Galley giveaways at BEA and at social media sites and author appearances at BEA and the San Diego Comic-Con (with the New York Comic-Con to come) have built a lot of enthusiasm for this dystopian debut, set in a dark future where class conflict is rising and a man named Darrow turns revolutionary after his wife's execution. Hunger Games comparisons; first in a trilogy.

All 16-year-old Darrow knows is mining for helium-3 deep below the surface of Mars, believing, as do all those of the Red clan, that they are the first peoples of Mars who sacrifice their lives to create a habitable planet for the inhabitants of an overpopulated dying Earth. But when his equally young wife is hanged for singing a forbidden song of freedom, Darrow follows her to the gallows only to be saved by members of a higher clan who want to use him to overthrow those in power. Surgically altered to resemble a Gold, the highest, most powerful clan on Mars, Darrow undergoes a demanding training and education regime in an effort to attain admittance into the Institute from which the future leaders of Mars are chosen. It is only after he is chosen as one of the top 100 most promising students that he and his classmates discover just how vicious the ruling classes are as they are forced to fight one another in war games where only the most intelligent and the most ruthless can survive and rise. VERDICT Brown's debut novel, the first volume in a planned trilogy, is reminiscent of both Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games and William Goldman's The Lord of the Flies but has a dark and twisted power of its own that will captivate readers and leave them wanting more. [See Prepub Alert, 8/5/13.]—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage P.L., AK

Debut author Pierce shoots for the next Hunger Games with mixed results in this melodramatic SF series opener. Sixteen-year-old Darrow is a Red miner, the lowest worker caste on Mars. Darrow's people live in hellish conditions underground and mine the precious silvery helium-3 needed to terraform the planet. Darrow's father was hanged for performing a traditional dance, and when Darrow's wife, Eo, discovers that Mars's surface has been livable for centuries and then sings a forbidden dirge in public, she too is executed. Awash with grief, Darrow is recruited by the rebel Sons of Ares to infiltrate high-caste Gold society and help overthrow the government. After weeks of surgery and training, Darrow enters Mars's most selective school, but being accepted at the Institute is one thing; surviving a murderous hazing, ruthless power struggles, and a brutal war game won't be so easy. Determined to lead his people to a better future, Darrow will do anything to win. Pierce offers a Hollywood-ready story with plenty of action and thrills but painfully little originality or plausibility. Agent: Hannah Bowman, Liza Dawson Associates. (Feb. 2014)