Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising (Red Rising, #1)

by Pierce Brown

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, BUZZFEED, GOODREADS AND SHELF AWARENESS

Pierce Brown's heart-pounding debut is the first book in a spectacular series that combines the drama of Game of Thrones with the epic scope of Star Wars.

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'Pierce Brown's empire-crushing debut is a sprawling vision . . . Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow' - Scott Sigler, New York Times bestselling author of Pandemic

'[A] top-notch debut novel . . . Red Rising ascends above a crowded dystopian field' - USA Today

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Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars, generations of people who spend their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that, one day, people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left.

Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. That Mars has been habitable - and inhabited - for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down at Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.

Until the day Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside.

But the command school is a battlefield - and Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda.

Reviewed by inlibrisveritas on

5 of 5 stars

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Red Rising is one of those rare books that make me outwardly excited. I don’t react to books unless they make me really upset or I’m so in love with them I can’t stop talking about it. This is definitely the latter.

Darrow is a Red, a section of the Mars colony that takes care of mining for resources to help supply and keep the terraforming of their planet moving forward. He’s comfortable with his work and life, though it is hard and demanding…but that comfort is riped away when he finds out he’s nothing more than a slave and Mars has been livable for generations. I love Darrow. He’s got an arrogance about him that tetters on being too much, but he has the skills to back all the talk up and he doesn’t fear anyone. His transformation into a Gold was rather cool, and I really liked all the changes but I mostly enjoyed the fact that he stayed true to who he was despite needing to fit in. If you are ever in need of a character who basically radiates badassery, Darrow is your man. He’s determined, intelligent, and has a knack or strategy…and as long as he has his goal, he keeps moving forward. A few other characters I basically worship now are Goblin and Mustang (nicknames). Goblin is who I would want to be when it came down to a fight for survival. He has questionable sanity (but isn’t insane), he’s the very meaning of stealth, and he loves to make a impression. Mustang is who I want to be period. She’s gorgeous, as all Golds are, but she’s incredibly smart and makes an awesome right hand for Darrow…when they are not at each others throats.

The world building in this book is basically what I live for. It has depth and detail, and it’s the sort of writing that makes me wish it were a blanket so I could wrap myself in it and forget the real world exists. I loved the stark differences between some of the castes like Pinks, Purples, and Golds. I was expecting the typical upper, middle and lower classes but instead we get classes purely for those working in pleasure and even a class devoted to those who create, but none of them have the freedoms and power that a Gold does. The command schooling is the coolest most horrific school I think I’ve come across in a dystopian so far. I loved that everything is so hands on and that they have to put strategy to the test in a real life, incredibly dangerous situation and that they have to maintain and adapt those strategies for as long as it takes to complete the task. Where the first part of this book is somewhat slow and busy building the world, the sections with the school are brutal and turned it into an addicting read where I had no issues making up excuses on why I needed to read just one more page.

Red Rising is one of those few books that manage to live up to the hype surrounding it. It’s every bit as fun and action packed as they say, and if it wasn’t for other commitments I would just into Golden Sun as soon as possible.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 29 June, 2015: Finished reading
  • 29 June, 2015: Reviewed