GoodReads Synopsis:
“I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."
"I live for you," I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.
Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.
But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.
Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
Review:
While this book is considered a science fiction dystopian novel, it’s a mild mixture of SciFi and fantasy, without the expected supernatural events and magical occurrences or deep scientific explanation. I would call it Speculative Fiction.
Truth be told, I was a bit skeptical of this book going into it. As an astrobiologist, a book that takes place on a terraformed Mars has the potential for lots of pitfalls - speculative science that just doesn’t have the facts right. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about suspension of disbelief in my recreational endeavors but when you are surrounded by planetary science all day, there is only so far one can forgive an author and forget the facts. However, I am happy to report that my fears were unfounded.
Not a hardcore SciFi book, Brown doesn’t go into the details of how everything works and, since the book takes place so far in the future, I was fine with saying, “sure, in a thousand years we could have that technology.” To me it presented a wonderful opportunity to imagine Mars in an entirely different context without worrying about the details.
It is a great story about a wonderful dystopian world, even if it is a little predictable in places; I won’t give any spoilers away, but you could see a few things coming. This, oddly enough, gave the book a comforting appeal. With good characters and good plot development, it’s just one of those books you like to like.
Nothing like a great story about a dystopian world on a terraformed Mars. It’s just one of those books you like to like.