keep going. Thanks for reading, catch you next time!
