Am Mars. Irgendwann in der Zukunft. Darrow ist ein Roter und schuftet in unterirdischen Minen dafür, das Leben an der Marsoberfläche zu ermöglichen. Doch dann muss er erkennen, dass der rote Planet längst besiedelt ist und sein Volk wie Sklaven gehalten wird. Er beschließt den Kampf gegen das Regime und schleust sich in eine Elite-Schule ein.

Pierce Brown hat mit Red Rising einen gigantischen Weltenentwurf geschaffen, den ich nur schwer in Worte fassen kann. 

Darrows Geschichte beginnt am Mars und als Leser erfährt man, wie das Leben als Roter ist. Es ist schmutzig, roh und lebensgefährlich, doch diese Roten nehmen das gern hin, weil sie einen höheren Sinn darin sehen, eines Tages richtiges Leben am Mars zu ermöglichen.

Doch Darrow erfährt, dass sein Volk - die Roten - einer Lüge dient, denn in Wahrheit wurde der Mars längst erschlossen und die anderen Farben - vor allem die Goldenen - halten das Zepter in der Hand.

In ihren Grundzügen ist es eine typische Dystopie, die mit klischeehaften Elementen arbeitet. Die Unterdrückung der einen, die Macht der anderen, und ein Protagonist, der dagegen aufbegehrt.

Allerdings hat der Autor eine faszinierende Mischung unterschiedlichster Elemente geschaffen, dass man hier kaum vom Typischen reden kann. Das Machtstreben des Römischen Reichs, die Gelehrsamkeit der griechischen Antike, die Stärke der Spartaner und die Sehnsucht nach der Erforschung des Alls nehmen gleichermaßen Raum ein und werden zu einem formvollendeten Handlungsrahmen gespannt, dem ich beim Hören sprachlos gegenüberstand.

Die Handlung an sich empfand ich an Suzanne Collins „Tribute von Panem“ angelehnt, weil mich Darrows Schulzeit an die Hungerspiele erinnert hat. Jedoch sind es nicht nur brutale Revierkämpfe, denen der Protagonist ausgesetzt ist, sondern ein ausgeklügeltes Zusammenspiel aus Strategie, Politik und Intrigen, das kaum zu durchschauen ist. Hier hebt sich der Autor durchaus von ähnlich aufgebauten Werken ab und hat damit meiner Meinung nach eine sehr versierte Version des Bekannten geschaffen.

Diese Ausbildungszeit, aus der die Elite der künftigen Generation hervorgehen soll, hat sich mir persönlich etwas zu sehr in die Länge gezogen. Gleichzeitig vermute ich aber, dass viele Ereignisse davon für weitere Entwicklungen in den folgenden Bänden unverzichtbar sind.

Ich habe Red Rising als Hörbuch gehört und hatte den Eindruck, dass der Sprecher eher monoton vorgetragen hat. Gerade bei den bereits erwähnten Längen, wäre ich über eine lebhaftere Schilderung erfreut gewesen.

Nichtsdestotrotz wartet Pierce Browns „Red Rising“ mit einem kolossalen Weltenentwurf auf, speist das vertraute dystopische Setting mit einem wohl überlegten Handlungsrahmen, und war für mich ein sehr faszinierendes Hörerlebnis, dem bestimmt die weiteren Teile der Trilogie folgen werden.

Die Red-Rising-Trilogie:
1) Red Rising
2) Red Rising. Im Haus der Feinde
3) Red Rising. Tag der Entscheidung

 

© NiWa

This review was originally posted on Bookish Things & More

Quickie Review

The Do-Over is a fun and quick read.  We get to see the quaint town of Biscay Beach.  The people in this town are pretty amazing, and open their arms to Melanie.  She's trying to get the house she inherited fixed and ready for sale so she can go back to her life in New York.  She's very list oriented, and wants things to be perfect.  The only downfall is she doesn't know how to do much since she never had to do anything for herself.

Eli is the town hottie.  He doesn't take to kindly to Melanie at first, but she grows on him.  He has his own reason for not really liking the type of person Melanie is.  He lets his past keep his mind closed.  But he is a sweetheart, and wants Melanie to succeed in whatever she does or learns.

The chemistry is definitely there with these two, and the sexy times are HOT! The Do-Over makes a perfect read to get ready for summer.

This book was very disappointing.  The relationship between the main character and the boy was so unrealistic and unbelievable.  The characters were boring and I just didn't feel a connection with them.  The story wasn't interesting and it was extremely predictable.  Overall this book was not a good read.  It has a gorgeous cover but the content was not the greatest.  I will not be continuing on with this series.  

Tangled Webs (Book 1) - Lee Bross

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

I haz mixed feelings about this book and that makes me very sad. I really wanted to love it and love it I did not.

Before getting into the nitty gritty, I just wanted to give a shout out to whoever was in charge of all the artwork on the pages and whoever was in charge of the cover because holy guacamole, can I get a GORGEOUSSSSS?

On to more serious stuff though. Lady A was not exactly what I expected. She is not nearly as badass as I had imagined her to be. I wanted to be blown away by her badassery. I wanted to cheer her on as she dealt with the nobility and watched them shrink in fear but sadly that’s not what happened because Arista, aka Lady A, does not enjoy blackmailing the nobility. Alas her soul is not as dark as mine and she hates the life she lives. She would do anything to get out of it (and rightfully so because her ‘master’ is a complete waste of oxygen.)

