Excerpt from 'Red Rising' by Pierce Brown:
"Looking around, it's easy to see that Roque was right. There weren't many tough fights. This was forced natural selection. Bottom of the heap getting slaughtered by the top. Hardly anyone is severely injured except a couple of small lowDrafts. Natural selection sometimes has its surprises.
Cassius's fight was easy, he says. He did it right and fair and quick. Crushed the windpipe with a bladejab ten seconds into squaring up. Caught his fingers oddly, though. Prime. I've made a corpse of the best killer's brother. Dread creeps into me to make a home.
Cassius grows quieter when Fitchner saunters in and order us to the table. One by one, the fifty seats fill. And bit by bit, his face darkens as each chance for Julian to join the table disappears. When the last seat fills, he does not move. It is a cold anger that radiates. Not hot as I thought it would be."
Book is 342 pages. This is one-third of one page.