Red Rising

Pierce Brown

Jan 2014 · Red Rising Series Book 1 · Sold by Del Rey

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pierce Brown’s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

“Red Rising ascends above a crowded dys­topian field.”—USA Today

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed, Shelf Awareness

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”
“I live for you,” I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power.  He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Praise for Red Rising

“[A] spectacular adventure . . . one heart-pounding ride . . . Pierce Brown’s dizzyingly good debut novel evokes The Hunger Games, Lord of the Flies, and Ender’s Game. . . . [Red Rising] has everything it needs to become meteoric.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow.”—Scott Sigler

“Red Rising is a sophisticated vision. . . . Brown will find a devoted audience.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga:
RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER

Ratings and reviews

Wow! What an incredibly fun read. I haven't been this hooked into a series in a looong time, perhaps decades. I'm now on book 5, and I'm still just sailing through these. Wonderfully compelling storylines and writing style. It's so easy for sci-fi / fantasy authors to become unbearable as they attempt to build worlds and invent new language, but Pierce is a natural at it. I read a lot, and yet I rarely have as much genuine fun and excitement as I'm having when I dive into these. This series make it easy to choose when deciding whether to open News, YouTube or Books.

When I opened Red Rising for the first time, I just expected a simple sci-fi book that really cute gave for free at ComiCon. And to be honest, I tossed it on a shelf and forgot it. A few months went by and I found it and opened it and by the second page, I was hooked! On all of them! Got my daughter hooked and grandson and anybody else who would dare and stop and let me talk to them. I would rate this higher but you only give me five stars not five hundred.

I've now read 5 books deep and this is definitely my favorite series. I found it at random and was caught by how intelligent each sentence feels. Characters and plot, as important as they are, feel empty to me without enthralling execution and the engaging linguistical presentation of it. Although rough in realism, it's pleasant to read, thought provoking, and in my opinion, intellectually expanding. And yes, it has a fantastic multi-layered and multi-stepped plot with a pluthera of easy-to-remember characters.

About the author

Pierce Brown is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, Iron Gold, and Dark Age. His work has been published in thirty-three languages and thirty-five territories. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next novel.