Red Shift has drawn strong positive and negative reactions. Some readers charge that the book is obscure and pretentious; that the atmosphere is hysterical, negative, even degenerate; and that the language is disturbing (at least for those who do not like to hear adolescents swearing). Even more distressing to many readers is the violence and sex—and the violent sex. Massacres are central to the two earlier stories, and the female characters in those stories are raped repeatedly by soldiers. However, most of the violence and all of the sex are implied, not graphically portrayed. The novel does not exploit sex and violence; rather, it expresses and perhaps helps exorcise the violent tensions and emotions which already exist.

In the twentieth century, Tom's violence is mainly self-directed, but he takes his frustration out in nasty verbal attacks on others, and he pushes Jan around.