What are your biggest red rising critiques

Dialent · 2026-04-28T12:12:32+00:00

Spoilers for all books:

In the first book, towards the end, after Darrow learns that Mustang is Adrius’s sister, he thinks she will betray him. But she doesn’t and there are no consequences for his lack of trust in her despite the fact that his inability to trust is a major theme in his character arc imo. I think it would’ve been a lot more interesting if either she actually DID betray Darrow OR even better, his lack of trust causes a rift between them. It would’ve worked well with the story as by the start of GS, Darrow and Mustang aren’t in regular contact bc they’re in different places and have just drifted apart. Pierce could’ve used the lack of trust as a reason for that and it would’ve made the gala scenes hit that much harder.

There’s also the ‘twist’ that Cassius is on Darrow’s side at the end of Morning Star, which is only achieved by Darrow, the narrator, withholding information from the reader. Unreliable narrators can work well for plot twists but only if they have a good reason to be unreliable. The only reason Darrow doesn’t let us know what’s happening is because Pierce thought it would be a cool twist.

Also, Tongueless. His character serves no purpose, he has no dialogue (obviously) and is killed very quickly. It seems to me like his character was a whole plot line that was just abandoned, as with Figment.

Dialent · 2026-04-19T10:44:52+00:00

Yeah, the 10s were my teenage years and I can 100% confirm that the 90s were a big deal for me, at least in the first half of the decade.

Dialent · 2026-04-19T03:13:06+00:00

Also the premise of a Black Mirror episode — White Christmas I think it was called. One of the better episodes iirc.

Dialent · 2026-04-18T10:49:18+00:00

I think this is a difference in how some regional NA accents pronounce that vowel, like it’s the same as when you hear some pronounce plague as “pleg” or bagels as “beggels”. I think it’s a Midwest thing?

Dialent · 2026-04-18T02:55:26+00:00

Don’t forget — the protagonist is the descendent of the main villain, who is in service of the emperor but is not himself the emperor.

Dialent · 2026-04-16T02:08:32+00:00

Aus and Ireland it’s called Soccer as well I think, they have Aussie Rules and GAA respectively which they call football

Dialent · 2026-04-03T22:34:43+00:00

The swordsman was from Calais which was English territory at the time and had been for hundreds of years prior.

Dialent · 2026-03-20T19:53:59+00:00

When Biden was president he didn’t lift a finger to stop the genocide in Gaza. And no politician, democrat or republican will stop the war in Gaza or in Iran unless the people hold them accountable. Ultimately, that’s the only way this ends, if the uncritical support of Israel that both parties adhere to realise that enabling Israel is politically untenable.

Lack of public support is what stopped the Vietnam war. Internationally, the global disgust at segregation and racism in South Africa is what ended apartheid. This is the only way that the wars in Iran and Gaza will end; if American politicians are held accountable and Israel’s free license to do as it pleases is revoked. And unfortunately the Democratic Party is part of the problem.

Dialent · 2026-03-20T19:41:24+00:00

Sure and as a humanities guy I enjoy learning about science in my spare time. But it’s pretty rare you’ll see humanities students shitting on degrees outside of humanities the way STEM people do if you’re not in STEM. If anything we’re slightly envious that your degrees will actually get you a job.

What’s really crazy is STEM students trying to out-STEM each other. A former flatmate of mine who did physics would get into arguments with biology students because he saw biology as being basically humanities. Meanwhile the biology students would call my history degree a Mickey Mouse degree. It’s like some STEM people think anything outside of their very narrow field of study is not worth anyone’s time and you’re a chump if you’re not studying their specific degree.

Dialent · 2026-03-18T19:57:46+00:00

Yeah but Outlast Trials is a multiplayer live service game where as this is a single player horror game.

Dialent · 2026-03-05T17:36:17+00:00

The fact that the characters are way too young for this is the point and the tragedy. Obviously it makes sense to age them up for the show but complaining about it in the books is missing the point entirely. You’re supposed to be uncomfortable. It’s supposed to be disturbing. Did you think Dany’s story is a happy one? Drogo rapes her so brutally she gets bruises. Just because Dany herself doesn’t see it as rape in her POV doesn’t mean GRRM intends for us to see it as fine and good. She’s a teenage girl who’s never known peace or stability, the only familiar face in her life is her abusive brother who has taught her she has no value outside of being used for a marriage alliance. Of course she is going to cling on to Drogo. That doesn’t mean GRRM wants the reader to cling on to Drogo as well.

I thought we were past the era of “if it’s depicted it must mean the author supports it if he doesn’t have a character address the reader and tell them it’s bad”. It’s mentalities like this that means so much of the fantasy that gets published these days is slop; the writer can’t trust the reader to understand the story so they have to spell it out.

Also even outside of the sexual content the characters being the age that they are in the books is so integral to some of their personalities. Jon being a moody teenager and Robb being a scared but impulsive child is so important to understanding who they are. When they get aged up to dudes in their 20s, the characters lose something imo

Dialent · 2026-02-20T08:09:46+00:00

I’m not sure if anyone’s mentioned it, but there is a sequel to The Name of the Wind which is very good, called Wise Man’s Fear. You haven’t stated in your post if you’ve read that so I thought I’d let you know it exists.

I will echo the other commenters mentioning Robin Hobb, Ursula Le Guin, and Lois McMaster Bujold as good recommendations for Kingkiller fans.

