Ranking Red Rising

The book that sparked my love for the series, the first entry in the Red Rising saga, did a brilliant job of introducing us to this universe. You get introduced to characters that will be with you all the way to the end and witness the very beginnings of their relationships. We start the story with Darrow, a Red helldiver enslaved to mine helium-3. The lie sold to the Reds is that they're terraforming Mars so civilization can eventually colonize it. The tipping point of this entire series is the death of Eo, Darrow's wife. After Eo is hanged by the Golds who run the mine, Darrow thinks he has nothing left to live for. In an act of rebellion, Darrow cuts down his wife—which is illegal for Reds to do—and gives her a proper burial. Darrow is then put to the noose, but someone sees something in him...

After his hanging, Darrow awakens, but he's not dead. Darrow had been slipped a sedative by his uncle before the execution, keeping him alive for the next stage of his journey. Darrow soon learns the devastating truth about his world. Humanity has already spread across the entire galaxy, and the lies told to the Reds are designed to keep them under the thumb and obedient to the cause of the hierarchy. Darrow's next task sounds simple: undergo a "carving" to transform himself into a Gold—the top of the pyramid. The procedure is a success, and Darrow successfully infiltrates the Institute, a brutal training ground for young Golds to hone the skills they'll use to rule society. This is where the real fun begins.