Red Rising

Title: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Genre: Sci Fi/Fantasy
Source: Paperback
Rating:  DNF


Darrow is a member of lowest caste in society.  Even when his group makes enough to earn additional supplies it is given to someone else.  He lives his life believing he is making life suitable on Mars.  But then his kin are betrayed and his wife taken away and killed.  He discovers that humanity has reached the surface years ago and his kind have been forced to be slaves for those in the surface cities.  Darrow sacrifices everything he knows to infiltrate the system and is then forced to compete for his life against the best of the Gold society.  Can he bring down his enemies?  Will his sacrifices be in vain or will he prove successful?

I had seen those book on the shelves at stores and it kept popping up as a recommended read.  The premise sounds interesting and something I might like.  But I could not get into it.  I tried for a few chapters and felt nothing compelling me to read the book farther.  I had no emotions for the characters even when Darrow losses Eo, I felt nothing, and I should have.  People kept telling me to keep with it and it gets better...but it does not. I couldn't finish it.


The characters are completely unrealistic.  In the opening sequence we see Darrow have a complete disregard for not only himself but his team.  He is hotheaded and would not listen to his crew when they told him to wait, and surprise it works out for him and everyone is clapping him on the back.  Wait...he just endangered all their lives but yes lets celebrate his cockiness.  We are meant to feel for him as he is of the lowest castes and has not had the privileges of the Gold caste and is therefore completely uneducated and naïve in a sense.


I feel like the book was trying to make a statement, some sort of message but it got lost along the way.  It being compared to Hunger Games and other dystopian novels and I didn't get the feel of any of that other than the kid from the lower class gets pitted against peers from other societies.  The writing is difficult to follow and understand.  There were times I had to go back and re-read things to make sure I got what Brown was trying to say.  Granted there are moments when the book has some great quotes such as:


"  will dive to hell in hopes of one day rising to freedom."


but all the preceding sentences were choppy and short:


"I will rise.  I will attend the Academy.  I will learn to lead fleets.  I will win.  I will sharpen myself into a sword.  I will give my soul."


There could have been a greater effect on the reader if the sentence structure was different and appealing.  This book was not appealing.  It is tiring to read and exhausting, it makes the writing flat and hard to evoke emotions.  The novel feels like it tries to hard to be something, to be an epic political tale of triumph, but it falls short...way way short.  I do not recommend.

Ready Player One

Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Genre: Fantasy/Sci Fi
Source: Paperback
Rating: 4 out of 5


The OASIS is a virtual reality world, where you can do basically anything your heart desires.  One of the world's creators placed an Easter Egg within the realm and has clues leading players to the egg.  It has been 5 years since the first clue had been release and no one has found it yet.  Until Wade (user name being Parzival) figures out the first clue relates to a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon.  Once he figures it out and competes for the first key, he discovers he is not the first person to figure out the clue, but the first person to defeat the first boss.  From here it is race with other "gunters" and an organization named IOI, who want control of OASIS, to find the remaining keys and enter the gates to find the Easter Egg.  Along the way Wade makes some friends, as well as some enemies.  He finds the game not only challenges his nerd knowledge, but also challenges his strengths and weaknesses.

I was already interested in this novel, but was encouraged to read it quickly to see the  movie, I am glad I did.  While it was slow to start and seemed a little slow moving throughout different parts of the book, it was well written and interesting to read.  Being an 80's nerd, I loved all the references and understood every one of them.  He does describe some things a lot, but then some things he doesn't as they are typically things the general public would understand such as movie or television show references.

I have always enjoyed the idea of virtual reality (VR), and enjoy seeing how other people interpret the idea such as this novel or shows like Sword Art Online.  The idea of this book is that people basically live their lives in the alternate universe, almost like people who get pulled into the world of MMOs like Everquest and World of Warcraft, but Ready Player One takes it farther with working, shopping and going to school through this VR world.  Cline does a great job at describing the world, how it works, how people interact, as well as continues to show a class difference even inside the OASIS.  The way he presents the game, challenge, quest whatever you want to call it is rather interesting, and I almost expected it to get harder as it went on, but it didn't seem as that was the case, the clues were harder to decipher, but the gates themselves seemed rather easy.

Wade was an interesting enough character of a typically nerdy fellow down on his luck.  He does grow into himself and learns about his strengths and weaknesses as well as the importance of being able to rely on those around him.  I liked how Cline incorporated that idea into the story as well, the importance of teamwork as well as healthy competition between friends.  Art3mis was interesting as well, I kind of wanted a little more from her perspective and the competition between them and Aech rather than the romantic aspect of her and Wade.

Overall it was a good perfect for those of us who love the 80's and all things considered nerdy.  I am excited to see what the movie will be like, hopefully I can catch it in theaters.  If you are a fan of sci-fi, virtual reality, and 80's nostalgia pick up this book and dive into the OASIS.