Red Rising Book Club Questions
Welcome to the Buddy Book Club – we have a light-hearted comedic podcast that covers a variety of books. Red Rising is our favorite book we’ve covered on the podcast. Not much else to add, it’s awesome, and we highly recommend it. We both have very different tastes in books, so it is impressive that it has been atop our rankings for a number of months now. If you like dystopian, fantasy, page turning revenge novels, than look no further. As we described it in our Making a Movie blog, it’s the perfect mix of Braveheart and Hunger Games. If you want to hear a bit of a love fest, check out our podcast on it.
Our book club questions try to be a little more outside the box/comedic than your typical book club questions – hopefully you enjoy them.
Book Club Questions – Red Rising by Pierce Brown
-> When you first started Red Rising did you think it would just be about the small mining town? Were you surprised at how expansive and big the world became?
I loved this element, we’re opened up to this huge world through Darrow’s eyes, and things keep expanding from there. Like Luke in Star Wars.
-> Do you consider Red Rising a Young Adult book?
We’ve read a ton of YA books here at the BBC (that’s our maximum reading level), but this one seemed way more violent and darker than most we’ve read. Plus, a lot less complaining and more revenge/action.
-> Nothing to do with the book, but is it a little unfair that Pierce Brown can be a great writer but also be strikingly handsome? What’s up with that? Writers are supposed to be nerdy recluses, not GQ cover models.
Do I have a little crush on him? Maybe. But why was I born with the looks of a traditional writer, just none of the talent? Here is a picture for those interested:
-> Did you ever think singing and dancing would be so important? It’s pretty much the only thing the Reds have and ultimately helped give Darrow superior dexterity and quickness.
I often feel like I posses the same dexterity, quickness, and dancing abilities* as Darrow did in this book. (*Must be 6-10 beers deep).
-> Most books like this have 1 or 2 enemies, this book had plenty of them and seemed to be ever changing. From the Titus to the Jackal, to the Arch Governor. Who was your favorite?
Personally, I thought the Jackal was amazing, and pretty crazy we’re not even introduced to him until you’re 3/4 of the way through the book.
-> I thought each character was really well thought out and had particular motivations. Were there any characters you didn’t like?
Cassius is a little bitch, Darrow didn’t kill your brother, the school did. Get over it.
-> Who was your favorite character? Were there any characters that your opinion changed dramatically?
Sevro was easily our favorite, but here at the BBC we gravitate towards the eccentric, sick, wild cards.
-> What did you think of Fitchner’s drafting abilities? Seems like purposely drafting siblings and teammates that will hate each other, and a bunch of crazy people isn’t the smartest move.
He basically set Cassius and Darrow against each other from day 1, why would a coach do that? Did he even want to win?
-> Leadership is so important in this book, what style would you employ to win people over?
I think deep down we all want to be Mustang or maybe Darrow when he’s at his best. I’d likely end up being Sevro off on my own wearing a blood coated wolves coat.
-> This book seemed to capture the depravity of war better than most I can recall – the hunger, fear, pain, smells and it doesn’t sugar coat the violence and rape. What other media has done a good job with this?
The one that sticks out for us is All Quiet on the Western Front we just read and watched this and it does a great job of capturing what it felt like to be in World War I.
-> There were a lot of issues with the society as a whole, and breaking people into classes. But if you could somehow win your way up in class… would it be that bad?
Yeah, maybe it’s a hot take, but if your society is constantly letting the cream rise to the top, I think it could work!
-> There are a lot of similarities between Red Rising and the Hunger Games, what do you think they did better in this, what do you think they did worse?
The biggest things that stands out to us was the culling ‘passage’ aspect. Starting things off with a 1v1 death match is pretty savage. I think Hunger Games did a good job of adding in the sporting event portion, and having ‘sponsors’.
-> Ton of great scenes in this one (and a book that needs to be made into a movie), but what was your favorite?
I think every action scene was great in this, but one of my favorite overall scenes was Darrow taking the whipping as punishment for one of his soldiers misgivings. He basically solves the prisoners dilemma in a brilliant way.
-> Speaking of making Red Rising a movie, who would you cast as these characters?
Need inspiration, check out our Make it a Movie blog on this. Our most popular blog.
Did we miss some questions? Reach out to us or check out our other book club questions or podcasts.
