Red Rising, by Pierce Brown

Given the fact that the promotional quotes and even the cover itself compare Pierce Brown's new book Red Rising to The Hunger Games, it's hard not to read it with that comparison in mind.  Having read The Hunger Games and its sequels, I did try to read Red Rising objectively.  But the comparison is simply too strong.

In Red Rising society is radically stratified, even stronger than India's caste system, and across the solar system, not in one isolated culture.  The story is set on Mars, where Darrow, a member of the Red caste, is swept away by a rebel group and transformed in such a way that he can pass for a Gold, the highest caste.  Due to his natural abilities and brains, as well as his augmentations and trainings, he not only passes for a Gold, but gains acceptance to their highest academy.

But this academy doesn't resemble Oxford or Harvard, where our elite go to train.  It more closely resembles the arena of The Hunger Games.  Rather than kill each other, though, the students are to team up and make war against the other teams.  And, incidentally, quite a few students are killed.  This is the biggest problem I have with Red Rising.  In The Hunger Games, the combatants were taken from the lower classes as fodder for the entertainment of the ruling class.  This has historical precedent in the Roman arena.

But in Red Rising, the ruling class takes the children of their most elite members, and children with the most intellectual and physical promise, and sets them against each other.  Half of them are immediately killed, and many more are killed along the way.  Sure, they have natural selection, and the game is rigged to make sure certain kids have a better chance to live.  I understand, but I have difficulty buying the whole moral premise behind this.

Red Rising is the first of an expected trilogy.  Hopefully Brown will successfully develop Darrow as the leader of a movement to break down class barriers and bring democratic reform.  But so much of Red Rising was taken up with the academy war that it was easy for me (and, in fact, for Darrow) to lose sight of the purpose of it all.

Red Rising is not poorly written.  I especially enjoyed the first portion, before Darrow began his transformation to a Gold.  I probably would have liked it more if I had not read The Hunger Games first.  The battle scenes seemed tiresome, and the overall story was neglected.  In the end, I realized I didn't really care if Darrow won the battle, freed the Reds, or remained a Gold.  Ho hum.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!