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 spends his life willingly, knowing 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 sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow–and Reds like him–are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class calling themselves the Golds.
Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to disguise himself as a Gold and infiltrate the legendary Institute, the command school 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.
Red Rising was voted Debut Author in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2014.
Join the GiC Book Club in person at Main Point Books in Bryn Mawr, PA for our book club discussion on January 31st at 5pm. Find our group on Meetup here. You can also join our discussion online in the comments below!
I’m excited to read this book! I haven’t started yet – I want it to be really fresh in my brain before the book club.
Just finished yesterday. Very good book. I think you’ll like it, actually. Plenty of death. :P