An exciting, compelling adventure, very much reminiscent of The Hunger Games. My feelings for this book are possibly way amplified, after reading a certain tween series that failed to rise to the occasion. 
 The beginning can be a bit overwhelming. Brown throws all sorts of terms at you, so that it takes a good fifty pages or so before you start familiarizing yourself with what's important. Essentially anything that can be compounded will be, and the second word will be Capitalized. (Except for bloodydamn.) Still, I like the depth and detail he gives to the miners' environment and reality. 
 We are introduced to the Color caste system, from the sex-worker Pinks to the artsy Purples to the dominant superphysical Golds. While we only get a glimpse, Brown demonstrates how the castes interact, what with the Academy inductees expecting Pink pleasurers following their ceremonial welcoming to the various forms of technology used by the Greens (Blues? I forget). However, given the strength of the other, non-Gold castes and the Gold treatment of the "lower" castes, it does make one wonder whether Mars is not ripe for a total overthrow beyond uplifting the Reds...? 
 The twists are amazing, the silence in between action is equally captivating. Whether Darrow is starving out his rebellious cohorts or ordering his minions, the Howlers, to crawl through sewer systems and (view spoiler)[stitch themselves inside of dead horses as a Trojan horse (hide spoiler)], Brown is not afraid to go hard. And I really, really respect him for that. 
 We already start seeing MC Darrow's shortcomings: he's super arrogant. SUPER ARROGANT. If Darrow ain't leading, nobody leads. I get that in a dog-eat-dog world, you have to show your strength pretty aggressively, but a lot of the fallout that occurs is due to Darrow's extreme arrogance. He is redeemable, though, what with his love for his wife, his friendships with the Golds, and the very real moral crises he faces and acknowledges. (view spoiler)[Still, I am super pissed that he did not brand Jackal right away, such that poor Pax died. In every book, show, and movie, you know that whenever the villain makes the victory speech about triumphing over his foe, the foe inevitably has time to recover from the capture and beat the villain up? If only Darrow had a TV. (Or whatever they are called. I forget.) Then all this could have been avoided. (hide spoiler)] 
 All in all, a very good, strong start to what I hope is an amazing trilogy. I cannot wait to see the fallout between Darrow and Cassius!