Book Review: "Red Rising" by Pierce Brown

"Red Rising" by Pierce Brown
First published in 2014
First in a trilogy
382 pages
My rating: 5 out of 5
Image from Goodreads

Darrow is a Helldiver. He lives and works deep under the surface of Mars, mining an element critical to making the Red Planet habitable for humans. He's bold and fearless and brave. He's never seen the sky.

He's a Red, the bottom of the totem pole in the new world order of the future. Golds, godlike men and women, are at the top of the color-based caste system.

Darrow has been told he's a pioneer, paving the way for the weaker Colors, saving mankind. He's been lied to.

It's a shattering revelation. While Reds have toiled away underground -- oppressed, starving, miserable -- the surface of Mars has been inhabited by every other Color for generations. It's time for a revolution.

Debut author Pierce Brown has put together a gripping and unique dystopian masterpiece with "Red Rising," the first in a trilogy. The plot has elements of "The Hunger Games" and "Ender's Game" with a little Percy Jackson thrown in -- and plenty of fantastic new material of its own. The word-building is superb. Brown's vision of the distant future is both thrilling and horrifying.

"Red Rising" is the best book I've read so far this year and I'm positive it'll make my list of top reads from 2015. It's the kind of book that speaks to you, that sticks with you, that you find yourself thinking about long after you closed the back cover.

The sequel, "Golden Son" came out last month and I can't wait to dig into it. It'll be my reading material on the long flight to Hawaii when we head there for our vacation in a couple weeks. Just another reason to look forward to our trip!