/lit/ - Literature

>>22571793
Red Rising, #1 - Pierce Brown (2014)

Red Rising is a wish fulfillment revenge fantasy. The Hunger Games is a common comparison, which to me is only valid in that they're both dystopias with youths vs youths. Why this is a such a common comparison is a different discussion. The Will of the Many is compared to Red Rising, which also has many differences, but it's closer.

Darrow, the protagonist, is truly amazing in how much he's able to accomplish. This isn't competency porn though, because his successes aren't primarily because of his own actions. Darrow considers himself to be self-made man, which is ironic. He's one of the least interesting characters and it's only told from his perspective. I would hope this would make it easier to see that the protagonist's perspective needn't be the dominant narrative, others have their own stories, but it only hints at that. It could be argued this is all to show Darrow's steady growth, but to me it was more a series of discrete transformations. There's a lot of dissonance, but that's mostly left unexplored.

What I found most strange was whether its style was intentional or by coincidence. There are flashes of being more meaningful and providing a worthwhile discussion, but that's all there ever is. I don't know if that was me reading too much into it, or if there was anything there. I kept thinking there would be something more to it, some greater reveal, some deeper level of complexity, but in this first book at least it's played entirely straightforward at the surface level. That's my fault for expecting otherwise. Regardless, I can't argue with its commercial success. If the author had pursued anything more substantial it probably wouldn't have been anywhere as successful.

This is a science fiction book, but for most of the time I felt that it may as well have been a description of some war campaign from the middle ages or even older. I thought there would be a bit more academic stuff, but it turned out that aside from a single exam it wasn't present at all. There's a lot that doesn't really follow science fiction, fantasy, or speculative fiction in general. It presents itself as such, but that's mostly decorative. The ideal audience for this may be young adults who are only casually interested in SFF, and who are put off by having too much of either. That's certainly a much wider audience. That being said there's also a strange amount of neologisms that seem reminded me of Golden Age pulp SF, which was confusing. Maybe he intended to go after all audiences. He was successful regardless.

Despite all that, I found this to be rather amusing in its absurdity. It definitely goes for the dramatics. I would've enjoyed it much less if I hadn't quickly given up on taking it seriously in any way. I don't dislike the content so much as how it's presented. I'll be reading the second book because supposedly it changes a lot. Maybe I'll be surprised.

Rating: 3/5

Book #1/10 of my ratings contest

This, does it get better? I'm on chapter 4 or 5, very predictable so far, like a teenager wrote it.

just finished this highly recommended sci-fi novel from /lit/, which was basically hunger games but ANGRY. are the sequels better?

here's something some of you might find motivational
guy writes 5 books and none of them sell
he tells himself, "okay, one more book. if it doesn't sell i'll find another hobby"
it sells like hotcakes
his books are ranked #1 on the ny times best seller list
it's an action adventure series with a lot of political intrigue. very grim dark at times. male protagonist.

this is easy to read and it's fun
it's ranked like 6th on reddit's fantasy list

>>20760336
read "red rising"
easy to read and it's good
it's like #6 on reddit's list of best fantasy

this was fun

is this /lit/ or /co/?

I just started morning star. Will my revenge boner become fulfilled or will it be a book about suffering and darrow becomes a good little broken boy?

Apparently this has been picked up by Apple tv for a 10 hour ,10 episode first season.
I liked the book despite its obvious flaw but I've generally detested many of its fans, reviews on goodreads and other similar content surrounding the books.
My general experience is that fans of tv shows that are adaptions of books are almost always cancerous, has anyone else experienced this in regards to other books getting made into tv shows.

popular books edition
>whats the current popular scifi/fantasy books you already read that are not completely trash

Monthly Reading for January: A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick

Fantasy's Greatest:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/0935e4cd59/105363.jpg
General:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21328.jpg
Flowchart:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21327.jpg

The best of Science Fiction:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/def184ad8f/124507.jpg
https://imgoat.com/uploads/b44928ae11/114401.jpg
General:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21332.jpg
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21330.jpg

NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/6d767d2f8e/21333.jpg

SF&F author listing with ratings and summaries:
http://greatsfandf.com/authors-full-list.php

Previously:
>>12386564
>>12373069
>>12362990
>>12349168
>>12335944
>>12322234

Is this /lit/ approved?

Is this good?

I really enjoy these stupid ass books, what should I keep myself busy with until the next one is out?

>>10360979
Is it good?
It sounds good.
But you know, YA, plot a bit like hunger games, there are a couple of red flags rising.

>>10320304
It's not exactly YA but for some reason it gets mistaken for one all the time. It's like hunger games but better in every way possible

Thoughts on these series?
Also can anyone recommend a series like this one? I need something to fill the void while Iron Gold audiobook becomes available. Thanks.

Hi guys, lit anon, /sffg/ noob here, what did you guys think of pic related?

I really liked it actually, blitzed through almost 300 pages yesterday.
Although, I didn't expect at first that 2/3 of the book would be battle royale/hunger games

How are the other two books in the trilogy?

Just finished Red Rising, and it was pretty damn great. 8/10 trilogy.
Anyone else here read it?
Ending spoiler: I just have to vent some frustration with the ending though. Mustang, a character I was not a huge fan of to begin with, really soured the ending for me. It was obvious the author was going for a 'Happy ever after'-ending.
The author just throws in the whole 'Oh and you had a child this whole time and I didn't tell you because I was testing you'-bullshit and then doesn't go into what feelings and then glosses over the MC's reaction to it. All we get is 'How could I be mad at her?'.
I mean fucking really? I get that you just found out you have a child and you love your girl and all, but surely there is some hint of pain at not having been trusted by your loved one? Some sense of betrayal, however little, about how he could have died without ever finding out that he had a son? I'm not saying he should be pissed off, but at least a little irritated, perhaps not right away, but surely after he has had time to process the fact that he has a child.
Forgiveness feels so unsatisfactory if we don't at least get to hear part of his thought process.

Rant over.
Fantastic trilogy though, even if there were some pretty glaring plot holes at times. Loved the whole 'Romans in space'-theme.