r/redrising

Of all the battles in red rising I somehow think the battle of phobos is the most darrow is that guy moment (ironically since it's one of the few major battles within the series that darrow does not participate in) other than obvious scenes like mustang talking about darrows statue hyping her man up. the whole siege just feels like a tribute to him. Fought by his army personally trained by him and his military doctrines vs a commander plagiarising alot of his early tactics. The whole helldiver strategy Lysander employed,his emphasizes on quick shock trooper assaults,the overall fear and hype of the Pegasus legion, mustang recalling darrow teaching her about the rat legion strategy. just overall puts into perspective that darrow is arguably the greatest commander of their era

I saw a post earlier that was asking about a list of the biggest frauds in red rising so I figured I would help a brother out. I am not gonna rank anybody or anything but in no particular order the 10 biggest frauds I can think of are:

Kavax - bitched by the red hand, bitched again by Ephraim's crew (though tbf he was pretty badass in that fight), bitched a third time by Apollonius on Phobos, just L after L after L with no feats. PLEASE pierce brown give him a win

Karnus - only won against darrow with help from Octavia at the academy and then again with help from 6 of his cousins after that, when he fights darrow 1v1 he is instantly one shotted with zero difficulty. Fraud.

Octavia - sovereign of the entire society but couldn't tell bombs were being smuggled onto HER home sphere? Also fucked up the Augustus killing, fumbled the truth game with Darrow, and caused the massacre at the gala all in one book alone? Holy shit she's a bum. Maybe the biggest fraud in verse if it weren't for somebody else on this list down below:

Diomedes - Name one diomedes feat. Just one. I'll wait.

Magnus Au Grimmus - all the hype, none of the substance. Was dying in his bed for 5 years while his daughter ran the war effort. Yes the burning of rhea was tuff but we're done with the 90s unc, somebody put this guy in the old age home already

Ajax Au Grimmus - "he was stated to be the most threatening gold" "he fought evenly with darrow" "he killed tongueless easily" yap yap yap yap YAP. Victra + Thraxa belted him off screen while his #1 ally Lysander twiddled his thumbs on Phobos. Fraud.

Sefi the Quiet - was tuff in Morning Star but, again, we're done with the 90s. Poisoned by atalantia, tricked by Atlas, played like a fiddle by mustang, easily killed by Volsung Fa, constantly carried by GOATphraim and his skuggi. Ragnar would weep

Pliny - worm does NOT equal serpent

Antonia - what does she even do? Seriously. Name one thing she did all series besides fucking the Jackal (crazy is as crazy does). What does she do?

Publius - did all that work off screen, planned the biggest coup in the whole series, hustled and grinded for years, only to earn 2 and a half scenes of success for him before he became the Abomination's slave. Fraaaaaaauuuuuuuddddddd alert!

Also some non frauds who I think are unfairly dissed:

1. Lysander Au Lune - conquered Heliopolis, fell in multiple iron rains, out politiced Atalantia, nearly killed Darrow, killed Rhone ti Flavinius (the best gray alive who killed dozens of peerless scarred), defeated Atlas with Cassius help, conquered Phobos, rebuilt all of Mercury, killed 7 assassins with only a razor and firebrand bomb. Yes he is a loser with no honor but that's no reason to call him a fraud. Learn the difference goodmen

2. Mustang - organized the Augustus rescue in Golden Son, escaped from Pliny's spaceship crawling with enemy soldiers, was the only member of her institute house not to be enslaved, singlehandedly held together the solar republic for 12 years, escaped from the Abomination in Dark Age with zero help, nearly killed Apollonius with lionguards help on Phobos. She has feats bro. She has feats.

3. Lorn - "Two point three meters. Close." Lilath got lucky.

Feel free to argue with my rankings or add new frauds/non frauds down below. It's a Demokracy now or something like that

Prefacing this post by saying that this book is awesome and I love Browns writing so much.

I'm about 125pg into it (Darrow is about to start The Institute) and there's one thing that keeps bugging me: Darrow is good at everything, like he's got the Midas touch (pun intended) it seems. He solves Mickeys rubix cube thing first try, of course he masters the Gold dances with no effort, he passes the Gold exam easily. I feel like him experiencing a bit more stumble would have been more realistic. Probably will get bloodydamn downvoted to hell, but that's my one gripe.

A friend recommend suneater who I trust because his we normally have the same book tastes. I’ve read the first three books of Suneater and just don’t understand the hype.

Mainly, I just can’t stand Hadrian. I can’t really explain it other than I see him as utterly annoying/whiny at the start then becomes far more pretentious. Plus the whole, “writing from the future” style just doesn’t work for me here. It feels like it removes the tension because we know ultimately what happens.

Overall, the series over emphasis on stoicism just feels pretentious. Combined with the fact that it the only central commentary seems to be advocating for religious schisms.

TL;DR I don’t like Hadrian or the writing style of Suneater