I just really have a thing for books involving crime okay? I love seeing people be manipulated and not even know it's happening. I LOVE all the cleverness usually involved in books where the main character is part of the crime life but that’s not what I got in this book which would explain my reaction. Now please understand that a lot of this is just personal taste and not really reflective of the book because in spite of my expectations, I actually found myself warming up to Lady A. Sometimes she was a little too loyal in my opinion (given the way she had grown up I kind of expected her to be hardened instead of being soft in terms of the people she has emotional connections with) but in the long run, she was just a young girl trying to make the best of her resources to figure the best way out of a life she wants nothing to do with. I even enjoyed seeing her come across barriers she should have been able to account for but couldn’t because no one can think of everything.

I loved that she was faced with challenges that might have seemed obvious to the reader (and weren’t even major twists or anything) but the actual truth is that no one can be all knowing and more likely than not, things aren’t going to turn out the way you want them to.

My biggest issue with this book was the romance. I didn’t like it. At the beginning of the novel Arista clearly has a crush on Nic but then suddenly she meets Grae and her feelings just disappear. I am appreciative of the fact that there was no love triangle but seriously. Feelings don’t just vazoom (aka disappear)! I also just didn’t like Grae. It’s not that he was bad by any means. He was a sweetheart and treated Arista with the respect she deserved and blah blah blah. My problem was that I didn’t understand his fascination with Arista and I didn’t like how he was casted as Arista’s savior.That girl has brains and is clever, she can save herself. She is a young independent woman who don’t need no man! (although romantic interests can be fun) I think Grae contrasted her character so much it almost made Arista seem helpless when she isn’t.

My favorite character was obviously Nic. Nic is great. He is such a complex character and I LOVED IT. I only wish we could have seen more of him.

The book was very well paced and even though there were some cheesy bits, it was a fun read. I actually really did enjoy all the complicated tangledness (trying to make a pun here guys, just roll with it.) I just wish we actually got more into the secret bartering bit and got to learn what exactly was happening and what kind of secrets the nobility traded to get things accomplished. I did enjoy the set up though and I also liked the world that Bross had created.

I would suggest not to get lured in by the promise of crime because this book doesn’t focus so much on the fascinating crime life than it does on Arista. It’s her story to a better life, not about how she engages in crime. The bits involving crime were great but also, like I said, it’s Arista’s story to a better life.

This was a fun book to read and while I didn’t love it, I’d still say it's something to read if you're in the mood for a light and entertaining book.

Post Script: I also just found out there will be a sequel and I am DEFINITELY curious to see where things will go! This could get verreh interesting.

When I first read Fates by author Lanie Bross, I remember being immersed in a world that was unlike any other. It was fantasy mixed up with magic and teen drama and the kind of quick-pacing that made it impossible to put the novel down. After finishing Fates, I’ll admit I had no idea how the story would progress. With one of the main characters dead it felt like there wasn’t going to be much room to grow which made me excited to see what would happen in the sequel Chaos.

Chaos takes place prior to the events in Fates. Main character Luc is on a quest to bring Corinthe back to life no matter what the cost. And while he knows that the love he and Corinthe shared was a dangerous one with dangerous consequences, Luc is dead-set on having Corinthe returned to him. No price is too great. Meanwhile, Luc’s younger sister Jasmine is introduced to the story as a main character. Jasmine has no recollection of her time spent with Luc and Corinthe but everywhere she goes time seems wrong. She’s seeing strange things wherever she goes. Nothing is right but nothing is wrong either. Until one fateful encounter is all it takes for Luc and Jasmine’s paths to become crossed.

I’m not going to lie I didn’t remember a fair chunk of Fates once I got to opening up the first chapter of Chaos. My memory was a bit iffy on some characters and how they had met Luc or what had happened to them in the previous novel. For the most part, Bross handled reminding her readers fairly well. However throughout reading I would periodically have to pause and wonder what had happened before Chaos in order to understand a scene or crack open Fates all together in order to get a feel of just what is going on.

I personally loved getting to see Luc take charge and prove just how much he loves Corinthe. I’m not going to lie that in hindsight his falling for her in Fateswas a bit unrealistic and didn’t seem very substantial but Bross does an excellent job at solidifying his emotions toward her character. Corinthe becomes more than just some mysterious girl and into someone that could be described as a soul mate. All the lengths that Luc goes to to save her completely won me over and broke my heart. All I can say is that Corinthe is one lucky lady.

There are two new additions to the story. The first being Luc’s younger sister Jasmine being introduced as a new protagonist and the conflict from Fatescrossing over and into Chaos. As Luc deals with the figures that stand in the way of his being reunited with Corinthe, Jasmine deals with the repercussions of what happened to her character in the last novel. All these new problems and added mysteries really took Chaos to new distances that left me awed.

Once again, Bross does a stunning job at weaving a fantasy world that goes without compare. She describes to us a world that I would want to visit time and time again (if, you know, I would be guaranteed safe passage or something) and makes it come to life on the page. Readers who are big fans of fantasy and fictional lore will fall in love with the world that Bross has created. There is no denying that anyone who picks up a Fates novel won’t fall head over heels for Bross’s stunning world-building and unique characters.

I would recommend the Fates novels to readers who are looking for a story that is half-teen fiction, half-romance and half-fantasy. Readers who previously readFates should definitely continue the story and pick up Chaos. Any readers who want to fall in love with two characters while they fall in love should also give Bross’s novels a go.