Red Rising

This book is often compared to the Hunger Games, and it's hard not to see the comparisons at first. Main character from a disenfranchised class? Check. Oppressive government? Check. Plus, there's even a deadly competition between teenagers that makes up most of the book. However, that is where the similarities end.

It takes at least 50 pages or so for Red Rising to really hit its stride. The beginning feels like the start of just about every dystopian young adult series ever written. After those first pages, it really differentiates itself.

Both romantic and platonic relationships are deeply fleshed out, with slow development that takes place over the entire book. No angsty love triangles here. The primary characters feel like real people and have nuanced motivations. In addition, the worldbuilding is incredibly interesting and the prose, while straightforward, is full of fantastic lines that leave me thinking for days afterward.

I listened to the audiobook, and Tim Gerard Reynolds knocks it out of the park. I like Tim in all of his narrations, but this might be my favorite.