Red Rising – Pierce Brown

Blurb:

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Stats

Page Length: 382
Publication Year:2014
Genre: Dystopia/ Fantasy/ Science Fiction
Characters: Darrow (The Reaper), Cassius au Bellona, Virginia au Augustus (Mustang), Sevro au Barca (Goblin)

Thoughts

I am ashamed to admit it, but I have had this book on TBR list for over 2 years! I don’t really know why it’s taken me so long to get to it, but after reading it, I’m so mad it did.

Story/ Characters

I imagine that people will compare this to the Hunger Games, but personally, I think that’s a bit of an insult to this book because it was so much better. The storyline is better, the characters are better and the bad guys….. 100% more brutal! There are some scenes where I had to remind myself that this book is Young Adult because of the sheer ruthlessness and violence!

It’s told entirely in the first person from Darrow’s perspective. I loved that the setting of this book was Mars! I really enjoy books that are set in space and on other planets so this really appealed to me. The writing was exciting and captivating, and descriptions so rich that I had no problems imagining Darrow’s surroundings.

I don’t want to say too much about the details of the story because I don’t want to give anything away. What I will say is that you should prepare yourself. The catalyst behind this story is really sad and I didn’t expect it all. Some may find the beginning of this book slow going and if this is you, I urge you to preserve because the action doesn’t really start until chapter 13.

I really enjoyed Darrow’s journey. From the start of his transformation, I really felt his rage, anger, and sadness.

I thought Darrow’s determination was really admirable even when the situation seemed really dire he managed (with some help) to turn it around. I thought the way he actually learned from his mistakes when something didn’t work he would try something different, even when it wasn’t necessarily the done thing.

The only negative for me was that there is like almost no romance in this book, but I went in knowing that so it wasn’t too much of a shock to the system.

Favorite Quote:

Conclusion:

This was a very enjoyable story and I will defiantly read Golden Son. I’m really intrigued to see what’s next for Darrow.

My Rating:  4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