[ Red Rising BY Brown, Pierce ( Author ) ] { Paperback } 2014 Paperback – 2014

Great book. Read the second one and now I am waiting for the third one to come out 2/9/16.

Red Rising is the first book of the Red Rising Trilogy. It is a science fiction story about a dystopian society set on a terraformed Mars.Society in Red Rising is a caste system (based upon birth), where the inhabitants fall into a hierarchy of 14 “colors” representing their ranking within society. At the top of the hierarchy are the Golds, who through genetic and surgical manipulation have evolved as superior human beings. At the bottom of the hierarchy are the Reds, who are unskilled manual laborers, conditioned to a brutal environment. The remainder of society falls into one of the other “colors” that fill a specific need within society.Red Rising focuses on the Golds and Reds: the Golds rule society with an iron fist and no compassion; the Reds toil all day in their underground city where they remain miners from generation to generation. These Reds have no actual knowledge of the rest of society; they have been deceived into believing that by mining helium-3 they are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. In reality, Mars and the rest of the solar system had been successfully colonized centuries earlier. The Golds control not only what and where the Reds live and work, but what they know. Our hero, Darrow, is a Red. He and the Reds like him are essentially slaves to a decadent ruling class, enslaved for generation after generation with no voice and no hope.But there are those who have learned the truth and want change. The story takes shape as Darrow is rescued by a group of rebels known as The Sons of Ares; Darrow has been selected to infiltrate the Golds at its highest levels.The book is fast paced and exciting, although it takes roughly two thirds of the book to establish the backstory. This is both a positive and a negative: it takes a long time to get to the exciting part, but one of the things I liked about this book is the in-depth character development and backstory. I gave this book a rating of four out of five due to the excellent character development and backstory, and the quick pace once it reached its stride.

Series: 4 starsSeries general review: Recommended. First book is the strongest, a more gut wrenching, better written version of the Hunger Games. Books 2-3 are OK. The sequels are dragged down by: 1) Time lapse/gap between books. 2) Poor characterization.Book 1: 5, Book 2: 4, Book 3: 3Book 1: 5 StarsOverview: Red Rising follows Darrow. A young slave born into a mine working family. After suffering loss and hardship he must make a choice: continue on as before? end his life? or strike back at the oppressors? What follows is basically GATTICA and The Hunger Games. On Steroids.+ Overarching themes. A back and forth look at the human spirit, what drives people, and what people are willing to overcome.+ Awesome world. The author does a great job building a plausible universe. It is detailed and interesting. While certain sci-fi elements don't pass the logic test, it is an enjoyable universe.+ Does a good job with keeping the protagonist 'human'. No infallible/invincible characters here.+ An exciting read. Hard to put down+/- Most stories pull you into following a person, this story pulled me into following a movement, an idea of change. I did not particularly like Darrow, but that didn't take away from the story.+/- Bloody. Themes include slavery/rape/torture/cannibalism.- Written POV. Best described as First Person masquerading as Third Person Limited. We are basically watching a story unfold with limited information into Darrow's mind... but the story is filled with: 'I did...'.- Relatively poor characterization. Most characters are stereotypical with limited growth. The characters that do show changes are recycled: as the series goes on, the same 'growth' is applied to 3-4 other characters.