Red Rising
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I'm still not clear
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I have heard some people calling it YA, and I don't really know why. I guess because the characters are young? The main character starts at 16, but his people don't live long, so that's considered well into manhood. There are long gaps involved so he's in his 20s in the 3rd book.I read an article where the author has said it was written and marketed as adult fiction, but has some elements of YA, so you could call it both. I would personally consider it adult fiction, and never even thought about it as YA until I read that article.
It's not necessarily a literary classic that will make you ponder your existence, but it is a very intense, fast paced read that I never wanted to put down. I've now read it twice, and will be reading it a third time when I get around to reading the new book in the series that just came out.
As far as the comparison to Hunger Games, I can see where some people would tell you they are similar, but only in the most general sense. They are both about young people going against an oppressive government, but that's about where it ends. Besides all of the Sci Fi elements, Red Rising is a lot deeper, the characters felt much more fleshed out, and it is waaaay more brutal.
So after saying all of that I would definitely recommend this book and the whole series, but nobody has the same taste in books. You might not like it, but it is a well written book, and there is a reason it is so popular.
I just finished book one and its not YA. No more than any novel with a person that starts out pretty young is YA. Its less like the Hunger Games and more like The Martin Chronicles. I liked this book. Enough that I do want to read the next in the series.
I think the biggest differentiating factor would be the romance. Most YA novels put a huge emphasis on romantic interactions (like The Hunger Games series did). Romance in Red Rising and the two following books in the trilogy is a really minor aspect of the story and is far from the focal point. Also there is a pretty intense amount of graphic violence in the Red Rising trilogy, a lot more than you would usually see in YA novels. Red Rising in my favorite trilogy out there. I would qualify it as adult fiction, and would highly recommend it :)
I respectfully disagree with the previous comments. This is absolutely a young adult series. The books were marketed as YA fiction. They can be found in the YA section of every major bookstore, as well as in the YA section of The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles -- those guys know their stuff.
Red Rising in particular centers on a ton of traditional YA themes: competition for social status, choosing between lovers, dealing with lost love, finding one's place in the world, impostor syndrome, and feelings of otherness, just to name a few.
In the subsequent books, even though the main character has aged (also a common theme in YA fiction -- think Harry Potter), the main themes addressed are still mostly applicable to teens and young adults. The main character spends an inordinate amount of time reminiscing about the good old days and how much simpler things were at "school." (You know, the kind of school where you learn to kill in cold blood, but that's beside the point.)
The entire series is the story of a kid from the lowest level of society who gets bestowed with the power to effect lasting change on a society with a hierarchy designed to keep people in their place and oppress those at the bottom. (Gee -- can you think of a few youth demographics this could appeal to?)
If you still have a question, compare it to some classic titles with central child characters:
Dune by Frank Herbert
Endymion and The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
These three are by no means YA novels, as they deal with existentialism, genocide, the nature of reality, and many more themes common to adult sci-fi. Pierce Brown's Red Rising series is, beyond a doubt, 100% young adult fiction.
Red Rising, in my opinion is not a YA in any traditional sense. It's full of some extremely adult content such as rape, mutilation and some other disturbing topics. Katniss never ran into that. It was a death match only. Red Rising not only is a match but, it has many more layers than just a surfaced one-dimensional Katniss. This book is one of the best stories to come around in years. I have not read the other two, I do intend too. Can't wait to see what happens.
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I'm not really into YA books. I'm unclear as to whether this is, or how it's wrirtten in that regard.
Also just how similar is it to the likes of the Hunger Games which don't interest me at all (partly because they are YA). That may be an unfair comparison, I don't know, but it's the one I see.
I'll pass for now if that's what the book is like. Thanks