Red Rising 1: Red Rising - Pierce Brown

Darrow is a Helldiver. A pioneer of Mars.Born to slave beneath the earth so that one day, future generations might live above it.He is a Red - humankind's lowest caste. But he has something the Golds - the ruthless ruling class - will never understand.He has a wife he worships, a family who give him strength. He has love.And when they take that from him, all that remains is revenge.

Cover

Nothing special, doesn't really give me much insight of the book either. I don't like it, the cover could have looked way cooler because it is a dystopian.

Darrow 

Eh, as much as I like having a male protagonist, Darrow was not my favourite person. The school he was attending was hard, like really, death-hard, but he felt so human less to me, even with Eo (his wife) and his love for her. The choices he made, as hard as they might have been for him, disappointed me. Darrow isn't a heartless person, but he wasn't what I expected him to be. And I know that the tragedies he faced changed him, that's one of the Dystopia-genre characteristics, and I think that's also because I am not really a fan of Dystopia? 

See, here is where I lose my ideas. There were so many characters, I have no idea which character to write about. I could write about Mustang, but do we I really know much about her? Not really. I like Darrow and Mustang together, I want to see their relationship develop.  So many other characters I liked either died or betrayed Darrow I really don't know who to write about without spoilering everything. 

Ending & Overall Opinion

Lot of fighting, lot of death, missing people coming back, and more I can't remember. It didn't really leave an impression on me, nothing in this whole book really did. There were so many new terms thrown in the beginning that it was really hard to get into this book. Then it got good when they were making Darrow into a Gold, and the first chapters where he was in their society. But then it kind of got boring again. I expected me to read this book way faster, but I just couldn't get through it all that fast. I did read all of it, but it cost me a lot of time. 

The problem with this book is, I didn't think there was anything new, I'm pretty sure that all of it's been done before. I do not recommend this book. Yes, the writing was good, but it's just so much! I hope that the second book is better.

I will still be reading the second book, and sometimes the second book in a series is better so I have my hopes up. 3/5 stars for this one though.

Dominique

Anna and the French Kiss 1 - Stephanie Perkins

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend. 

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

Cover
OHNO. Look at that cheesy cover that I can't even stand to see. It's so horrible. The new cover is amazing. I like the fond and the colours and the amount of Paris that is in it and uh, would totally love to own this book, but I have it on my e-reader, which makes me a bit sad.

Anna Oliphant
Eh. Not sure how to feel about her. Honestly, she is kind of a first-world-problemed white girl. Falls in love with the hot guy everyone likes, finds out that he has a girlfriend, tries to still be friends with him but doesn't notice the sexual tension and ugh, come on, just kiss already! Anyway, I have so many problems with Anna, from the fact that she is a film critic (who, by the way, doesn't know that there are many cinemas/theatres in Paris) and who has no basic understanding of French whatsoever. She was enjoyable I must admit, but she was an idiot. Only speaking the truth.

Étienne... English, French, American... St. Clair?
Hold up. You thought Anna was bad? Try again, St. Clair is worse. Apart from the fact that he was born in America and has an English accent and he has a French dad which is freaking idiotic, he also has this amazing hair that is always majestic and oh, did I mention that he has daddy issues and a fear of hights ? How sensitive! While he was incredibly sweet and I kind of liked him, I can't forgive what he did to his girlfriend. You don't cheat, even when you have all these issues, you're not permitted to cheat. Ever.

Side-characters
So, I understand now that this is a trilogy and that other characters will appear in later books, so Josh (St. Clair's best friend) will re-appear in the third book (Isla and the Happily Ever After). Anyway, Josh was alright but there was not really much depth to side-characters. Ellie, St. Clair's girlfriend, was slut-shamed by Anna. So much for women being nice to each other.....
Meredith was hopeless. While she was one of the few likeable characters, she had little to no depth other than that she was a little emo and she listened to the Beatles.
The whole Toph and Britney situation was just an attempt to make this book a little more interesting in my opinion. This book isn't special.

While this book isn't special. It is enjoyable. Very much so. I really enjoyed this book and I couldn't stop reading it. Yes, the main character is a complete idiot, but the book's great. It's just kind of problematic. 3,5/5 stars. Will continue reading this series though.

Dominique