I'm going to just jump right into the reviews here. And there is no better place to begin than the RED RISING trilogy, containing the books Red Rising, Golden Son, and Morning Star, all by Pierce Brown.
Let me start by saying: this will be a non-spoiler review. My goal is to get you to read the books (or at least consider them), not to take the fun out of them. Also, I just need a space to discuss, because I don't know anyone else who has read these books, which is a travesty all by itself.
I gave every book in this series (and therefore the series as a whole) a 5/5 star rating.
The RED RISING trilogy is a fascinating epic that explores the highs and lows of human nature on a very large (yet also - very small) scale. It is set in outer space, and the world building is awe-inspiring. If I were hard-pressed to provide labels, I would need to mention sci-fi, fantasy, and dystopian. However, if those don't necessarily interest you, disregard them, because you should read this series anyway. I don't think I've ever read another sci-fi book, and fantasy is found few and far between in my reading journey. I will, however, admit a leaning towards dystopian books.
I didn't think I would like these books when I first encountered them (at that time, only Red Rising and Golden Son had been released). But I picked up Red Rising on a whim, and it hit me over the head and laid me out for not picking it up sooner. Although, I must admit, I am happy I found it with only a few months to wait for the final installment. The wait would have eviscerated me.
All in all, this trilogy is about honor, betrayal, philosophy, politics, loyalty, family, doubt, leadership, and many other topics that I could continue to name ad nauseum. It is a STRONG indictment of racism and classism; indeed, of many of the isms/phobias that we find ourselves observing and participating in in our society today, and shows, to the extreme, where they could lead us. It is about the wars that we wage with one another as humans, and also the very human condition of the wars that we wage within ourselves. It reminds us that you can't subjugate a whole group (or groups) or people for years, decades, centuries, millennia, and then point to the disadvantage of their current state as a reason for the initial subjugation. It also reminds us that people are not all good or all bad, no matter how much we have painted them either in our minds.
Pierce Brown does an excellent job setting and maintaining a rapid-fire pace (after the somewhat slow build of Red Rising). He delivers enough of Darrow's voice so that we can follow the story and his growth as a person, but keeps us out enough so that the action parts surprise, delight, or dismay us, as appropriate. The characters are deeply flawed. All of them. The good ones. The bad ones. Everyone has a weakness, and they ferret them all out to exploit them for their own causes. There is character growth, and there are also times where you are extremely disappointed in characters that you are rooting for, and I loved it, because that is real life. There are decisions that you disagree with, even vehemently, and the message is: that's ok. You don't have to agree with everything a person does, says, or thinks to respect them and their humanity.
Red Rising starts off a little slow. Give it one hundred pages before you even think of putting it down. Please. Really, I'm begging you. Do it. Once the story expands, it just doesn't stop, and it pulls you right along with it. Red Rising is about the burning of rage, of betrayal on a scope you can't even initially comprehend. Golden Son is about the relationships that are built, broken, maintained, or strengthened through the battle of honor and revenge. Morning Star is the amazing conclusion, about what it means to push through failure and to truly submit to a cause that is greater than one's self.
I hope that this review has sparked even the smallest desire to pick these books up and devour them, as I have. I recommend it specifically so anyone interested in sci-fi, fantasy, stories with a strong moral conviction, or tales told with a dramatic backdrop (like OUTER SPACE). This is now my favorite trilogy of all time, and I don't see it being supplanted any time soon.
PS: I am counting Morning Star as one of the books for the Mount TBR Challenge, since I pre-ordered it in December. Is that cheating? Oh well....
Read and enjoy, my darlings.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Introduction and Mount TBR Reading Challenge Declaration (Fancy!)
Greetings all; welcome to my blog!
First things first: I have tried this blogging thing before. It didn't stick. However, I now come to the internet with a somewhat narrowed focus, so let's see where that takes us...
What I mean by a narrowed focus is that this is mainly going to be a place for me to write reviews for books that I am reading; a supplement to my (somewhat bookish) YouTube channel, which can be found here. The same rules apply here as my channel: I will mostly talk about books, but I will often write about other subjects that interest me. A lot of the time, the books that I read inform the topics I like to talk about, and that's what I call a "win-win," dear readers.
In order to give myself some purpose and structure here, I am kicking off this blog by announcing my participation in the 2016 Mount TBR Reading Challenge! For those of you who aren't familiar with the very hip lingo of book bloggers and YouTubers and have no clue what that means, let me explain what a "TBR List" is. TBR simply stands for "To Be Read." These are books that you want to read in the future. Most of the time, when people use this phrase, they are referring to books that they already own, but haven't yet read. You can add books you don't own to a TBR list, but at that point, it's still a wishlist...
Anywho, the Mount TBR Reading Challenge is designed for people like me, who love books so much that they buy more books than they tend to read. At this moment, I own about 100 books that I haven't read, and there are about 65 more on my Kindle, also unread. I need to be nicer to my unread books (not to mention to my wallet), so I figured that this challenge is a good way to do both of those things. I'm sure that I will participate in other reading challenges this year, and I have a goal (on Goodreads, if you know what that is, lol) to read 75 books this year, so there will be lots of reading taking place, and hopefully a lot of content to be placed here. Of these AT LEAST 75 books that I'd like to read this year, I'm pledging to the Mt. Vancouver level of the challenge (SEE BELOW), which means that at least 36 of those 75 will be books that I already own. (I am secretly planning to actually reach for the Mt. Ararat level - 48 already owned books, but I am loathe to make such a high goal so publicly. Parentheses make this a less serious commitment, obviously.)
