Pierce Brown's Red Rising has got to be the dystopian thriller of the year. It has to be! The term 'dystopia' has been thrown around a lot in the last couple of years. 'Dystopia' has been used to describe books that are far from involving corrupt, demonic, and powerful governments or leading authorities - for example, it has been used to describe post-apocalyptics, many similar and in league with William Golding's The Lord of the Flies. Even books with utopian societies are being coined dystopian. 
 Red Rising, however, is a dystopia - like The Hunger Games and like 1984 and Brave New World before it - that will redefine the concept once again come its release, for both the adult and young adult literary landscapes. Brown's debut will most definitely draw new readers to the genre of speculative fiction. Dystopias may be a passing fad, but Red Rising siphons all its energy into bringing the sub-genre back to the forefront of the speculative scene, trailed by flames the colour of red crimson birthed from the deepest trenches of Mars. 
 This first book in a planned trilogy has also garnered an extensive amount of comparison to Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games from readers. I must agree that there's a lot that is similar in the two stories - lower-tiered citizen must pretend to be someone they are not to climb the ranks of the wealthy class and deliver vengeance while doing so first in a test of strength and wit wherein death is a possibility. But there is also a lot that is different, which sets Red Rising apart from the dystopia that has received immense recognition in the literary and pop culture scenes. Soon, Red Rising will rise, and not just because it's a dystopian set on Mars. 
 Darrow is a protagonist that you become greatly attached to from the first page, empathetic for the life he lives as a Red, the lowest class of the Society. You learn that he is a Helldiver, a Red that mines the deepest trenches of Mars to make the planet more life inhabitable and sustainable and able to be civilised once Earth's supplies are depleted, digging for Helium3 - a Helldiver just like his father who was committed of treason and hanged by the Golds for thinking he should have been much more. Eo, Darrow's wife, suggests he completes what his father set out to do, believes what his father believed - and that is when all hell breaks loose (pardon the pun), for Darrow as the story's hero and for the Golds who gave Darrow something to fight for and fight towards. 
 As Red Rising continued, the world began to expand - it was like when Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful went from standard black and white to widescreen 3-dimensional colour. It truly was a pleasurable experience reading this novel, and that is a testament to Brown's writing - his smooth descriptions, vivid and colourful and clear. I must say, my favourite part of Red Rising was when Darrow was being surgically transformed from his normal Red self to a Gold worthy of defeating any God. It was elucidative and richly imagined, brutal to both the reader and Darrow himself. 
 The plot of Red Rising is action-packed, with always something to witness, be it a death, a brawl, or verbal conflict. And every death, every fight and conflict, is written and placed perfectly at times throughout the novel, each of those further developing Darrow as a hero showing good and bad qualities, learning from his mistakes, and using every experience of his as he moves forward in his quest for freedom and vengeance. Not every reader will agree with what Darrow decides to do, but readers will understand once the final fifty to one-hundred pages hit. Darrow earns his victory. 
 And we must not forget: he was only sixteen in the beginning. 
 Unlike the Hunger Games, where it's every man for himself unless you have a compassionate heart like Katniss, the arena in Red Rising is basically one big game of chess; or what I would really say it is is an epic strategy game, medieval in description but as brutal as Warhammer or Command & Conquer or Warcraft. The Roman influence of the characters' names and titles in the world of Red Rising sure does make the historical feel more alive and brutal. If you don't know a thing about strategy, well... Darrow will teach you how to play, how to become victor. And how to keep your humanity intact while you do. It's a game better than the Hunger Games, until Darrow decides to break the third wall. 
 There were moments when I thought that the 'command & conquer' test was dragging out, as I was close to losing interest and falling asleep, but we'll leave that for another day - that is inconsequential when compared with everything else that Red Rising is: a thrilling story of hope and justice and everything we as humans should strive to be - advocators of voice. 
 Brown has a winner on his hands with Red Rising and I look forward to selling it at work amidst the hype that The Hunger Games has generated with the films, and soon to follow, Divergent. Red Rising is being published at the right time, and with the right support behind it, the book can go further than what anyone could expect.