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0 of 4 copies available
0 of 4 copies available
Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow."— Scott Sigler Pierce Brown' s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender' s Game by Orson Scott Card. " 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 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.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 20, 2013
      Debut author Pierce shoots for the next Hunger Games with mixed results in this melodramatic SF series opener. Sixteen-year-old Darrow is a Red miner, the lowest worker caste on Mars. Darrow’s people live in hellish conditions underground and mine the precious silvery helium-3 needed to terraform the planet. Darrow’s father was hanged for performing a traditional dance, and when Darrow’s wife, Eo, discovers that Mars’s surface has been livable for centuries and then sings a forbidden dirge in public, she too is executed. Awash with grief, Darrow is recruited by the rebel Sons of Ares to infiltrate high-caste Gold society and help overthrow the government. After weeks of surgery and training, Darrow enters Mars’s most selective school, but being accepted at the Institute is one thing; surviving a murderous hazing, ruthless power struggles, and a brutal war game won’t be so easy. Determined to lead his people to a better future, Darrow will do anything to win. Pierce offers a Hollywood-ready story with plenty of action and thrills but painfully little originality or plausibility. Agent: Hannah Bowman, Liza Dawson Associates.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Tim Gerard Reynolds's portrayal of a virtual slave trapped in the life-sucking mines of Mars is top-notch. The story could have been as easily set in a feudal European camp as on the distant red planet. The rugged dignity of the hero, Darrow, who escapes and challenges the universe's ruling class, is almost Shakespearean. His righteous hatred is visceral. Reynolds portrays him like a brawling Irishman who realizes he'll never defeat his masters until he becomes one of them. As Darrow changes mentally and physically, Reynolds's portrayal slowly changes as well. In addition, his depiction of the ruling class as golden-skinned perfect people rings true, as does their disdain for the lowly Reds who live short lives mining for the precious metals that sustain their totalitarian society. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:630
  • Text Difficulty:2-3

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