Red Rising by Pierce Brown: Review

As a personal preference, I try to avoid describing any book in terms of “this book is like X set in the world of X”. I’m trying to restraint myself but bear with me; Red rising is like Hunger games set on Mars. Like any Sci-fi book set on another planet Red Rising has ships and battles and all the typical Sci-fi gizmos. Putting these things aside, I really enjoyed the book, the plot has a breeze about it, all the characters are well developed, the emotional aspects of why you should care about the story is very relatable.

Red Rising is unique but it does not diverge away from the genre, it has the some genre clichés, in the same time it showcases the way of society we are already familiar with, but has its own ingredients put into it.

The story is of a boy named Darrow, a member of the Red. The society has been divided into color based social hierarchies, at the top of the hierarchy are Golds, they rule over all the classes beneath them. Darrow being a member of Red live beneath the surface of mars, Red are working class whose main job is to mine Helium-3 for terraforming the planet.
Darrow and his wife EO are arrested in a forbidden area. EO is whipped in public for her crime, she sings a forbidden folk song to protest against enslavement, she is subsequently hanged on the order of Mars’ ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus. What follows is Darrow’s seek of vengeance, his physical transformation to a Gold; to infiltrate the higher society to bring them down from within.

The journey from here is exciting, dramatic and emotional as he fights for his place in the institution. This is the first book in the trilogy so can get a grand tour in the world.

Pierce Brown has a very thorough knowledge of Roman mythology and how societies are transformed based on different ideas, it can be seen in the way book portrays these parts. Morality and ethical issues are explored through characters in the book; the book also shows how your decision can affect societies, friends and families.

I enjoyed and learned a lot from this book and would recommed to anyone looking for a fast paced Sci-fi book with brilliant characterization and world building.