Rise of the Red Hand
Olivia Chadha

This book started out very strong for me: taking a page out of the same book as the Portuguese TV show 3% (as well as many other scifi epics of recent times) it takes place in a distant future defined by unequal economic progress, in which opaque rituals determine the difference between the haves and the have-nots. In this case, the South Asian’s province’s elite residents are chosen by an algorithm and optimized using neural implants, and they reside in the sanctified upper tiers of the city. They have clean water, climate control and breathable air. Outside their gates, squatting in the heat and squalor of the inner city’s shadow, denizens of the Narrows – a slum – eke out a meager and frustrated living.

Ashiva, the central character and a slum resident, erupts onto the page, propelled in part by a bionic hand and in part by a frenetic, eat-the-rich energy. “Uplanders have everything but souls,” she muses at one point, followed not long after by, “bloodthirsty rich people drunk on their wealth.” The society depicted in ‘Rise of the Red Hand’ is not an implausible extension of our current timeline, in which extreme resource shortages and climate disaster have brought about even more extreme socioeconomic separation.

Despite the familiar themes, Rise of the Red Hand grabbed me upfront with its deeply immersive, complex world. When it comes to incorporating South Asian elements into the story, this is one of the better speculative books I’ve read this year. The South Asian province is the descendent of today’s South Asia, and the characters speak in an English peppered with occasional Hindi words. “Accha,” one character says to another. One of my favorite terms, the ubiquitous “yaar,” makes frequent appearances. I almost wish this had gone even farther, and Chadha had spliced entire aphorisms into the text.

While the premise is compelling, this story struggled to maintain its momentum. There’s a romantic subplot that needs a lot more development, and the final conflict doesn’t so much play out as deflate. Despite caring about the characters, I didn’t feel at all invested in the final few chapters, perhaps because it didn’t seem like much of anything happened.

Finally, like with a lot of books in this category, my biggest complaint is the editing. There are entire sections where words are misplaced or misspelled, and sentences appear to be playing musical tenses. It detracts from the reading experience, and might have been one of the reasons I struggled to stay engaged.

The Rise of the Red Hand largely stands out for its style, a general air of badassery on a dystopian backdrop.

The setting is explicitly South Asian — a rarity, when cyberpunk often pulls aesthetics from Asian cultures but showcases white protagonists. Uplanders live lives of ease and wealth inside a climate-controlled dome. But outside, the inhabitants of the Narrows struggle to survive a world wracked with disastrous climate change.

This book's worldbuilding shines: the gritty cyberpunk setting is fraught with political conflict. Cybernetics and mecha elements play prominently throughout: the lower-class inhabitants of the Narrows often take on cybernetics in a desperate bid to survive, while the upper-class uses mechas to squash rebellions and control the populace.

But it's also flecked with delightful details and bits of humor, like mercenaries and grifters using revived Neopets-like creatures as currency on odd jobs.

The story follows two sisters, both revolutionaries with the mysterious Red Hand, who are working to take down a technocratic government as a deadly plague ravages the globe. One, Ashiva, is basically a cyborg who completes various tasks for the Red Hand and gains increasing leadership/importance as the book progresses. The other, Taru, is kidnapped as part of a shady experimental program. Both have lived their whole lives in underworld spaces full of people their government would rather forget. They encounter another POV character, Riz-Ali, an upper-class politician's son who leads a secret life as a hacker.

The story is told in split-first person POV. I tend to find that format difficult to follow, no matter how deft the author is — a fault of mine, not the book. I think readers who spend more time with books in this POV style will likely find the perspectives compelling. The prose is consistently tight, fast-paced, and emotionally attuned to the characters, so that helps.

Riz-Ali and Ashiva form the plot core of the book, though Ashiva's search for her missing sister (and its implications for the world around them) forms a bit more of the emotional core and motivations. Their stories intertwine as they try to fight back against the algorithm that runs their cruel government.

