Synopsis
“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”
“I live for you,” I say sadly. Eo kisses my cheek.
“Then you must live for more.”
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.
Review
Oh wow, I can see why there is a huge amount of hype for this series.
This book has absolutely laid the seeds for what is sure to be an enormous political sci-fi saga and I cannot wait to sink my teeth into what’s coming next.
It’s difficult to ignore the similarities between this and both Battle Royale, Hunger Games, and even The Matrix, but I definitely had the feeling of a much wider world with deeper political machinations just waiting on the other side of this “rite of passage,” which elevated it for me. There is progression that is reminiscent of Cradle, and witty banter, barbs, and the tropes you’d find in many YA stories, although this is more than the sum of its parts.
No one is safe, and some of the action scenes and duels were absolutely bloodcurdling.
There is a strong cast of characters (Sevro is of course a firm favourite), and the story it wants to tell is told extremely well. The audiobook narrated by Tim Gerrard Reynolds was spectacular, as was the graphic audio I swapped to about halfway through.
It wasn’t perfect, however (unlike the Golds and the person Darrow inexplicably becomes) – there is a bit of a chosen one trope blended with a Gary Stu (Darrow excels at everything), plus his wife being murdered is the catalyst for his journey is never fun. However, that is the emotional core to Darrow’s character, and he clutches it with all his might.
A really solid opening to this series, and it’s one I’ll continue!
Leave a Reply