Pierce Brown

Pierce Brown delves back into the world he created with his phenomenal Red Rising trilogy, and it does not disappoint! Ten years after the events that broke the chains of Society, the war still rages and the aftermath is still being felt. Pierce gives you four different POV’s to follow: a young Red girl, the Gold boy, now man, who saw first hand the wrath of the revolution, a disillusioned Grey who self medicates as he maneuvers through the criminal underbelly, and Darrow, is he the hero show more of the Rising or the destroyer of everything?
The multiple storylines give this story depth and varying purposes. It is a glimpse of what happens in the aftermath of revolution, nothing can be solved overnight, and not everybody lives happily ever after.
Darrow and the Howlers are not young rebels any longer. They have families and responsibilities as well as political positions. Darrow in particular is interesting to revisit, as Red Rising was truly about his mission to tear Society down. Now, the people created the Reaper condemn his actions. I mean, if Sevro is your voice of reason, you are well and truly fucked up. 😉
Lysander was just a boy when the Revolution stormed his home and destroyed his way of life and his family. Cassius saved him and the two of them have been traveling the realm protecting people. However, Lysander still holds the ideals of the Golds as something to aspire to. Cassius is still in search of redemption in some form. The two of them are set on a course that will alter their lives, again.
Ephraim has every reason to hate the new world order as he blames it for killing His love, Trigg. But his latest shady job will either get him killed, or, no, it will probably kill him.
Lyria represents the people who were supposed to benefit from the Rising. Instead of the freedom and equality, her family lived in camps. When the Red Hand murders her family, Lyria and her nephew have an unexpected chance out of the camp. But is it a better life, or more of the same?

All of this is brought to technicolor life by Pierce Brown’s amazing writing. This promises to be another full throttle ride into that man’s gorgeous imagination, and I for one, cannot wait!! show less

You know when you read a book that's so good you do one of two things, devour it in one sitting or try to pace yourself because you already cannot stand the thought of it ending? I was the latter. Ever since I read Pierce Brown's first book "Red Rising" I have been obsessed with this series. I think it may have actually taken the place of my first science fiction love, "Dune" by Frank Herbert. This man is an absolute poet with the way he uses words. I would get this feeling in my chest of show more pure emotion that made me feel as if I were to burst out cheering or crying.
Needless to say, I loved this book. I literally screeched at work when I got the email that I got an ARC of "Iron Gold", and I work in a public library ;)
This story takes up 10 years into the rebellion and Darrow and the remnants of his Howlers have gone against the wishes of the government led by his wife Mustang in a last attempt to end the battle that has raged for years. The story is also told from the point of view of three other characters. One is a new character, a young girl by the name of Lyria. Her family has been rescued from the mines of Mars only to live in a refugee camp forgotten by their saviors. Ephraim, survivor of the original rising, he makes his way through life as a smuggler but will he get drawn into something far bigger than he can imagine? And lastly, Lysander, the heir to the throne of the empire. His grandmother was Octavia au Lune, the Sovereign of the Society. He has been hiding from his birthright but his past may have caught up him anyways.
This book was, as I knew it would be, incredible. I still recommend the Red Rising Trilogy to anyone not fortunate enough to have read them. It will definitely be part of my all time favorite book series. show less

This series is losing me, despite all the elements which I love. High stakes, yeah! Some unpredictable stuff, yeah! A quest for justice, yeah! Fast pace, yeah! Action, yeah! There need to be more books like this.

But.

I find that I have trouble respecting the characters, including Darrow, the main guy. He doesn't seem particularly concerned about his mother, brother, nieces and nephews ... and these are the people he's fighting to free. They're the reason he's fighting at all. He apparently show more sort of forgot they existed during the last four years. Not cool, Darrow. The reader is told that he cares about them, but it's never shown. He finally visits them, sees that they're starving, and throws a feast. Really? You have the equivalent of superpowers, and that's the best you could do?

Mustang likewise seems confused about her own motives. She cares about justice, yet she's fiercely loyal to her cruel family, who perpetuate injustice. She needs to make up her mind. This could be a cool inner conflict, but it doesn't come across that way.

The whole civil war seems more like an excuse to write battle scenes than an honest path to rebellion. The point is to uplift the lower colors, such as Red. Darrow and his friends seem to be ignoring the lower colors entirely. Okay, a civil war will weaken the Golds, but show me the beginnings of the rebellion, because I don't see it. At all.

And there are world-building problems that throw me out of the story. Why is this futuristic society so backwards-looking? I don't believe that human society will ever turn back to emulate ancient Rome.

If all it takes is some money to carve a Red into a Gold on the black market, why don't more people carve other colors into Golds? It just seems so easy. So very, very easy. Darrow fools everyone with ease. I'm never worried that he'll be uncovered, because apparently, going from Red to Gold is like magic. It is a flawless transfer. So why doesn't Darrow use some of his immense loads of cash to carve his brother Kiernan into a Gold? Or, if Kiernan turns out to be untrustworthy due to his sensitive nature, why not carve someone like Ragnar?

It seems that Darrow could destroy the Gold society just by announcing to the universe that he's really a Red. That's it. Boom. Utter chaos. So why doesn't he?

In his inner monologue, Darrow doesn't mind dying for the cause. He seems to truly believe in justice and the chance for equality. Yet in practice, Darrow seems far more interested in saving his own skin. He seems unaware of this dichotomy, and I get the sense that the author is unaware of it, too.

I love the ideas and the elements in this series. But I'm not so happy about the way they're put together. show less

This book is bloodydamn amazing, for starters. It's set in a dystopian society, which seems like it'll be the typical "protagonist introduced, protagonist gets loved one taken away, protagonist rises up and fights" type storyline, but it is inherently different and vastly intelligent. The reader gets a sense of a brutal honesty in the mind of Darrow. His character does not mask his feelings for his wife or his desire to get ahead at the Institute or anything, really. That particular take on show more a first person narrative is refreshing. There were many twists that I liked, ones that the reader may believe to go one way (because it would seem to be the obvious way), but then would completely surprise them. This book may pull on some dystopian themes to start, but it goes in a completely different direction. I'm also a sucker for anything using Roman and/or Greek mythology, so naturally this book was a win for me. Pierce Brown definitely has a bright future ahead with Darrow and with this series, and I can't wait to read Golden Son. show less