The plot is at its strongest when it focuses on the relationships between the characters and their communities. The character journeys were interesting, if a bit genre standard. At points where it delves into some of the motives of the larger forces around the main characters, it feels weaker: the book drops big reveals (especially about the nature of the Red Hand) that feel like they'll likely be explored in future installments. As it was, some of these big secrets didn't hugely change the stakes of this book for the characters themselves, despite having major implications for the worldbuilding.

That said, in all, this is a unique YA with some really compelling elements. It's a quick read, and worth it for anyone who likes to dive into a good cyberpunk world.

Oh how I wanted to love this book. I think that's really what kept me going, but more on that later.

I'm 99% sure the release date on NetGalley said the 19th but Goodreads has two dates, depending on the edition, so I'm doing this in between both of them, probably should've done it even earlier BUT.

I really thought this would be a four star read AT LEAST...and then I started reading it.

I could tell even by the first page that the writing would bug me. It started off very monotone and didn't fit with the whole atmosphere, so it made it hard for me to care that these bad things were happening.

What didn't make it any easier is that the reader gets thrown directly into the action. Sure, it gets mellowed out in the next few chapters, but chapter one was a big confusing mess. There was a sad scene in it, where I thought we were getting somewhere...and I was wrong.

The first half (literally the entire half) dragged on forever. I'm not one to drop books, I will push through, but Rise of the Red Hand really tested my patience. It took so long to get back to the action we initially saw.

The second half picks up dramatically. It's as if the author was taking a nap, suddenly woke up and remembered that something needs to happen.

If I was judging based on that alone, yeah, I could see it hit four stars. Unfortunately I can't disregard the boring first part.

As for the characters, I had no attachment until the final third or so. Only Taru managed to find her way into my heart. And I'm getting lgbt vibes from her? Maybe I'm wrong, I'd still like to see that.

Our two main leads got more likable as the story progressed. I don't mind their love that much because it's barely there. They also fit together like puzzle pieces.

I like that the side characters had a role to play and weren't just there once for convenience.

The setting was great and one we need more of. I love love love all the real and made up words. It's not hard to guess what they mean even if you don't speak a language rooted in Sanskrit (then again you can trace just about anything to it but you know what I mean).

So I'm glad I didn't drop this book. There's a story to be told and I might pick up the sequel when it comes out. It's worth the read if you have the patience.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

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. And that is when a character is continuously lying to their sibling or friend to protect them because in the end it just hurts them. This was in it and the main character does not care at the end that her sister now no longer wants anything to do with her for the time being, because she pretty much says she is being independent. Another thing about the main character is that she does not really grow or change, which is seen when multiple people try to tell her that she was betrayed and she won’t let herself see the truth of it. And the reason why this is annoying is because of the way she presents herself, because I was shocked that she was in so much denial over the truth. But all the other characters I thought were interesting especially with them receiving some growth. Another problem that I had was with the pacing and plot, nothing happened in the beginning and with that had a very slow start, and once the plot picked up so did the pacing. I generally don’t hate fast paced books, I more so enjoy them especially when it’s throughout most of the book, but this one made me feel a bit lost at the end. I thought the premise was intriguing but for the book to have kept that level of intrigue, I think it needed to have been better paced and be more descriptive of all the organizations that are at play. But something that was in this book that I did not feel was necessary was the romance because for me the relationship didn’t make sense. And the reason why is because it was insta-love, which I usually don’t dislike but in this it felt off for there was no development and I couldn’t connect with the characters. Overall, I was not a fan of this but I think those that read middle grade would be okay with this as long as parents are okay with its trigger warnings.

In this dystopian reality, nuclear war over resources and environmental collapse have led to the end of the world as we know it. No, this isn't non-fiction, although most dystopian fiction reads that way at the moment. In this highly plausible fictional future, the Red Hand fights for the liberation of the poor, who are kept out of the one glittering, technological city in the South Asia Province. The small elite class strives for perfection in the city while the majority struggle for survival in slums outside its environmentally controlled walls.

Sadly, I DNF at 49%. I tried to power through, and it just wasn't happening for me.

