(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – I read the first book of the “Red Rising” series by Peirce Brown.  “Red Rising” is a thrilling, science fiction book.  The story takes place in the future where mankind is now living on different planets in the solar system.  The story begins with a boy named Darrow who works in the mines of Mars.  On Mars, society is separated into color coded minority groups.  The main groups are the Reds and the Golds.  The Reds are the poor people and the peasants on Mars.  The Golds are the upper class and rich people.  The Golds are the dominant group of Mars, and control most of the other colors’ lives.  Darrow is a Red whose wife, Eo, is sentenced to death because she sang a forbidden song by the Golds.
Driven into rage by Eo’s death, Darrow joins a legion the Reds formed to lead a revolution against the Golds.  The Reds send Darrow undercover as a Gold to spy on them, so they can start an uprising.  Darrow learns a lot about the Golds’ way of life.  The Golds are very conceited and snooty.  They are power hungry and lust for dominance and control.  Darrow is placed in a Gold group in an academy where they are being trained to be Gold soldiers.  He starts getting into rivalries with the other Golds.  Throughout the book, Darrow slowly starts to become like a Gold himself and has to break the effect the Golds have on him and remember his mission to help revolt against them.
There are many intense parts in the book.  One of my favorite parts is when some boys in Darrow’s Gold group whip and jump one of their soldiers.  Darrow gets angry and tells them since they whipped him, they have to whip him now.  He says, “whatever you do to each other, you do to me, too.”  Another part of the book I like is the chapter, “The Battle of Apollo.”  In the Gold academy, they are separated into houses; House Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Apollo.  The goal in the academy is for one House to gain dominance over the other houses.  Darrow is in House Mars and they lead a battle against House Apollo.  It gets very suspenseful and bloody as they are fighting each other.
I really enjoyed this book.  It is very thrilling and suspenseful because you don’t know when or if  Darrow will get caught and found out that he is a Red.  You also don’t know how much the Golds are going to corrupt Darrow and if he will turn against the Reds to become one.  It kind of reminds me of a futuristic version of the CIA.  If you like a good story about spies or the future, I think you will enjoy this book.