This book was perfect. But a different sort of perfect, it was the perfect book for me to read at the time, after reading shitty YA books with silly romances, I needed a book like this and I got it. I wanted a book with blood, death and all those exciting things and thanks the gods that I read this book, it was refreshing in a gory way. 
 While I have to admit this book did have its problems in the beginning it was hard to get into there was lots of world builds and new vocabulary that it didn't explain at first (which was so damn frustrating). But that all passes and you get blood. Hehe. 
 "All men are not created equal," he declares. Tall, imperious, an eagle of a man. "The weak have deceived you. They would say the meek should inherit the Earth. That the strong should nurture the gentle. This is the Noble Lie of Demokracy. The cancer that poisoned mankind. 
 "You and I are Gold. We are the end of the evolutionary line. We tower above the flesh heap of man,shepherding the lesser Colors. You have inherited this legacy," he pauses, studying faces in the assembly. "But it is not free. 
 "Power must be claimed. Wealth won. Rule, dominion, empire purchased with blood. You scarless children deserve nothing. You do not know pain. You do not know what your forefathers sacrificed to place you on these heights. But soon, you will. Soon, we will teach you why Gold rules mankind. And I promise, of those among you, only those fit for power will survive." 
 But I am no Gold. I am a Red. 
 He thinks men like me weak. He thinks me dumb, feeble, subhuman. I was not raised in palaces. I did not ride horses through meadows and eat meals of hummingbird tongues. I was forged in the bowels of this hard world. Sharpened by hate. Strengthened by love. 
 He is wrong. None of them will survive. 
 This is a dystopian/sci-if novel (though going into this book I actually thought it was fantasy, and it does have that sort of feel). It takes place on Mars where the Reds work underground mining to serve the higher colours. Darrow is Red. He is also completely content being a slave to the Golds (the strongest colour there is) 
 "You think a dream is worth dying for. I say it isn't. You say it's better to die on your feet. I say it's better to live on our knees." 
 "You're not even living!" she snaps. "We are machine men with machine minds, machine lives...." 
 "And machine hearts?" I ask. "That's what I am?" 
 Until shit goes down (like it always does) and Darrow decides otherwise. He joins a rebellion and aims to get a high position in Gold society, so eventually they can take it down. To do this Darrow must look the part 
 "But we must not be satisfied only with the brain," he says. "There is much work to be done on this Ruster body of yours if we want to make to an iron Gold." 
 "And that is?" 
 "The golden ancestors, they call them the iron Golds. They were hard men. They stood lean and fierce upon their battlecruisers as they laid waste to the armies and republic fleets of Earth. What creatures they were." 
 After Darrow's transformation he goes to the institute (a school type thing) to see who the best of the Golds are. The Golds (and Darrow) are put into one of 12 teams and then it's war! 
 Ah this book was intense and I know people sometimes compare it to the hunger games and yes! I can totally see that! Darrow's character wasn't that likable to me and I didn't grow a connection to him, but that wasn't really a problem for me. In books like these I find it better not to forge connections with characters or you'll get your heart ripped out. Because there is death and oh so much blood and it was awesome, and I want more! 
 I do feel like the message they were trying to get out there was lost throughout the story and at times I would forget why Darrow was actually there, what brought him to the place where he is. It didn't bug me as it did for some people, but I would get lost in all the blood and awesomeness at times, but eh! I'm not complaining (that much). 
 Darrow was driven by very strong emotions in this book. Vengeance. Love. Hate. Ooooooo I loved it so much! Awful things have happened to Darrow he's seen and felt more than one should, so when he gets his revenge, ahh! What's that saying? Revenge is sweet. Damn straight it is. 
 One other thing that I loved about this book was that there was no romance. Yes I do love romance too, but I loved this book because it gave me a break from it, so I could finally breath. And especially from all these insta-loves and annoying romances that seem to be in every book I pick up, red rising had none of that, so thank you author for that! 
 Yes I recommend yo,u to read this book if your craving this sort of thing. It is very intense some people actually found it a little to intense (I clearly didn't feel that way though). It is long in the beginning but that will pass and you will always be on your toes, craving for battle! 
 Hehe. READ IT!