Red Rising by Pierce Brown

“Death isn't empty like you say it is. Emptiness is life without freedom, Darrow. Emptiness is living chained by fear, fear of loss, of death. I say we break those chains. Break the chains of fear and you break the chains that bind us to the Golds, to the Society.”

I don’t even know where to begin with this book. It was just beyond compelling. It was such a unique setting for a dystopian. You have the main setting of Mars in the future where humans have colonized various planets. Plus you have this caste like system based on colors with Gold being the top and Reds at the bottom. Darrow, of course, is at the bottom, a Red, who drills for helium to help society. Beyond this caste system, you have the fact that Darrow and the other Reds have been lied to about the progress made colonizing the planets and moons.

Not only was the setting and premise of the book great, the writing was astounding. Even with all the jargon and world building, Pierce Brown wrote in an enthralling way that had me continuously turning the page to see what would happen to Darrow and those around him. Within the first 50 pages, Brown shocks us and ups the ante of Darrow’s fight. I just really enjoyed the writing style and never wanted to put this book down (even when I had to go to work).

Once Darrow is on the surface of Mars, he meets a cast of characters who we have been groomed by Darrow’s experiences to despise, but I couldn’t help but love them and their personalities. Each one was different and had their own woes and struggles even if they were Golds and at the top of society.

Now that I have finished Red Rising, I want to start Golden Son right away. This trilogy has the potential to be amazing and I cannot wait to see what happens to Darrow and his companions in the final two books in this trilogy. This book was a great start to a trilogy that I assume will only get better as we move forward.

♛ ♛ ♛ ♛ ♛