Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war. 


I watch twelve hundred of their strongest sons and daughters. Listening to a pitiless 


Golden man speak between great marble pillars. Listening to the beast who brought the 


"All men are not created equal," he declares. Tall, imperious, an eagle of a man. 


"The weak have deceived you. They would say the meek should inherit the Earth. That 


the strong should nurture the gentle. This is the Noble Lie of Democracy. The cancer that 


His eyes pierce the gathered students. "You and I are Gold. We are the end of the 


evolutionary line. We tower above the flesh heap of man, shepherding the lesser Colors. 


You have inherited this legacy," he pauses, studying faces in the assembly. "But it is not 


"Power must be claimed. Wealth won. Rule, dominion, empire purchased with blood.


You scarless children deserve nothing. You do not know pain. You do not know what 


your forefathers sacrificed to place you on these heights. But soon, you will. Soon, we 


will teach you why Gold rules mankind. And I promise, of those among you, only those 


He thinks men like me weak. He thinks me dumb, feeble, subhuman. I was not raised 


in palaces. I did not ride horses through meadows and eat meals of hummingbird 


tongues. I was forged in the bowels of this hard world. Sharpened by hate. Strengthened 


Prologue