Recuerdo que cuando se publicó Rise of the Red Hand hubo cierto revuelo en redes sobre el libro, sobre todo porque había mechas y un cierto aire reivindicativo en la obra. Lo cierto es que una vez apaciguadas las aguas tras tres años desde su publicación, Rise of the Red Hand no ha dejado mucha huella pero no por ello deja de ser una novela destinada al público juvenil que tiene detalles interesantes. Veamos algunos de ellos.


Creo que quizá lo más llamativo sea la ambientación futurista de esta distopía climática, situada en el sudeste asiático. Si bien es cierto que ya asistimos a una ambientación similar en La Chica Mecánica, no es menos cierto que se agradece el cambio de las omnipresentes megaciudades norteamericanas. La autora ha sabido de dotar de un sabor especial al libro, con referencias religiosas, culturales, gastronómicas que se salen de lo habitual.

La subida del nivel del mar en el futuro ha provocado migraciones humanas que han aumentado aún más si cabe las desigualdades entre los privilegiados y los demás. El movimiento de resistencia es la Red Hand, un sistema distribuido de protestas y activismo que pretende la redistribución de la riqueza. El mundo está fracturado en provincias tras la tercera guerra mundial y ese es quizá uno de los puntos que fallan del libro, ya que no se explica muy bien cómo ha podido sobrevivir la civilización aunque sea de una forma maltrecha a las armas nucleares. Olivia Chadha no entra muy en detalle, colocando las piezas donde le interesan para narrar su historia y dejando a la suspensión de la incredulidad del lector los huecos que quedan en el relato.

En el libro hay varios puntos de vista bastante equilibrados, con representantes de la Red Hand muy influidos por el cyberpunk y las modificaciones corporales extremas para poder sobrevivir y también otros que parten desde el privilegio de sus genes perfeccionados para una vida de comodidad y lujo. Las decisiones sobre quién vive y quién muere las toma una inteligencia artificial basándose en juicios de valor irremediablemente sesgados por los humanos. Es difícil sentir empatía por los personajes al comienzo del libro, pero luego se dejan querer.

En cuanto a la prosa, es un aspecto al que no le hubiera venido mal un poco de más trabajo editorial, porque hay algunos pasajes de puro infodump que no aportan nada a la historia.

En definitiva un libro que prometía más de lo que ofrece, pero que se salva de la quema por detalles que quizá se expandan en Fall of the Iron Gods.

This might be the first book where I am disappointed with giving a book this rating because I feel it had a lot of potential. But there is also one characteristic the main character has that I hate seeing in books.

Sadly I need to DNF this book, I found the premises interesting at first, and the cover looked fantastic, which was one of the first things that got me to request it. Sadly I found the plot hard to follow and I would have like for the setting to be better explored.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I had a hard time making it through this book. It has some interesting ideas but it kind of got lost in the mix. I would be curious to see if a reread helps with this.

Originally didn’t give feedback because I DNF, but it’s hurting my feedback ratio, so I will say it sounded interesting but wasn’t for me. I also never rate books I DNF but this makes me.

Impressive world-building after a bit of an initial data dump. This got better and better as the book progressed, and I am definitely looking forward to the sequel. This will be easy to put in the hands of 8th grade + students with an interest in more diverse science fiction.

I loved the complex world and characters. They all have their issues which makes them even more relatable and raw. Sometimes it felt like the plot was too slow. Yet at the same time the love story felt a but rushed though and I felt like there was no real development to the relationship.

Unfortunately this was an early DNF for me. I just couldn't get with the writing style. I am also not generally a scifi fam so take that what you will.

I loved this book. The premise attracted me to this book and I was not left disappointed. The sci-fi elements in this book were great and the book itself was well-written. It was thought-provoking and dealt with some social issues at times which I liked. Our main character was also disabled which I don't see a lot, but I thought was nice and really liked.
I would love to read it again and recommend it.

A roller coaster ride and a fascinating, engrossing read! The setting was fantastic and it's thought-provoking in addition to being fast-paced.

I tried to start reading this one, but couldn't get into it. Everything was just a bit too far fetched, and the story was really slow. I'm sure others will like this, but it just wasn't my thing.

this was a really fun read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed going on this journey. It had what I was looking for in a scifi novel.

I have to say I'm really disappointed. I have a rule for myself, if I'm not in to a book after 50-75 pages I don't finish it and I didn't finish this book. I was excited to read a book by a south Asian author with a plot that sounded exciting. While this book had an interested jumping off point and attempted to toss the reader into the plot. I found myself confused and frustrated. I'm hoping for the best next time.

An engaging and entertaining sci-fi adventure, Rise of the Red Hand was a captivating read. I loved the characters, and found the main characters a compelling protagonist. I thought the blend between social issues and the plot was effective and it really resonated. Though at times I was caught up by the world-building or pacing, I really enjoyed the book overall and can’t wait to see what comes next from this author.

A really interesting speculative work—I'm curious to see what Chadha does next and how their writing grows.

There's a plenty of reasons to love this story but I didn't like the style of writing (too much information) and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Very interesting take and quite enjoyable. Have been recommending to many fantasy/ science fiction readers but it isn't one that I loved.

Im sad because I wanted to love this so badly. To start off on a positive note, I enjoyed the positivity surrounding amputees and people with disabilities in this book. It's something that isn't often seen in fantasy, and I really loved how the main character was proud of her scars and did not let them lower her confidence. I also loved seeing glimpses of south asian food and language throughout the story.
Unfortunately, the writing style in this book was really not for me. It kept pulling me out of the story and I could not get invested in the characters and their issues. Also, the world building alternated between being confusing and super clunky/redundant. Finally, while I don't mind a slow story, but the first half of the book was just so insanely dull and literally put me to sleep multiple times. The first chapter was action packed, but after that it was pure set-up and the main characters didn't even meet until halfway through the book. I tried to push through multiple times but I ended up DNF'ing at 56%. I still think there's an audience who would enjoy this though; perhaps those who are on the younger side of the YA audience.

DNF at 12%

I just couldn't make myself read it. I was honestly bored to death because there was so much information and world building being dumped on me and yet I had no reason to care for the mc or any character really. I felt detached, not pulled into the story.

Trust me, nobody is more disappointed than myself that I didn't like this book 😩