Red Rising - Pierce Brown

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

This was a real treat. It is a bit of a Hunger Games setup, with a tiered society that holds a brutal competition to crown the best of the best. However, this competition is only for the top-tier people, and our protagonist is lowest of the low. After some depressing events he undergoes a transformation in order to infiltrate the upper classes in an attempt to destroy the structure from the inside.

So there are a couple layers of well-trod plot stuff here. Reminded me a lot of the movie Elysium combined with Mistborn combined with Hunger Games. It was a gritty and exciting read that had really great pace. It is probably because I have been reading Sanderson at the same time ( review incoming), but it was quite refreshing how minimal this book felt. Fight scenes takes paragraphs, if not sentences, instead of chapters. Because it is all from the same perspective the whole time we are able to movie quickly - this book covers about as much as 3 of Sanderson's books would.

The sci-fi aspects are pretty great here too - did I mention it all takes place on Mars? So some of the physics of low gravity allow for cool action, and it helps differentiate this from something like Hunger Games.

One thing I didn't like was how, because of the rapid pace, often times our protagonist would reveal something that he had knowledge of but we the reader, who are following him this whole time, did not. Felt like a get out of jail free card a couple times, but I didn't think it ruined the book.

I am very interested in where the next book goes, since his true mission is really just beginning at the end of this book.