Red Rising could be a science fiction dystopian but once you get past the first part it could also be a sort of medieval fantasy as it mashes together various elements and is able to pull them all off. 
 It's an example of the "chosen one" character trope in fantasy, where a somewhat ordinary boy/man rises above his station to be more (or the best really). I've seen this trope done plenty of times before and no doubt will see it done many times again. I think that it's because it's a story that readers want. As long as its done well of course, and here it most certainly is. You want to sympathize with Darrow and you most certainly want him to win. And even when he wins or is saved by the skin of his teeth from death I'll still swallow every bit of unlikeliness that things could happen that way. 
 Against the odds a slave Red like Darrow has been transformed into a Gold and he infiltrated their society thru admission to their institute. There he will learn that Golds are just as abused by their own people as Reds are used and advised by all colors above them. He will make friends, enemies and maybe even realize his heart can learn to love again. 
 Prepare yourself for the brutality! 
 I'm not joking when I say that some readers might have a hard time with Red Rising if they are sensitive to things like torture, rape, amputation and all the other ugly things that can happen during a war. There isn't a "real" war going on but there might as well be with the battle that these students are put through. While there are rules there might as well not be because none of them are followed. It's a dirty game of war that is afoot and so if you're going to dive into this one you better be prepared. Am I twisted for enjoying it? Maybe a bit - but I like my fiction dark and gritty at times and this definitely gave that to me. 
 This reminds me of Alterac Valley - You World of Warcrafters know what I mean! 
 The way the game of war the students have to participate in is setup and the landscape they are dropped into very much reminds me of the days I PVP'd (player versus player) in the MMO World of Warcraft. At the time I played quite a bit in Alterac Valley, it was one of the main battlegrounds and the two opposing factions were dropped down at different parts of the map and you had to capture points on the map with your battle standard and ultimately try to overwhelm the other faction's base of operations. It was a lot of killing, raiding and more killing. Of course Red Rising was way more brutal but I couldn't help but be reminded of it. Folks that love a good war game will appreciate Red Rising. 
 Rape is always wrong, but here? Well lets say I felt it was done wrong 
 There was only one major gripe I had with this book and that is the way women and rape is used/treated. For much of the novel, practically all of it the women are not characters at all but just means to push the plot in whatever direction things were going to go. I was pretty upset by the flagrant use of rape at almost every turn to paint Darrow as a hero in at least three or more different instances. It got to be tedious and made me lose respect for the book at times. Darrow didn't need such a heinous act to be a strong and sympathetic character. I ran across a guest article by Analee Flower Horne titled 'I'm Not Broken' on Jim C. Hines blog recently and I absolutely believe many authors would do themselves a favor by reading it. I've seen rape used so poorly in so many novels that it really makes me sad especially when I essentially love everything else about the book. 
 Thoughts on the narration 
 At first I had a hard time getting comfortable with the narrator. So much so that I returned the audio book for a refund the first time. Then I decided, let me just give it another try and give it at least a few hours. Once I did I found I really enjoyed the narration and that Tim Gerard Reynolds has a great narrating voice. I think what originally threw me was that he sounds so mature and older and the main character was 16 at the time while he had the voice of a man. Once I got into the full swing of things I really enjoyed how he voiced all of the various characters.