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South Bay Book Club

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Fantasy Fanatics

Barnes & Noble Fort Lauderdale's Sci-fi & Fantasy dedicated book club!

Red Rising

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pierce Brown’s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

ā€œRed Rising ascends above a crowded dysĀ­topian field.ā€ā€”USA Today

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—
Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed, Shelf Awareness

ā€œI live for the dream that my children will be born free,ā€ she says. ā€œThat they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.ā€
ā€œI live for you,ā€ I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. ā€œThen you must live for more.ā€


Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power.  He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Praise for Red Rising

ā€œ[A] spectacular adventure . . . one heart-pounding ride . . . Pierce Brown’s dizzyingly good debut novel evokes The Hunger Games, Lord of the Flies, and Ender’s Game. . . . [Red Rising] has everything it needs to become meteoric.ā€ā€”Entertainment Weekly

ā€œEnder, Katniss, and now Darrow.ā€ā€”Scott Sigler

ā€œRed Rising is a sophisticated vision. . . . Brown will find a devoted audience.ā€ā€”Richmond Times-Dispatch

Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga:
RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER

BUY THE BOOK

Published Jul 15, 2014

416 pages

Average rating: 7.68

832 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

nmimms
Jul 22, 2025
8/10 stars
Fantastic first entry into an incredible series. This book doesn't disguise itself for what it is and doesn't make apologies for being over the top. To whet the appetite, just call it hunger games in space. Just better in practically every way. Highly recommend this one to anybody who is a fan of sci-fi or space operas in general.
KGoodin
Sep 19, 2024
10/10 stars
Just...wow

A wild ride that once you get on takes you on twists and turns you never expected.

It was a fantastic read.
hershyv
Jul 21, 2025
7/10 stars
This series came highly recommended by a friend who insisted I should stick with it until I’ve finished at least the first two books. I thought about waiting to review it until I’m done reading the second book, but I decided to share my thoughts on the first one anyway. Right off the bat, it felt like just another typical YA sci-fi/fantasy book that reminded me of tons of others. But as I kept going, I found that, despite my initial doubts, the story was heading in a good direction, and the world-building is really detailed, making it easy to picture this universe and its dystopian rules. The characters are well-developed and relatable, with cool traits that make them stand out. On the flip side, I wasn't a fan of the 16-year-old main character, who seems destined to become a pompous politician with some serious delusions of grandeur. I really hope something brings him down in the next book, so I don’t have to read another hundred lines of ā€œI am thisā€ or ā€œI am that.ā€ At first, Pierce Brown seemed a bit too comfortable weaving in some misogyny and homophobia. That annoyed me, but I’m starting to ease up on that because he has put a lot of thought and consideration into his characters and makes them feel pretty relatable regardless of their gender or the stereotypes attached to them. Overall, there’s a lot of good stuff that makes it easier to overlook the things that bug me a bit. I guess I’ll have to see whether the series is worth my time after I read the second book.
Claire Temple
Jul 08, 2025
8/10 stars
Slow at the start but the ending and climax we soooooooo good
ValkyrieValerie
Jun 17, 2025
10/10 stars
I loved this book!!! I think it was clever and an interesting concept with hunger game vibes! I loved it and it kept me interested the entire way through. what a ride

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