We confess ourselves thoroughly captivated by Pierce Brown’s Red Rising—that magnificent tale of Darrow, a Red who dares infiltrate the Golden caste and tear down an empire from within. Should you, like us, have devoured every word and find yourselves bereft, longing for that same intoxicating blend of rebellion, ruthless competition, and hard-won triumph, we have assembled this collection with considerable care.
These twelve recommendations share the essential spirit of what makes Red Rising so splendidly compelling: protagonists who refuse to accept their prescribed stations, worlds built upon systems crying out to be overthrown, and prose that quickens the pulse.
Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
Here we find Hadrian Marlowe—a man remembered across galaxies as both savior and monster, hero and devil. The tale unfolds through his own confession, spanning more than a thousand years of a life that reshaped the stars themselves. He begins as a young lord who refuses his father’s plans to make him a torturer-priest, setting in motion events of cosmic consequence.
The worldbuilding is positively staggering—a science-fiction Roman Empire complete with palatine nobility, rigid class hierarchies, and a religious Chantry that suppresses technological advancement. If we might be so bold, we find this debut even more ambitious than Red Rising in certain respects. James S.A. Corey himself praised it as “epic-scale space opera in the tradition of Iain M. Banks and Frank Herbert’s Dune.”
Dune by Frank Herbert
We should be remiss not to mention the grandfather of them all. Pierce Brown himself has acknowledged Dune as a profound influence upon his work, and the parallels reveal themselves readily: a young man of privilege cast into desperate circumstances among an oppressed people, who rises to become their leader and challenger of empires.
Paul Atreides’ journey mirrors Darrow’s own transformation. Yet Herbert weaves in a most fascinating warning—”beware of heroes,” he cautioned. The spice-laden world of Arrakis, with its fierce Fremen people surviving against impossible odds, shall feel wonderfully familiar to those who have walked the mines of Mars.
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
The Expanse series offers something rather extraordinary: a future solar system where humanity has colonized Mars, the asteroid belt, and the moons of Jupiter, yet brought along every political tension, class struggle, and capacity for violence that has ever plagued our species. The narrative follows a cynical detective and an idealistic ship captain whose paths converge around a conspiracy that could ignite war across the entire system.
We find here the same moral complexity that distinguishes Red Rising—characters of shifting loyalties navigating a universe where power corrupts absolutely and the downtrodden Belt workers might well remind one of the Reds toiling beneath Mars.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Brown has credited this novel as a major influence, and we see why at once. Young Andrew Wiggin, merely six years old when recruited to Battle School, must master the art of zero-gravity warfare while those in authority push him to his breaking point, all to save humanity from an alien threat.
The Battle School sequences—children competing in elaborate tactical exercises, forming alliances and rivalries, being forged into weapons—share unmistakable kinship with the Institute sections of Red Rising. Yet Card poses profound moral questions beneath all the strategic brilliance, ones that shall linger long after the final page is turned.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
We venture now into epic fantasy, though we assure you the journey is worthwhile. Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive presents Kaladin Stormblessed—a surgeon’s apprentice turned soldier turned slave—leading a bridge crew in the most dangerous role imaginable on the war-torn Shattered Plains.
Kaladin’s struggle against a rigid caste system, his transformation from broken man to leader of the downtrodden, his refusal to accept injustice—these echo Darrow’s own journey most powerfully. The worldbuilding is staggeringly detailed, the magic system utterly inventive, and Kaladin himself has been called one of the finest fantasy protagonists ever conceived.
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
In a brutal empire inspired by ancient Rome, the Martial race rules with iron cruelty while the conquered Scholars live as slaves and servants. Laia, a young Scholar woman whose family was slaughtered by the Empire, makes a desperate bargain with the Resistance: she will infiltrate Blackcliff Military Academy as a spy in exchange for their help rescuing her brother from prison.
Within those merciless walls she encounters Elias Veturius—the Academy’s finest soldier, yet secretly its most unwilling. Trained since childhood to be the Empire’s weapon, Elias dreams only of escape from the tyranny he’s been groomed to enforce. The parallels to Red Rising announce themselves boldly: an underdog protagonist infiltrating an elite institution, brutal training and competition, a corrupt system begging to be torn down. Time included it among the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, and the rage and heart burning through these pages shall feel wonderfully familiar.
