aza’s Reviews > Red Rising > Status Update

“They stole her. But she let them. She left me. She left me tears and pain and longing. She left me to give me anger, and I cannot help but hate her for a moment even though beyond that moment there is only love.”

“‘Look into yourself, Darrow, and you’ll realize that you are a good man who will have to do bad things.’
My hands are unscarred and feel strange whe I clench them till the knuckles turn that familiar shade of white.
‘See. That’s what I don’t get. If I am a good man, then why do I want to do bad things?’”

“He and Evey sit with me sometimes, and though I think Mickey a wretched sort of creature, I feel as though he understands the music. Its beauty. Its importance. And afterward, he says nothing. I like him then, too. At peace.”

“‘Personally, I do not want to make you a man. Men are so very frail. Men break. Men die. No, I’ve always wished to make a god.’”

“‘Do you know why we call ourselves Sons of Ares, Darrow? To the Romans, Mars was the god of war—a god of military glory, defense of the heart and home. Honorable and all. But Mars is a fraud. He is a romanticized version of the Greek god Ares … Ares was a bastard, an evil patron of rage, violence, bloodlust, and massacre,’ he says.”

“‘Eo is… dead, yes?’
‘Yes. She is. We couldn’t save her, Darrow.’
‘Why not?’ I ask.
‘We just couldn’t.’
‘Why not?’ I repeat. I glare up at him, glare at his followers and hiss the words one by one. ‘You saved me. You could have saved her. She is the one you would have wanted. The bloodydamn martyr. She cared about all this. Or does Ares only need Sons, not Daughters?’”

“On Mars there is not much gravity.”

“‘I live for you,’ I say sadly.
She kisses my cheek. ‘Then you must live for more.’
There’s a long, terrible silence that stretches between us. She does not understand how her words wrench my heart, how she can twist me so easily. Because she does not love me like I love her. Her mind is too high. Mine too low. Am I not enough for her?”

“Without me, she would not eat. Without her, I would not live.”

“On Mars there is not much gravity.”