Red Rising by Pierce Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I first read this book when it was newly released back in 2015. At the time, I was looking for a new series to really dig into. The last real series to gain my interest was "The Hunger Games." Those books still hold a special place in my heart. After browsing around on Amazon, "Red Rising" popped up in my recommendations. It was listed as dystopian and sci-fi. It was also compared very favorably to "The Hunger Games," so I went it with high expectations. I am so glad that I decided to give this one a shot. So far, it has surpassed "The Hunger Games" to become my favorite book series, hands down.

The book starts off a bit slow and takes a little time to find its footing. We're introduced to our hero, Darrow, and his quaint mining town located below the surface of Mars. About 20% of the way into the story, the plot takes a turn and the slow and steady beginning of the book now shifts gears and picks up into a breakneck pace. Simply based on the first quarter of the book, I thought I would lose interest, but instead I was treated to a white knuckle ride right until the end of the book. The pacing is actually a brilliant bit of story telling as the shift in pace mirrors Darrow's own experience as the world opens up before him.

Speaking of the world, Brown employs some of the most interesting and world building I've experienced. The world is revealed to you slowly over time. Each little bit of the world is slowly unpacked for the reader in a way that serves the narrative appropriately. I've experienced authors before who seem to delight in dumping massive amounts of world building and explanation onto the reader only for it to either not really matter to the story or never be brought up again. I'm sure there are some who enjoy learning all the little details about the world, such as how many toes each animal has and the complex geo-political history behind a certain type of cheese, I do not. I was very pleased with how Brown presents his world. He respects his reader's intelligence and doesn't over explain any of the concepts, yet the world he builds is compelling and engaging.

One of the dangers of the dystopian genre is the story can sometimes become a bit too preachy. I felt that "Red Rising" comes very close to the line, but never crosses it. Darrow is a compelling character that holds his views in tension. Darrow is not entirely black-and-white and we do see him genuinely struggle with how he understands the world. He is a person who is appropriately conflicted without paralyzing the narrative.

"Red Rising" is a great first entry to what is obviously supposed to be a much bigger story. The setting and narrative serve to help ease readers into this much larger world that Brown is crafting. It's an engaging story that appropriately deals with some interesting themes without falling for the trope of painting the world into a false dichotomy of right and wrong. The characters are a bit gray and the story stays tense and interesting the entire time. If you're a fan of sci-fi and dystopian novels, like myself, then this is certainly worth your time.

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