Red Rising Book Summary

The Tragedy

Pierce Brown’s futuristic dystopian science fiction novel, published in 2014, narrates the story of Darrow, a “Red” miner living on Mars in a color-coded society ruled by the “Golds.” He is angry as he participates in and loses a competition that would have earned him surplus food and supplies. His wife, Eo, comforts him as they visit a garden forbidden to the Reds and are caught by guards while leaving. During the trial, Darrow surrenders and is lashed. Eo sings a banned song mocking the ArchGovernor. She receives a death sentence followed by the same for a devastated Darrow, who is saved from imminent death by his uncle’s heart-slowing drug. 

Sons of Ares

He is found by “Sons of Ares,” a group aiming to fight the Golds against oppression. They choose him as the perfect person to infiltrate the society of the Golds. Darrow goes through an extreme physical transformation with the help of a Violet carver named Mickey and gets trained for his life at the training institute for the Gold ruling class. He gets a whole new identity, complete with a fake family, but insists on keeping his original name. He appears for the academy’s entrance test and gets accepted.

The Institute

At the elite institute, Darrow makes friends and enemies. He appears for a test that pairs all the students against each other in fatal fights, letting only one survive from each pair. Darrow is paired up and pitted against his friend’s brother, Julian, whom he kills to survive. The institute has twelve houses with fortresses and banners called “standards,” which the members must defend at any cost. Darrow gets into House Mars before meeting his classmates. The institute now pits the houses against each other to enslave the weaker ones. House Mars divides into groups, one of which is co-led by Darrow. He manages to ally with House Minerva to neutralize Mars’ unruly member, Titus. After his capture, Darrow realizes he is also a Red infiltrator like him but does nothing to save him, fearing his own safety as Titus kills him.

The Jackal Fiasco

Mustang, the head of House Minerva, mentions the terrifying House Pluto head, the Jackal when Darrow captures the Minerva fortress. A Pluto messenger, who later tells Cassius that Darrow killed Julian, arrives with the news of the Jackal putting a bounty on Darrow’s head, followed by a duel injuring Darrow. Mustang helps him recover, and they develop feelings for each other while running to escape from Cassius, the new leader of Mars. The rules of the institute require conquered students to be enslaved. The non-conforming ones are social outcasts known as the “Oathbreakers.” Darrow frees them, recruits them, and gains their trust. His ever-increasing number of followers capture the fortresses of several houses, making them allies by threatening them with slavery. He learns of the Proctors’ preference for the Jackal, the ArchGovernor's son. When he captures the Jackal and offers him freedom only by cutting his own hand, the Jackal abides, attacks him, and flees with the help of a proctor called Apollo, whom Darrow later slays.

The Storming of Olympus

With Apollo's resources, Darrow and his army reach the Proctors’ residence, Mount Olympus, where his followers have already captured the residents. There, he discovers Mustang is Jackal’s twin but dismisses the idea of her betrayal when she brings in her captured brother. All is resolved for now, and Darrow chooses the ArchGovernor as his patron with the agenda of using the maximum resources to end the Gold regime.