The Earth is dying. Darrow is a Red, a miner in the interior of Mars. His mission is to extract enough precious elements to one day tame the surface of the planet and allow humans to live on it. The Reds are humanity's last hope.\r\n\r\nOr so it appears, until the day Darrow discovers it's all a lie. That Mars has been habitable - and inhabited - for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down on Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.\r\n\r\nUntil the day that Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside. But the command school is a battlefield - and Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda.

EPIC. My first book completed in 2015 may just be the best one I end up reading all year! I really, really loved this book. I heard a lot of comparisons to Hunger Games, and while I could see some similarities, I would say it’s more like Hunger Games on steroids. On Mars. And more angry and violent. Are you interested yet? You should be! I was initially a little hesitant about the Mars aspect, but it pulled me in almost immediately. Society is arranged by colors, with Reds on the bottom and Golds on top. The world-building was phenomenal, with several setting changes throughout the book. I felt like we got a really thorough picture of the entire planet, from the mines of Lykos where the oppressed Reds worked tirelessly, to the lavish city of the Golds. The forests and castles of the battlefield are where most of the action takes place, and where we meet a slew of interesting characters. I could vividly imagine each place, and I really liked a lot of the characters. They weren’t predictable or clichéd, and a couple of them even surprised me. I liked Darrow from the moment I met him. Even though he’s a Red, an underdog, he is still a badass. He’s smart, he’s loyal, and he literally becomes the thing he hates most to try and save his people. Of course I knew that once he got into the Institute, he was going to meet some Golds who weren’t all bad, and he was going to have some tough choices to make. That didn’t make his journey any less exciting for me. This book is completely filled with action, but it also has heart. It was interesting, it was different, and I cannot wait to read more. Red Rising by Pierce Brown is a book that I could easily see myself re-reading, which is how I measure a book’s greatness. It set the bar high for 2015, and I couldn’t have picked a better book to start the year. I predict that this series is going to be huge (a movie is already in production), and it deserves every ounce of praise that it has received.

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Jessica @ Bookshelfery

Jessica’s addiction to books began at age 4, going on weekly trips to the library with her mom. After being a young fan of Sweet Valley High and The Baby-Sitters Club, she discovered the thrill of reading a book that made her want to leave the light on and check under the bed. Her all-time favorite author is Stephen King, but she will read just about anything! Jessica never leaves home without her e-reader, and considers it the best gift she ever received. Her other hobbies include running and going to Disney World as often as possible.

Latest posts by Jessica @ Bookshelfery (see all)

• Audiobook Review: Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner - 04/12/2017
• Audiobook Review: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware - 03/22/2017
• Book Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber - 03/07/2017