From the Bookshelf of Tyler Public Library…

[close] Comparison to “The Hunger Games” is inevitable, but not altogether fair, because "Red Rising" takes the - let's face it - tired, limping, overworked genre and gives it a shot of adrenaline, originality, and anarchy. “Red Rising” has the framework of most dystopias that have come before it (and, it is worth noting, before ”Hunger Games”): the post-upheaval society with a very rigid caste system (in this case indicated by color), the heartless, hedonistic ruling class, and the member of the low caste – in this case Darrow, a Red who works in a Mars mining colony like the generations before him - that becomes the center of an uprising.

It is what Brown does within that framework that makes this book a worthwhile - and fun - read. If you are a fan of thrilling adventures, military strategy, ancient history and philosophy, mythology, survival tales - there is a bit of all of that in here.

This is the first of a planned trilogy and I do wish that wasn't the case. It seems no longer can a good book be just that - a single really good, tightly-edited book with a resolution at the end. That said, considering Brown very competently entered this overstuffed genre, he may just surprise us all with a trilogy of consistent quality. Highly recommended.