In addition to posting about the challenge, I'll be reviewing some books here, and as I mentioned, talking about various other topics that interest me. I'm doing the most, and anyone reading this is welcome to join me on this horribly disjointed but assuredly interesting ride.
Everything below describes the rules of the Mount TBR Challenge, ,and has been copied and pasted from HERE. Please click that link if you want to participate! Until next time...
Challenge Levels:Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s
And the rules:
*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you're on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade. All books counted for lower mountains carry over towards the new peak.
*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2016.
*You may sign up anytime from now until November 1st, 2016.
*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2016. No library books.
*Rereads may count only in the following circumstances: If you did not own the book when you read it long ago and far away [based on your age, you can decide what that might mean--definitely not within the last five years...my arbitrary pick for a limit] and you bought the book pre-January 1, 2016 intending to reread it now that it's your very own. [To clarify--the intention is to reduce the stack of books that you have bought for yourself or received as presents {birthday, Christmas, "just because," etc.}. Audiobooks and E-books may count if they are yours and they are one of your primary sources of backlogged books.]
*You may count any "currently reading" book that you begin prior to January 1--provided that you had 50% or more of the book left to finish in 2015. I will trust you all on that.
*You may count "Did Not Finish" books provided they meet your own standard for such things, you do not plan to ever finish it, and you move it off your mountain [give it away, sell it, etc. OR remove it from your e-resources]. For example, my personal rule (unless it's a very short book) is to give a book at least 100 pages. If I decide I just can't finish it and won't ever, then off the mountain it goes and I count it as a victory--the stack is smaller!
*Books may be used to count for other challenges as well.
*Feel free to submit your list in advance (as incentive to really get those books taken care of) or to tally them as you climb.
*There will be quarterly check-ins and prize drawings!
First things first: I have tried this blogging thing before. It didn't stick. However, I now come to the internet with a somewhat narrowed focus, so let's see where that takes us...
What I mean by a narrowed focus is that this is mainly going to be a place for me to write reviews for books that I am reading; a supplement to my (somewhat bookish) YouTube channel, which can be found here. The same rules apply here as my channel: I will mostly talk about books, but I will often write about other subjects that interest me. A lot of the time, the books that I read inform the topics I like to talk about, and that's what I call a "win-win," dear readers.
In order to give myself some purpose and structure here, I am kicking off this blog by announcing my participation in the 2016 Mount TBR Reading Challenge! For those of you who aren't familiar with the very hip lingo of book bloggers and YouTubers and have no clue what that means, let me explain what a "TBR List" is. TBR simply stands for "To Be Read." These are books that you want to read in the future. Most of the time, when people use this phrase, they are referring to books that they already own, but haven't yet read. You can add books you don't own to a TBR list, but at that point, it's still a wishlist...
Anywho, the Mount TBR Reading Challenge is designed for people like me, who love books so much that they buy more books than they tend to read. At this moment, I own about 100 books that I haven't read, and there are about 65 more on my Kindle, also unread. I need to be nicer to my unread books (not to mention to my wallet), so I figured that this challenge is a good way to do both of those things. I'm sure that I will participate in other reading challenges this year, and I have a goal (on Goodreads, if you know what that is, lol) to read 75 books this year, so there will be lots of reading taking place, and hopefully a lot of content to be placed here. Of these AT LEAST 75 books that I'd like to read this year, I'm pledging to the Mt. Vancouver level of the challenge (SEE BELOW), which means that at least 36 of those 75 will be books that I already own. (I am secretly planning to actually reach for the Mt. Ararat level - 48 already owned books, but I am loathe to make such a high goal so publicly. Parentheses make this a less serious commitment, obviously.)
In addition to posting about the challenge, I'll be reviewing some books here, and as I mentioned, talking about various other topics that interest me. I'm doing the most, and anyone reading this is welcome to join me on this horribly disjointed but assuredly interesting ride.
Everything below describes the rules of the Mount TBR Challenge, ,and has been copied and pasted from HERE. Please click that link if you want to participate! Until next time...
Challenge Levels:Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s
And the rules:
*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you're on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade. All books counted for lower mountains carry over towards the new peak.
*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2016.
*You may sign up anytime from now until November 1st, 2016.
*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2016. No library books.
*Rereads may count only in the following circumstances: If you did not own the book when you read it long ago and far away [based on your age, you can decide what that might mean--definitely not within the last five years...my arbitrary pick for a limit] and you bought the book pre-January 1, 2016 intending to reread it now that it's your very own. [To clarify--the intention is to reduce the stack of books that you have bought for yourself or received as presents {birthday, Christmas, "just because," etc.}. Audiobooks and E-books may count if they are yours and they are one of your primary sources of backlogged books.]
*You may count any "currently reading" book that you begin prior to January 1--provided that you had 50% or more of the book left to finish in 2015. I will trust you all on that.
*You may count "Did Not Finish" books provided they meet your own standard for such things, you do not plan to ever finish it, and you move it off your mountain [give it away, sell it, etc. OR remove it from your e-resources]. For example, my personal rule (unless it's a very short book) is to give a book at least 100 pages. If I decide I just can't finish it and won't ever, then off the mountain it goes and I count it as a victory--the stack is smaller!
*Books may be used to count for other challenges as well.
*Feel free to submit your list in advance (as incentive to really get those books taken care of) or to tally them as you climb.
*There will be quarterly check-ins and prize drawings!
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