The Will of the Many by James Islington
In the Catenan Republic, the lower classes must cede a portion of their mental and physical energy to those above them—a magic system built upon literal oppression. Into this world comes Vis, secretly the sole surviving prince of a conquered kingdom, now enrolled in the elite Academy under a false identity.
One reviewer called it “Harry Potter for grown-ups with a dash of Gladiator,” and we find that description rather apt. The academy intrigue, the protagonist’s hidden identity, the tension between survival and justice—it shares considerable DNA with Red Rising. The prose crackles with rage and heart in equal measure.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
We would be positively remiss to exclude this cornerstone of modern dystopian fiction. Katniss Everdeen, reluctant tribute forced to fight to the death for a corrupt Capitol’s entertainment, became the spark that ignited rebellion across an oppressed nation.
Collins drew upon Roman gladiatorial games and Greek mythology—influences that Red Rising clearly shares. Both Katniss and Darrow are thrust into brutal competitions, both become symbols of revolution despite themselves, both must weigh the costs of violence against the necessity of resistance. The parallels run deep and true.
Wool by Hugh Howey
Deep beneath a poisoned Earth, humanity survives within the Silo—one hundred and forty-four floors of strictly regulated society where the greatest crime is simply asking to go outside. When mechanic Juliette is unexpectedly promoted to sheriff, she begins unraveling mysteries that the powerful would kill to protect.
This tale burns with revolutionary fire. The claustrophobic setting, the slow revelation of terrible truths, the protagonist who refuses to accept the lies she’s been fed—it shall satisfy that craving for conspiracy and uprising that Red Rising cultivates so well. The television adaptation has introduced many to this world, but we assure you the original prose rewards the committed reader.
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
Tau was born without magical gifts in a world where such gifts determine everything. He had planned simply to survive—perhaps marry, settle down, escape the endless war his people fight. Then tragedy struck with brutal force, and survival was no longer enough.
What follows is a revenge tale of absolutely ferocious intensity. Tau dedicates himself to becoming the greatest swordsman who ever lived, willing to endure any hardship in pursuit of vengeance. The action sequences are cinematic, the training brutal, the rage absolutely palpable. If Red Rising’s combat and Darrow’s fury sang to your soul, this shall prove most satisfying.
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
In this cyberpunk noir masterpiece, human consciousness can be digitized and transferred between bodies—called “sleeves”—granting functional immortality to those who can afford it. Takeshi Kovacs, a former elite soldier, awakens in a new body centuries after his death, hired by a wealthy man to solve what appears to be his own murder.
The novel won the Philip K. Dick Award and has been praised as “Dashiell Hammett meets William Gibson.” It is dark, violent, philosophically provocative, and utterly gripping. The class implications of a world where the wealthy live forever while the poor scrape by in deteriorating bodies shall resonate with those who understood Red Rising’s color hierarchy.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
On a continent called the Stillness—a name dripping with bitter irony—the world regularly suffers apocalyptic seismic events known as Fifth Seasons. Those born with the power to control this tectonic fury, the orogenes, are classified as non-human. They are hunted, enslaved, and trained at the Fulcrum, where they learn through brutal methods exactly what place society has assigned them.
Jemisin’s Hugo Award-winning masterpiece—the first of an unprecedented three consecutive wins—presents a caste system as brutal and meticulously constructed as anything in Red Rising. The orogenes, called “roggas” by those who despise them, possess immense power yet cannot control their own fates. The novel asks whether a society built upon such systematic oppression must, by necessity, be violently overthrown. It is dark, devastating, and technically virtuosic—every shock felt in the marrow.
Begin Your Next Adventure
We have endeavoured to capture the essential spirit of what makes Red Rising so magnificent: worlds where the powerful have arranged everything to their benefit, and individuals who possess the audacity, the cleverness, and the fury to tear those arrangements asunder. Whether your fancy tends toward space opera or grimdark fantasy, dystopian rebellion or cyberpunk noir, you shall find worthy successors among these pages.
The only question that remains is which adventure shall claim you first.
