Red Rising / Pierce Brown / 382 pgs

Two years ago, when I was in the middle of a huge YA period in my life, I read Red Rising and enjoyed it immensely. Science Fiction! Dystopia! Mars! Hundreds of years into the future! Social stratification! Action! Seriously, what's not to love? I reread it this month so I could finally read the second book in the trilogy, Golden Son, and be ready for the final book, Morningstar, coming out today! It will be a few days before I can get my hands on that last book, but I cannot wait!


Red Rising is about Darrow, a young man living in the lowest caste of society. He, along with all the other Reds, have been told that they are the pioneers of Mars, mining for the element needed to terraform the planet for the rest of humanity. Earth won't be able to sustain life for much longer. His sacrifice will help future generations. Then Darrow finds out the awful truth about the totalitarian society in which he has been raised. This discovery leads to the infiltration of the elite military academy of the Golds. Golds are humans, just like Darrow, but with their superhuman strength and stamina, they might as well be a completely different lifeform.