History Literature / RedRising

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: [[ScienceInGenreOnly Soft as a pink]]. Very occasionally something scientific is mentioned, such as Mars having a low gravity when discussing hangings or a character jumping. Other than that, practical issues never come up. How does Mars retain an atmosphere? How is nobody freezing on Europa? Something something Helium-3 terra-forming something.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler: Eo,]] whose death fuels Darrow's rage against the Golds.
** [[spoiler: Bryn]] is a posthumous case, as her death is what motivated [[spoiler: Fitchner]] to form the Sons of Ares.
** [[spoiler: Quinn]], whose death fuels begins to fracture Darrow and Roque's friendship.

* ActionGirl: Several. Mustang, Victra, Quinn, Pebble, Harpy, and Thisle are some of the most prominent examples.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Golds, with Pixies as the decadent and Iron Golds as the deadly.

** When talking to the students of House Mars, Fitchner mentions that if students perform well enough, Lorn au Arcos might want them for an apprenticeship. [[spoiler: He ended up training Darrow in between ''Red Rising'' and ''Golden Sob ''.]]

* FiveBadBand: As of ''Morning Star'', this is:

The series has spawned a Prequel comic titled ''ComicBook/SonsOfAres'' which began in 2017, and a follow up trilogy called ''Literature/IronGold'', with the first installment released in January 2018.

* EveryoneIsBi: Zig-zagged. Golds don't allow [=LowColors=] to have same-sex relationships, but everyone is generally described as being all over the map in terms of sexual orientation.

The series has spawned a Prequel comic titled ''ComicBook/SonsOfAres'' scheduled to be released in 2017, and a follow up trilogy called ''Literature/IronGold'' is scheduled to be released in January 2018.

* {{Retcon}}: The First Moon Lords' Rebellion and Octavia's ascension to the Morning Throne as occurring forty years prior to the start of the series. ''Morning Star'' and onward claim it was sixty.

-->--'''Octavia au Lune''', Red Rising

-->--'''Octavia au Lune''', RedRising

* SocialDarwinist: The system set up by the Golds runs on this principle (see TheSpartanWay), not only despising democracy out of a belief that it coddles the weak, but also instituting a training system aimed at killing off the weak members of the ruling class and leaving those alive as rulers who are the most clever and ruthless.

* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: Zig-zagged. The Golds have terraformed most of the planets and moons of the solar system, but Mercury, Venus, Luna, and Mars to be as Earth-like as possible, while the moons of the gas giants are habitable, but less Earthlike.

'Red Rising' by Pierce Brown is the first installment of a trilogy revolving around a society in the distant future in which humanity is divided into a color-coded caste system. Darrow is a Red, a 16 year old Helldiver laboring under the surface of Mars to make the world habitable for future generations.

Then the day comes where he discovers that it is all a lie. Mars has been habitable for generations, and the surface is inhabited by all colors in a brutal hierarchy built on the backs of the Reds. Darrow is given the opportunity to change things, altering his body to become a Gold. His goal: to infiltrate their Institute and carve himself a high place in the Society, putting himself in the best position possible to tear it all down.

The series continues with 'Golden Son', the second installment, in which war is started to thwart the BigBad's plans.

The third installment, 'Morning Star', was released in February, 2016, and follows Darrow as he continues the struggle from the previous books.

* ArcWords: "Break the chains." and "Live for more."

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: [[spoiler: When Mustang becomes Sovereign at the end of ''Morning Star''.]]

** Antonia and her (introduced in the second book) older sister, Victra also have this dynamic- Both are [[LadyOfWar Ladies of War]], but while Antonia is a RichBitch and shows signs of being a sociopath, Victra is a friendly HardDrinkingPartyGirl who shows an unusual amount of conscience/aversion to killing innocents for a Peerless Scarred. Victra notes that people who have met her sister tend to immediately dislike/distrust her. [[spoiler: In the massacre of Darrow's allies at the end of the second book, Antonia personally murders Victra.]] [[spoiler: The latter got better]]

The series has spawned a Prequel comic titled ''ComicBook/SonsOfAres'' scheduled to be released in 2017, and a follow up trilogy called '''' is scheduled to be released in January 2018.

The series has spawned a Prequel comic titled ''ComicBook/SonsOfAres'' scheduled to be released in 2017, and a follow up trilogy called ''Literature/IronGold'' is scheduled to be released in January 2018.

The series has spawned a Prequel comic titled ''ComicBook/SonsOfAres'' scheduled to be released in 2017, and a follow up trilogy called ''Iron Gold'' is scheduled to be released in January 2018.

* EveryoneIsBi: Zig-zagged. Golds don't allow [=LowColors=] to have same-sex relationships, but everyone is generally described as being all over the map in terms of sexual orientation.
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: The first book includes Darrow's class at the school (The Institute). Almost every high-stakes Gold in the next two books, except the parents of said school-mates and the ultimate ruler, were in that same year's Institute. Events from that year are constantly referenced.
* EvilGloating: In ''Morning Star'', Antonia gloats [[spoiler: after killing her cellmate, Thistle, who was going to reveal the Jackal's plans to Darrow.]] [[ShutUpHannibal Victra breaks her face.]]