Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Debut Goodreads Author Winner
Red Rising by Pierce Brown



Book Summary:
The Earth is dying. Darrow is a Red, a miner in the interior of Mars. His mission is to extract enough precious elements to one day tame the surface of the planet and allow humans to live on it. The Reds are humanity's last hope.

Or so it appears, until the day Darrow discovers it's all a lie. That Mars has been habitable - and inhabited - for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down on Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.

Until the day that Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside. But the command school is a battlefield - and Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda.

I loved, loved this book. Can't wait to read the second one... :)

I do want to read this but (as my self imposed rule states) I'm waiting until all the books are out.

Lynn wrote: "I do want to read this but (as my self imposed rule states) I'm waiting until all the books are out."

No winner for you then!!! ;)

I'm reading it, but it will probably take me all month. I have it as an audio, but it is downloaded on my laptop, so I can't listen during my commute.

I liked this one a lot, and enjoyed the second book even more. I'm waiting impatiently for the third book to come out next year.

Ok, I will be doing one or two chapter or day for this one. I think it may be the only way I can squeeze it in.

Although I didn't hate this book, I didn't really like it either. To me it falls into the category of "The Every Dystopian".
The world building was really lazy in my opinion. (view spoiler)[ I get that Mars was "terraformed", but I never felt like I was on Mars, other than the mention of two moons. Terraforming took away any opportunity to make this book unique. (hide spoiler)]

I'm just starting it, but I'm not feeling it yet. It seems a little lifeless .. or lacking emotions? Idk. Maybe, it'll get better.

It certainly does get better! I really struggled the first quarter of the book, but then once the whole school situation started, it was very gripping. It's reminiscent of Hunger Games, but more complex? Which I love! I didn't feel that the world building was necessarily lazy .. to me it seemed more like the author is just preparing the world building since we're kind of getting to know the world with the character. I'm hoping that the second book will add a whole new level of depth to it.
I'm also very glad that it's not one of those cliffhanger books. It's a series, but it also has a good ending. Open, but nothing that makes you desperate to read on immediately. Though I am looking forward to the next part ...

Hoping to start this one today! I've had a fairly busy month and haven't gotten around to it yet. You know, life and all...

ugh! Life. :P

Haha, yup. Life got in the way and I didn't even start it. Oh well. Fortunately, it will still be there when I finally have some time.

oh, here here, me too. LIfe really stinks right now, but October should be easier, and I'm still looking forward to reading this one!

Once again, I was behind the times on this one. I finally got to it and enjoyed the heck out of it.

There are clearly a lot of similarities to the Hunger Games, but this felt grittier and more intense to me. In comparison, the Hunger Games feels campy.

I liked the inclusion of some mythological themes, as well.

Now, the big question is how is the next book, Golden Son? It has been my experience that many YA dystopian series fizzle after the first book.

I haven't read this one yet, Valerie. So, I'm even more behind than you are! I'm glad you liked it. I am still looking forward to reading it, but it is looking like it will be a 2016 read for me.

Golden Son is a Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee, so hopefully it's pretty good. I'm hoping that it wins so that I will be given a deadline to read Red Rising. :)

To me this was the exception where the second book is even better than the first .. grittier and more intense, but very different as well.

This feels like one of those political intrigue tales .. you never know the true intentions of anyone.

Thanks for the feedback, Janina. I may have to move this up my list.

So I did finally get a chance to read this in October and forgot to post about it! I thought the book started slowly in my opinion, similar to you, Janina, but loved it once (view spoiler)[ he "died" (hide spoiler)], and the story definitely picked up!

I agree there are similarities to other dystopian novels, not to mention a bit of Lord of the Flies in there. I thought the author did a good job of covering a lot of ground in the space of a school year. It was pretty intense at times!

I'm definitely planning to read Golden Son at some point - also hope it gets picked for next year!

just finished this book and really enjoyed it! had quite a few late nights staying up to read because i couldn't put it down! i personally thought the ending dragged a little, as compared to the beginning, but that's just me. i am happy to hear the second book is supposed to be better!

i also likened the book to harry potter (school, divided into houses with mentors) meets hunger games (competition for your life) meets divergent (dystopian society with castes based upon abilities).