This book had a rough start in terms of clunky world-building that is told rather than shown, including heavy foreshadowing that lends itself to obvious plotting. Paragraphs of background came at odd moments and in great quantity, sometimes reiterated on multiple occasions. These qualities made the protagonists into more of tour guides than full people I wanted to know more about. It bogged down the plot to the point that only a basic skeleton of bad elites and rebelling masses was left in its wake. This is a set-up that has worked for many an apocalyptic novel but lacked a life of its own in this attempt.

I hope this story is enjoyable for other readers. I simply grew too frustrated with the writing too continue.

So much fun, gorgeously built world, and a plethora of real life themes discussed so beautifully within this dystopian world. Olivia Chadha’s series will without a doubt be one of my most anticipated new releases with subsequent installments.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review in advance of of publication!

For some reason, I was under the impression that this was going to be like The Hunger Games. Maybe my brain saw the word 'Dystopian' and made it's own conclusions. I dunno. But in reality, if I were to compare Rise of The Red Hand to anything, it would be Alita: Battle Angel. The writing was a bit clunky at times but still enjoyable and full of action. I look forward to rereading it on audiobook when it releases.

What a book! I loved this sci-fi world that Chadha built. Some of the things made me nervous because I could see them happening to our world someday! I loved the characters and mystery that Olivia built. It was fast paced and I couldn't put it down.

I really wanted to like this, but I just couldn't get into it. It's confusing and hard to follow and seems like it could have used another round of editing.
The characters were shallow and it was hard to start.

A South Asian dystopian cyberpunk debut novel? Sign me up!

First of all, I think the worldbuilding is fascinating even though perhaps it could've been more developed. The themes that Olivia Chadha choose to explore are also very interesting and influenced by real-world problems. Her commentary on these social issues are very realistic and well done. However, I wish the info dump in the beginning could've been edited so it would be more enjoyable to read. With a little bit more polishing, I believe this book could've been better.

Overall, I think this is a promising debut and I look forward to her next books.

My attention was captured by the premise and the promise of diversity (South Asian rep!) in science fiction. I mean, "a streetrat turned revolutionary and the disillusioned hacker son of a politician try to take down a ruthlessly technocratic government that sacrifices its poorest citizens to build its utopia" sounds both intriguing and relevant. Unfortunately, Rise of the Red Hand didn't quite meet my expectations. While the book has potential, there were a number of issues that I was unable to overlook.

The main characters had the potential to be interesting, but none of them felt fully fleshed out. I wanted to get to know them better and feel more of an emotional investment to them and their stories. Additionally, the first half of the book especially contained a lot of info dumping at some points, while there were other aspects that were not thoroughly explained. The pacing of the book felt too drawn out and slow over the first half of the book, but seemed to rush during the second half. I felt that the main romance in the book could work further down the line (maybe later in the series), but because the characters did not meet until later in the book and hardly spent time together, the fast development of their relationship did not make sense to me. Throughout the book, I also noticed several minor errors (repeated words, words that should have been deleted, etc) that could have been caught in another round of editing.

However, I did think that Chadha created an interesting setting with the beginnings of strong world-building and touched upon important and relevant themes (classism, capitalism, climate change, etc). I also appreciated learning about elements of South Asian culture that were included throughout the book. I would love to have gotten more character development and explored the societal structure more in depth. Despite my low rating, I would be interested to see where the series goes and to read more of Chadha's work in the future. I wish I had enjoyed this one more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the ARC!

Olivia Chadha's YA debut is a thrillingly cool post-environmental-disaster adventure that kept me on the edge of my seat. Full of incredibly well-thought worldbuilding, this book set the pace for YA sci-fi offerings of 2021.

I loved Ashiva's character and the amount of thought that went into her character. The voice throughout the book was gritty and self-deprecating, not making excuses for the population that devastated the environment. The writing especially was a high-point, with a fast-talking voice that didn't bother with unnecessary explanation.

I thought the pace of the book was interesting as it took the main characters a while to meet, but it made complete sense as this book is not a standalone. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!

