Red Rising -- a "Kirkus-style" review

Red Rising

Of the "Red Rising" trilogy, book 1
By Pierce Brown

Available on Amazon

Review

A former slave joins the revolt to bring the solar system's ruling class to its knees in this debut novel from Pierce Brown.

Sixteen year-old Darrow knows no other life than the subterranean mining work he carries out on Mars, work that he and his fellow Reds are told is vital by the ruling Gold class to terraform the planet to save Earth's citizens.  Yet after his wife becomes a martyr, Darrow is taken above ground and shown the truth--that Mars is inhabited and his people have been taken for fools and made into slaves.  Darrow undergoes intensive surgery to pass for a Gold citizen and enrolls in the Institute, where young Golds learn how to conquer.  Immediately faced with trials and moral dilemmas, Darrow must rely on his anger if he wants to survive the Institute's contest and rise in Gold society so that he might tear it down from the inside. Brown creates an engaging character in Darrow, as he wrestles to balance his rage and his humanity.   He keeps the story moving, the pace building up to a climax that any action movie viewer would love.   The world he builds, although set among the planets, retains a feel of the historic, as its characters adhere to Roman philosophy and often speak Latin.  This historic obsession can sometimes feel at odds with the science fiction setting, jarring the reader.  Like the Roman conquerors of old, there is a high level of violence that pervades the Society and that may be jarring to some readers as well.

An engaging science fiction tale that takes its readers on a roller coaster of events.