Red Rising Review: The Dystopian Sci-Fi Series Fans Won't Shut Up About

Is Red Rising worth starting? Here's an honest review of Pierce Brown's dystopian sci-fi hit — the worldbuilding, the pacing, and who it's actually for.

7/30/20263 min read

Red Rising Review: The Dystopian Sci-Fi Series Fans Won't Shut Up About

Ask any dedicated Red Rising fan about the series and you'll get a genuinely intense reaction — this is one of those fandoms that borders on evangelical. Here's my honest take on whether Pierce Brown's dystopian sci-fi series earns that level of devotion.

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Quick Answer

Mostly yes, with one real caveat: the first hundred pages ask more patience than they should. Once the book gets going, it delivers exactly the brutal, high-stakes dystopian sci-fi its fans rave about — but I understand why some readers bounce off before it fully clicks.

What It's About

In a rigidly stratified future society ruled by a genetically engineered elite called Golds, Darrow is a Red — the lowest caste, mining beneath Mars's surface while believing his labor is helping terraform the planet for humanity's future. When he discovers that future has already arrived and Reds are being deliberately kept in slavery, he's transformed to infiltrate Gold society from within, enrolling in a brutal, deadly academy where the ruling class's children are trained to lead through literal combat and betrayal.

My Honest Take

I'll be upfront about my biggest issue with this book: the opening act, before Darrow's transformation and infiltration begin, moves slower than it needs to. I understand why it's structured that way — you need to feel the injustice of his life as a Red before the stakes of infiltration land — but I think a tighter first act would have hooked more readers who currently give up too early.

Once the academy sequences start, the book becomes genuinely hard to put down. This is where Red Rising earns its reputation. The academy isn't just dangerous in a vague sense — it's built around literal warfare between student houses, with real consequences, real deaths, and constant, escalating political maneuvering. It's Lord of the Flies by way of The Hunger Games, but somehow more brutal than either comparison suggests.

Darrow's moral compromises feel earned, not gratuitous. To survive and succeed at infiltration, he has to make genuinely uncomfortable choices — betraying people, manipulating others, occasionally causing harm to people who don't deserve it. I appreciated that the book doesn't let him off easily for this; his internal conflict about what he's becoming is a real thread, not a footnote.

The worldbuilding is dense but rewards the investment. The class system, the political structure, the mythology around Gold society — it's a lot to take in initially, but by the second half of the book, I found myself genuinely invested in the mechanics of this world, not just the plot.

The prose style won't be for everyone. Brown's writing leans stylized and intense, sometimes bordering on purple prose during high-emotion moments. I mostly liked it, but I understand readers who find it overwrought in places.

What to Know Before You Start

The first act is genuinely the hardest part to get through. If you're struggling in the opening chapters, know that most fans agree the book significantly improves once Darrow reaches the academy — push through if you can.

It's violent, and the violence has real weight. This isn't stylized action-movie violence — deaths matter, and the book doesn't treat casualties lightly, even among characters you might expect to be protected by their importance to the plot.

It's the start of a long series. This is the first of multiple trilogies set in this universe — go in knowing this is a real commitment, not a quick read.

Who Should Read This

  • Fans of brutal, high-stakes dystopian sci-fi with genuine political complexity

  • Readers who enjoyed the academy-and-betrayal structure of Fourth Wing but want something darker and more violent

  • Anyone willing to push through a slower opening act for a significant payoff

Who Might Want to Skip It

  • Readers who need a fast hook in the first fifty pages

  • Anyone sensitive to prose that leans stylized or intense rather than restrained

Amazon link: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the slow start worth pushing through? In my opinion, yes — the payoff once Darrow reaches the academy is substantial, and most of the fandom's intensity is earned by what happens after the setup.

Is this more sci-fi or more dystopian fantasy? It's genuinely both — Mars-based sci-fi setting with a rigid class dystopia and combat-academy structure that borrows heavily from fantasy conventions.

How many books are in the series? It's the first book of a trilogy, which itself launches a larger multi-trilogy universe — a real long-term commitment if you get hooked.

Final Thoughts

Red Rising asks real patience in its opening chapters, but the payoff — brutal academy politics, genuine moral complexity, and a richly built class-based dystopia — explains exactly why this fandom is so fiercely devoted. If the first hundred pages feel slow, trust the hype and keep going; I think most readers who do end up understanding what the obsession is about.