Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)

by Pierce Brown

I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war.

There is a flower that grows on Mars. It is red and harsh and fit for our soil. It is called haemanthus. It means “blood blossom.”

“Death isn’t empty like you say it is. Emptiness is life without freedom, Darrow. Emptiness is living chained by fear, fear of loss, of death. I say we break those chains.

Freedom enslaves us to lust, to greed. Take freedom away, and they give me a life of dreaming.

“And violent hearts set harshest flame,”

I am the spark that will set the worlds afire. I am the hammer that cracks the chains.

Words are a weapon stronger than he knows. And songs are even greater. The words wake the mind. The melody wakes the heart.