Following the near nuclear annihilation of the planet, the world divided into different provinces, and each one was left to manage its own population and divide resources. In the South Asian Province, the rich Uplanders live in a biodome with neural implants and technology to keep them young and healthy. The poor live in the Narrows, reliant on scavenged robotics to transform their bodies in order to survive. Ashiva is a smuggler working with the Red Hand, a loose network of cells trying to better the lives of those in the Narrows and expose the rich for their cruelties. Riza is one of the privileged, though he’s not content with the status quo in the city and will use his skills to hack into networks for underground notoriety. This brings him into the orbit of the Red Hand, and together they find a lot more wrong with their province than pollution and economic disparity.

Ashiva is a survivor, and not as hard-edged as she wants to think herself. She smuggles medicine and food for the young children of the Narrows and sees a number of Red Hand people as her family. She’s loyal to them and to the cause and wants to keep them all safe. Because of this, she lied to her “sister” to say that she has a bone disease making her fragile. That will keep Tana in the Narrows where Ashiva can better protect her than if she was sent away on dangerous missions. Riza has little rebellions, which his mother doesn’t appreciate; as the Minister of Communications, she’s highly placed and has considerable power within the SA government.

The world-building is amazing here. Nuclear fallout leading to acid raid, a hazy orange sky, unlivable areas, and a rising seafloor that affects the poor the most. This part of the globe has a lot of people in it, and the desperation in the poor can be felt through the page. The guards continually scan the people, and the threat of disease outside the city is a little too on the nose for COVID times. Still, the fear of illness and infirmity informs the upper echelons, and they will only accept the best, the prettiest, the most optimized. Uplanders have to be super productive to justify their continued use in the government and the resources spent on them. It’s still tense, but a different kind of tension than the Lowlanders have to deal with. Both sides of the economic/social divide work to make things better for their people, though they have wildly different definitions of “better,” and Uplanders at the very top of government have no difficulty sacrificing Lowlanders for their own benefit. It’s a closely guarded secret they keep from the world at large, and one that shows a glaring problem in relying on Solace, the computer algorithm that chooses who is “worthy” of being saved and who would be genetically appropriate for the city population.

Rise of the Red Hand is an amazing dystopian drama, and the book is the first of a duology. Without explicitly stating it, there is the question of how we would define humanity, charity, mercy, and dispensing resources that are rapidly depleted. How the characters deal with it reflects our world and values, and makes you question where we’re going now. All good sci-fi novels will do this, and this is a good sci-fi novel.

Probably more of a 3.5 but I’m rounding up.

I am always on the lookout to support more desi authors, but it’s very rare that I get to read books by diaspora authors set in South Asia. And finding a genre novel set in and around the subcontinent is a rarity. So, when I first saw the announcement about this book, I can’t describe how excited I was.

This was a fascinating but scary look at a future where another world war has taken place resulting in a sort of nuclear winter, climate change has ravaged the rest of the world and now we are left with limited resources which are in the control of the powerful. The technological advances and increased use of algorithms to make life altering decisions also feels very inevitable. But the most relatable aspect of this world was the fact that in any situation, those in power will always strive for more of it and to keep their control over resources ironclad, sacrificing any of the normal citizens in the process in the false name of greater good.

This book was relentless in its pacing and that’s the first thing I feel once I finished it. The author throws us right in the middle of the proceedings and we are left to figure out what’s happening and who the important players of this story are. But it doesn’t take us long to get deeply involved in it. The stakes are really high and it’s very easy to sympathize with the underdog characters who are fighting a revolution to ensure their survival despite the odds. Some of the action sequences were painful to read about but excellently written, which left a deep impression on me. But sometimes, it did feel like things happened very conveniently and too fast, especially towards the end where characters were able to fight back with very minor obstacles despite being in dire circumstances. However, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story. And the author’s liberal use of Hindi/Punjabi words and phrases without going into detailed explanations about them only made me very joyful.

