The Problem with Red Rising
Red Rising is one of the most popular and bestselling science fiction series of the modern day. Debuting in January 2014, Universal Pictures quickly secured the rights for a film adaptation less than a month later, and while the adaptation rights have since gone back and forth between the author and various studios, the buzz and desire for one has only increase with every subsequent release. At the time of writing, there are 5 books in the mainline series, and of them, the first book, Red Rising, is the only one not to debut in the top 10 of The New York Times Bestseller list. Golden Son debuted at #6 and was even nominated for the Prometheus Award, with the following three all debuting in the top 5. The series has even gone on to spawn a massive diehard fanbase known as the Howler Legion.
With such a huge following, giant release parties, every entry a bestseller, and several studios wanting to bring Darrow’s rising to the big screen, where could there be a problem? Well, even considering its massive critical and financial success, it should be more popular than it is. So why isn’t it?
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover
I can’t say that fans won’t admit to this because I myself am a fan, and I’m admitting to this, but I think the majority of fans are in denial: The covers are boring.
“They’re elegant.” “I like the minimalist design.” Said the defensive fan.
As fans of the series, we’ve come to have an appreciation for the artistic simplicity of the covers and their symbolic relevance to the story. But, from an outside perspective of someone just looking for something new, the covers are dull and boring. They offer no insight to help contextualize the books, not even so much as clarifying genre. If you didn’t already know that they were science fiction, would you be able to conclude that simply by looking at the cover? Perhaps, but most likely not.
It’s said never to judge a book by its cover, but we do it all the time. If you’ve read Red Rising, I doubt it was because the cover caught your eye, most likely you read it because of the hype and word of mouth coming from its die hard fan base. Which brings me to the next, and more important problem.
It Gets Better
While bad cover art can be easily fixed with reprints, Red Rising’s biggest flaw is something that unfortunately cannot be fixed. There may be some debate around this, but I think many fans will agree with me when I say that the first book is the worst book.
Anecdote: I use to work at a bookstore, and one day I had a customer come in wanting to buy a copy of Golden Son. As a fan of the series, I inquired if they had read the first book. To my surprise, they said "no", that they were buying the second book because they heard it was better. While that's true, it's a series, if you don't read the first book you're not going to know what's going on in the second. The interaction caught me off guard due to the fact that I actually had to explain that.
It’s important to understand exactly what people mean when they say, “OMG, I love Red Rising!” They’re not talking about the first book that’s actually titled “Red Rising”, they’re talking about the series as a whole. This is the biggest detriment to Red Rising growing its fanbase. People get drawn in by the hype, decide to give the first book a try, come out the other side disappointed, and are simply told, “it gets better.” But it’s hard to explain just how true that is. What you just read was the series at its absolute lowest, and going into the second book, the quality skyrockets. Whenever I’m recommending Red Rising to someone, I always try to make it clear that the first book is a bit of a grind. It’s all introduction and setup; world building and character development. It’s very reserved in its exploration beyond the hierarchy and caste system, with comparisons to other battle royale themed books being very evident and offering little deviation.
Something that will have very little debate is the fact the Golden Son is the best book in the series. Everything gets dialed up to 11. War on a galactic scale, violence so brutal it’s almost beautiful, political intrigue and backstabbing that rivals Game of Thrones, and an ending that turns everything on its head. It’s no doubt the apex of the series and is simply, MWAH! Chefs kiss! Brilliant!
But don’t take my word for it, I’m bias. What I encourage anyone who stopped after the first book to do is, obviously, read the second book. Because at that point you’ve experienced both the worst and the best that the series has to offer. If it’s still not for you, that’s fine, but at least you got to see its true potential.
