Red Rising
Pierce Brown, 2014
Science fiction FantasyYoung adultContemporary fiction
A sixteen-year-old Helldiver in the helium mines under Mars, fastest hands in his clan, decides the order of things can be broken. A restless first-person voice pulls you through mine dust, clan loyalty and a growing refusal to accept the world as fixed.
Feels like defiance, hope and curiosity. About love, home and society.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy YA science fiction with a defiant young narrator and a harsh, stratified world. The dramatic voice and brutal caste setting can feel intense if you prefer quieter, more understated science fiction.
Why read it
Brown's debut gives you a young miner's hunger to matter and a story where loyalty, love and defiance push against a rigid order.
A page from the book
The only way to imagine stars is to compare them to a person.
Little Eo—a tiny girl hidden beneath a mane of red. Red like the rock around me, not true red, rust-red. Red like our home, like Mars. Eo is sixteen too. And she may be like me—from a clan of Red earth diggers, a clan of song and dance and soil—but she could be made from air, from the ether that binds the stars in a patchwork. Not that I’ve ever seen stars. No Red from the mining colonies sees the stars. Pierce Brown.Red Rising was Brown's debut, written at night around a day job and published by Del Rey in 2014, when he was twenty-six.
Books that feel like this
More by Pierce Brown
Morning Star
Pierce Brown, 2016
A captive hero, a brutal hierarchy, and the cost of turning pain into purpose in the Red Rising saga.
Golden Son
Pierce Brown, 2015
A young warlord trained by the ruling caste plots from inside their empire, chasing a fleet he means to turn against them.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Red Rising for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy YA science fiction with a defiant young narrator and a harsh, stratified world. The dramatic voice and brutal caste setting can feel intense if you prefer quieter, more understated science fiction.
- What is Red Rising like?
- A restless first-person voice pulls you through mine dust, clan loyalty and a growing refusal to accept the world as fixed. Feels like defiance, hope and curiosity. About love, home and society.
- What should I read after Red Rising?
- If you liked Red Rising, try The Heir (Kiera Cass), Empire of Storms (Sarah J. Maas) and Glint (Raven Kennedy).
A taste of the feed
The moment independence starts to feel like a locked room.
I kept thinking that I couldn’t live my life for other people, that love was nothing but chains. And maybe it was, but so help me, I needed these chains.
The Heir · Kiera Cass
He proposes the way other people pick a fight.
The useless sentries in the watchtower are now all half in love with you,” he lied. “One said he wanted to marry you.” A low snarl. He yielded a foot but held eye contact with her as he grinned. “But you know what I told them? I said that they didn’t stand a chance in hell. Because I am going to marry you,” he promised her. “One day. I am going to marry you. I’ll be generous and let you pick when, even if it’s ten years from now. Or twenty. But one day, you are going to be my wife.” He shrugged. “Princess Lysandra Ashryver sounds nice, doesn’t it?
Empire of Storms · Sarah J. Maas
The fury of someone who refuses to accept what you've settled for.
He shakes his head. “No, Auren. You’re the one that needs to burn. You need to spark to life and fight. Stop letting him dull you, stop letting the whole fucking world trample you,” he shouts, making me flinch from the vehement demand. “If you tried, you could shine brighter than the fucking sun. Instead, you’ve chosen to sit back and wither.
Glint · Raven Kennedy
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