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Red Rising

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Red Rising

By: Pierce Brown
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
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About this listen

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 spends his life willingly, knowing 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 sprawling parks 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.

©2013 Pierce Brown (P)2014 Recorded Books Adventure Dystopian Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Solar System Ancient Rome Leadership Star Wars Mythology Ancient History
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The narrator of this novel was great! It was a pleasure to listen to him, his delivery was fantastic.


Now, as for the plot: It really wasn't anything ground-breaking, but it was an easy read and had great pacing.

The protagonist is a Mary Sue with little personality, but the dynamic he had with other characters was entertaining enough.
Pretty much all story elements have been explored in several well known novels and franchises before, but they came together pretty nicely in the end.
In some parts, the world building was a little lacklustre in my opinion, I would have liked to see more concepts explained and explored.
As such, plot holes and logical inconsistencies were ample, but I'm not sure if that's due to author oversight or exploration of these plot holes in later books of the franchise.

So, if you're after something easy, yet suspenseful, Red Rising is a great choice - just don't think too hard about it.

(Also, don't read this book if you're sensitive to blood / gore / brutality. Red Rising doesn't necessarily go overboard, but it doesn't exactly hold back either)

Hunger Games on Mars

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give this a shot if you liked Hunger Games. i didnt like HG but really enjoyed this.

A better hunger games

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very quickly grips you and doesnt let go until the last word. highly recommend it.

Sci-fi Hunger games

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Deep story telling, vivid characters and an exceptional performance in narration. The story will leave you hanging on every word, worth every second of your time.

Brilliant, phenomenal performance and story.

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The storyline was original, I really liked the characters. and the narrator was great. Well worth the listen.

great book. twist on the hunger games.

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