In the end, this was a very interesting sci-fi debut which doesn’t shy away from predicting worst case scenarios of our future when resources dwindle and hard choices will have to be made for the sake of the survival of humankind. It’s themes are universal and relatable, the characters very easy to like and the ending hopeful & intriguing enough that I’m very excited for the sequel.

One word.... AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING AMAZIN! The story, characters, and plot were so FANTASTICAL!!!!!!!! I can’t wait to have a copy in my hands!!!!!!

I don't like being harsh on debut authors, but unfortunately I don't think this book is ready for publication in its current form. I read to 75% in the hopes it would improve, but desperately struggled to even reach that point. There were constant info-dumps and time wasted on irrelevant details (such as describing the appearance of minor characters with no impact on the plot), but other key information was never actually provided to the reader, such fully explaining as some of the acronyms. The characters felt inorganic, largely because the dialogue was stilted and robotic, and the plot was hard to follow, often jumping from action scene to action scene with limited transitions.

In addition, there were several misuses of idioms and sentences that simply did not make sense, and not just because of typos (which are typically forgivable in ARCs).

I wish the author well, but I can't unfortunately recommend this book to others without a significant round of edits.

Rise of the Red Hand was an interesting dystopian in that we were able to see things from both sides. However, I think because of this dual view, we also lost a lot of the world-building and understanding of what's going on in this future. As this is a series, I think there's some room for forgiveness with regards to this, but nothing about the initial story made me want to find out more. It was this strange in-between of not being given enough information, and being given just enough that made me go "meh." My biggest issue and this is often the case in these books, was with the romance. There was honestly no point or reasoning behind it. It happened extremely quickly, and the character's chemistry didn't warrant this. I was confused when it started, and even more, confused by how quickly it became intense. The two main characters are going through something troubling and groundbreaking. They're from two completely different sides of this fight. Yet, they very quickly fall in love and are infatuated with one another. This really is what kept this from being a higher rated book for me, and is unfortunately what a lot of the characters' actions hinged upon.

Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers/ Avon via Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed the setting of this, it takes place in a futuristic South Asia that has been ravaged after World War III. A neocity has been created that houses a small portion of the population that are considered genetically superior. These people have plenty of food, clean water, and money to spend on genetic modifications. Unfortunately, many people live in horrible poverty and are struggling to live. They look to the Red Hand, a mysterious vigilante group trying to overthrow the government.

There are three points of view in the story which really helped give a nice picture. We have Ashiva, a big part of the Red Hand, Riz-Ali, a wealthy hacker living in Central, and Taru, a young girl hoping to be a spy for the Red Hand. I hoped for a bit more romance between Ashiva and Riz-Ali, but the ending definitely gave me hope for more in book two.

I did feel like a couple times this was bogged down by info dumps and technical talk. The author clearly spent a lot of time on the world and technology, which I appreciate, but I felt like we could have gotten a bit less information.

I enjoyed reading this, love the plot, and I'm really excited to get my hands on book two!

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A South Asian inspired science fiction set 25 years after a world wide nuclear war with massive damage to the earth, this is a story about class and the fight for equality of resources.

I desperately wanted to like this book. South-asian inspired science fiction? This is the wheelhouse I've been waiting for! Unfortunately, this fell flat for me.

The world is incredibly detailed and well-built. And the societal and political tensions well defined. I loved the elements of South Asian culture peppered throughout making the setting feel real. There is so much to being able to recognize bits of who you are in a genre that you love. The world in this book is a wonderful set up and backdrop for a rich story.

However, while it's possible that the writing style itself just didn't work for me personally, I really feel that this book needed editing. There is a lot of info-dumps that dragged the narrative and the plot/characters themselves felt very thinly built and I didn't really connect to them- it struck me almost more like a story written to be into a movie script. I could see this story being a movie. With actors and actresses breathing life into the characters to make them fuller.

The bones are there, but the writing/story just need more work. It really picked up in the last 20% and concluded in a way that left the story open for more books. Fingers crossed for book two, because I want to see more South-Asian inspired sci-fi in the world!

Thank you to @netgalley and @erewhonbooks for an honest review! This book is being released on January 19th!