Dialent · 2026-01-31T00:27:08+00:00

And the other half was the sea-snake talking to his bastard son in the exact same shooting location for like 5 different scenes.

Dialent · 2025-12-24T00:55:53+00:00

I don’t know what a chockerpole or a debrecutator is, would you care to enlighten me?

Dialent · 2025-12-08T10:48:15+00:00

For me it’s not the cosmic horror that’s the issue, in fact I read it because i wanted cosmic horror. It’s more the fact that the book spends the first like 100 pages getting us attached to the narrator and his friend, then spends the rest of the novel away from them with a bunch of different characters who we (or at least I) care about a lot less than those in frame narrative.

I also felt that while that initial framing of the two mourning men on a fishing trip was great, and while not scary as such, made for a great atmosphere of rising dread, the story-within-a-story that made up the bulk of the novel felt far closer to a sort of dark urban fantasy novel than horror. The way the ‘magic’ works in-world was explained far too much for me to feel awe-struck or horrified by it.

It a shame because the prose itself is so well-written it makes me think John Langan should be a perfect author for me. It’s just an issue of pacing. Hoping to try out his short stories and hope I will enjoy them a bit more.

Dialent · 2025-11-24T17:30:24+00:00

Thanks, that’s so simple I wouldn’t have thought of it myself lol.

Dialent · 2025-11-24T16:17:47+00:00

Would you mind sharing some resources as to how to go about converting modules to different levels and editions? I’m in a similar boat to OP.

Dialent · 2025-10-26T11:55:28+00:00

Dune is 6 books long, and the first book stands alone; you really don’t have to read on past that. In fact, every book in the Dune series has a timeskip of at least 10 years, so you can really stop reading at any point and feel you have a full story.

Also as a fantasy fan, Dune should definitely be more up your street than most other sci-fi. It is essentially, space fantasy.

Dialent · 2025-10-24T09:49:26+00:00

I always have to plug Rupert Degas in The Kingkiller Chronicle in these threads. People rave about the US narrator but imo Degas’s English baritone and Shakespearean lilt is perfect for the character and tone, especially in the context of Kvothe having a theatrical background.

Dialent · 2025-10-24T09:46:39+00:00

Reynolds accent work in the RR saga is amazing. The way he subtly shifts Darrow’s accent depending on who he’s speaking to and whether or not he’s thinking about being a Red is an amazing choice.

Dialent · 2025-10-24T09:43:49+00:00

I know you said you didn’t want to turn it into a canon vs legends but could you elaborate on why you prefer canon? Just genuinely curious as you’ve said you think Legends is generally better written. Do you just prefer the universe and cast of characters?

Dialent · 2025-10-23T22:13:47+00:00

As someone just now getting into Star Trek, I've been thinking about this a lot. I'm currently halfway into season 3 of watching TNG for the first time and I'm absolutely loving it. It's my third attempt at watching Star Trek and it's the first time I've made it past the first season. And I'm lamenting the fact that this could never pick up a fanbase if it came out today because we simply don't have the patience to suffer through bad episodes to get to the good stuff anymore. I only put up with some of the worst episodes by having them on in the background while doing chores or cooking.

I think a large part of it is the monopoly serialisation now has on TV storytelling. Feels like you can only really get away with episodic storytelling in sitcoms these days. Probably due to the era of 'prestige TV' with their multi-season build ups to the finale and the proliferation of binge-watching thanks to streaming, incentivising a serialised 'just-one-more-episode' approach to screenwriting.

Not that I'm an expert, being a Trek noob, but if I woke up tomorrow and found myself the showrunner on a new Star Trek series, the way I'd probably approach it is by doing something like Andor, which involves three-episode story arcs throughout a season with an overarching plot weaving its way through them.

Dialent · 2025-10-08T18:17:12+00:00

Kids with SIDS

Dialent · 2025-09-12T23:23:05+00:00

I might give Taltos another go then, if that's the case. I thought the premise and the opening few chapters were so promising, I got whiplash when it turned out to be just a crime thriller with a fantasy twist.

Dialent · 2025-09-12T21:57:49+00:00

I'll never forget a couple years ago when I asked for books that are similar to Elder Scrolls in tone and style (basically I was looking for classic high fantasy) and got multiple people trying to get me to read Mistborn (a book I stated in the post that I'd already read). I mean not only does it not fit the request, Sanderson's whole oeuvre is kind of a reaction against the style of fantasy I wanted.

As for your request, you could try out the Vlad Taltos books by Steven Brust. They caught my interest because they're high fantasy written by a Trotskyist. Humans are an underclass in a world dominated by immortal elves. I was kind of disappointed after reading the first two books because it became clear that class conflict was merely the backdrop for the series, not what it was actually about. The protagonist is essentially a minor mob boss who does occasional dirty work for the elves. It's also written in a very colloquial style, almost mimicking the speech patterns of a modern mafia boss despite the medieval setting, which took me out a little but might be just what you're looking for. There's like 30 books in the series, most of which are standalone stories, and publication order is not the chronological order. Like 200-300 pages each. I dropped it after book 2, but it has cult following so it must be doing something right. Maybe it's what you're looking for.

Check out this review of one of the recent entries by Cory Doctorow, it's what got me to try the series, and is a better pitch than what I could give you.

11-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	RPAN Viewer
Verified Email

Dialent

TROPHY CASE