Rating 3.5 Stars 
 I liked this book very much. I have read others describe the Red Queen as being similar to Red Rising, which is why I picked up this book initially. Personally, I find that there are only superficial similarities in that both books have the lowest class of people called Reds. From there, they are drastically different. 
 Red Rising is a sci fi book that takes places on Mars and centers around, Darrow, the reluctant hero. He is a helldiver on Mars, mining for H3 that will help make Mars habitable for all other colors. Darrow through a series of unfortunate events, ends up with a group who would like to change the class system from within. This group, Sons of Ares, reveals what the true world of Mars is really like and he has to make the decision of whether or not he will help them. 
 Darrow is quite likable. He is smart and brave, but he is flawed. The beauty of his character is how he grows and realizes that the world isn't really black and white, it is grey. He struggles with understanding how he can like Golds that rule over him as his master and he their slave, but as he grows he begins to understand that everyone who is a Gold isn't inherently bad, just like everyone that is a Red might not be inherently good. 
 It took me a while to really get into the novel, but once I did, it was hard to put down. My only complaint is that the first book really reminded me of a Sci Fi version of The Testing.