“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they’ll be whoever they choose to be. That they’ll own the land their father gave them.”

“I live for you,” I reply, the words heavy with sorrow.

Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for something greater.”

Darrow is a Red—part of the lowest caste in a rigidly color-coded society of the future. Like all Reds, he toils beneath the surface of Mars, believing his labor is paving the way for future generations to one day walk freely on the planet’s surface.

He gives his life willingly, driven by the hope that his children will inherit a better world.

But it’s all a lie.

Mars has already been tamed. Towering cities and lush parks thrive above ground. The Reds aren’t pioneers—they’re slaves, unknowingly serving a luxurious, oppressive elite.

Fueled by betrayal and the echo of a love lost, Darrow gives up everything to infiltrate the Institute—the brutal training ground for the Golds, the ruling caste of Society. There, among the strongest and most ruthless of his oppressors, he must fight to survive. He must outwit, outfight, and outlast them all—not just to endure, but to tear their world down from within.

Even if it means becoming one of them to do it.