Does anyone know if Iron Gold/Dark Age are part of a 2nd trilogy? I'm somewhat skeptical he can finish the story in just one more book. I hope he never stops writing them tbh.
His acknowledgements made it seem like the next one is the last one, but that he'll continue to write (whether it's related or not to this universe, I'm glad he'll continue) Interested to see if anyone ever puts this on screen, seems like there hasn't been much news on that front. I know he bought back the rights pretty recently so that he would have more control. Hopefully Amazon and/or Netflix take a gamble on it (production costs would be insane) with Disney coming on line. Just want it done right.
Spoiler Good stuff. I see where youre coming from but I actually disagree quite a bit w some of your opinions. I do agree the violence and deaths became gratuitous at times. In the first trilogy people died and they stayed dead. I get they didnt help them in the first book because it was supposed to cull the herd, but like when Antonia killed Thistle, she was fucked up and just died. In the second trilogy - characters just get absolutely mangled to an inch of their lives and are able to be healed, regenerated ect. It kind of makes it all meaningless no matter how fucked up Darrow gets. However I think that makes the baby scene that much more impactful. It was gruesome and final. It was hard to read, but I thought it was good writing / story telling. Also disagree w Lysander. I think unlike his grandmother who was just power hungry and nothing else, Lysander's motives are pure. He doesn't want the throne because he's power hungry. He legitimately believes monarchy is the best way to serve the solar system. He's a zealot and thinks the order and caste system is the very best for all the colors. Freedom for the low colors is not freedom at all. ect. He's doing this from a place of compassion, as grossly misplaced as it is. I think that makes him that much more interesting. All of Cassius' preaching of honor and duty, has manifested in his belief that he's honor bound to restore the Society for the good of all the colors. I think that makes things really dynamic. Zealots will go all out to achieve the means they desire.
He's teased a tv deal but that's about it. Im glad it's TV and not a movie. TBH - Im not sure how they do it. The Red Rising material is very doable because it's all contained to one valley, and pretty much all Golds for the most part. After that when you expand out to the rest of the system and have to bring in all the other colors-- good luck. The budget for that would be insane. The Expanse - they had to make some big concessions about how the portray characters on TV. People that live in the outer system are longer and lengthier due to the low gravity. They're supposed to be like 8 feet tall and really frail. On the TV show they abandoned that and they look like normal people for the most part. I dont know how you tell the Red Rising story cutting back on stuff like that.
Spoiler I understand where you are coming from. I think most of my opinions are totally conditional on how it ends, which I'm more than willing to wait and see on. Just did not like the way Lysander was written in the latter half of the book. It seemed like he went from vulnerable to invulnerable, and I thought his skill seemed exaggerated, relative to how he had been portrayed earlier in the book. My primary problem with the baby scene, in retrospect, was the sequencing and timing of the other deaths. I did not like that I didn't feel Ephraim or Sefi's death, particularly Ephraim's. At times, I think he reaches for shock value a bit. I appreciate shock in page turners, but this book is oversaturated with it and I found myself rolling my eyes at times when just when things couldn't get any worse for a character, they somehow do. I think he may have overcorrected a tad from Iron Gold. Enjoyed the scene with the clone and Virginia in her quarters more than any, great dialogue and internal monologue.
I'm guessing these difficulties are why it's taking so long. I bet he's pretty unwavering after what he went through with Universal.
https://howlerlife.com/2019/08/13/whats-going-on-with-the-red-rising-tv-show/#more-2358 this sounds promising
Amazon or HBO is probably the best landing places. They seem to be the two places that dont have problems w enormously budgeted shows.
Spoiler You didn't "feel" Ephraims' death? Made me cringe. I was 50/50 on Ephraim in Iron Gold, but his Dark Age POV was my 2nd favorite behind Mustang. His death was not expected at all. I'm glad Brown killed a POV character. I fully thought POV characters were invulnerable following the Lysander and Mustang near deaths. Do we get a Volga POV in the next book? Or will her story be seen through Lyria? I really disliked Lyria's POV in Iron Gold, but it improved to enjoyable. I think your criticisms of Lysander ring more true for Lyria. Think she got too skilled too quickly. Girl power I guess. Completely disagree with you about Lysander though. Love his progression. Most villains believe wholeheartedly they are doing the right thing. He may be written a little too smart, but he was always portrayed as being very intelligent, so it fits imo.
HBO please. This series deserves a huge budget and an all-star cast. I think it will have to be loose with physical traits between the colors. Golds have superior genes/muscle fibers/bone density, etc. than the other colors. Don't necessarily have to transform a small, red Darrow into a huge gold. But I guess they could give him the Captain America treatment
Spoiler I didn't feel it like I thought I would. I thought it was pretty obvious he was going to die given that he accomplished what he set out to do. I cringed more at how Alexandar died, but I had turned on Lysander by that point as a character, so I was just pissed. I thought Lysander was great in the first half of the book. His character felt a little hollow and almost hokey by the time he was reunited with the Master Maker and then on. More like Darrow, who's just alright. It could be that there is an arc that has to play out before the substance is shown (the return of Cassius all but guarantees this). Appolonius is a great character, hopefully we get more of him, same with Diomedes. Would love a Diomedes PoV. I think he did what he had to do with Lyria, sudden as it was. Her chapters in Iron Gold were a drag, so he had to kill her or make her interesting.
Spoiler I mentioned it before but I can't wait for the Cassius/Darrow vs Lysander/Appolonius showdown. Might be the best battle scene that we get to see. I would also love to Diomedes vs Darrow which is something that was alluded to in IronGold. I think it's clear that they have made Darrow the Apex Predator at this point in the books. He's not unbeatable but it's clear it's going to take more than 1 person to take him down. Sefi's death still hit me pretty hard, especially how brutal it was but Ephraim's death didn't feel the same way. His was just so sudden, so fast. I thought the ending scene between Victra and Mustang was very well done. Victra is all fire and kill kill kill and Mustang is calm and deliberate but they both have their work cut out for them in the next book. Also, loved the way Harmony died - one of my least fav characters got a fitting end.
I recently discovered The Holwer Pod. fun podcast where they discuss the series a few chapters at a time. Only a few episodes in, but so far it’s been a fun recap of the book.
Finally got around to finishing the book. I enjoyed it. I love Pax, but it feels like a rewritten Paul/Leto Atreides. Which I'm cool with because I love Dune, but it's like the same character.
Finally...carved...out some time to finish Iron Gold. Is Dark Age a conclusion or are there more books coming? Truman Thoros of Beer Edit: see the answer at the top of this page
Fuck. I'm like 5% from the end of book 5 and I don't want to be out of this world to read. Do we have a timeline on #6? Will catch up on thread when I finish(likely tonight, begrudgingly).
just found this. They started a reread of Dark Age on 12/27 with a bunch of chapters posted every Friday. Want to catch up and follow along now that I’ll have to fiend for content with the rest of you for the next year or so. Re: the show - Pierce has said he doesn’t want name actors cast. He wants people who can make the characters the stars. will do a spoilers recap on everything tomorrow.
Here we go. Just putting all of it in spoilers. Some end of series hopes/thoughts, but nothing rooted in facts - just personal theory. Spoiler Fuck, what a ride. I’m legitimately upset I’m caught up - waiting a year is going to suuuuck. Want to touch on a couple things I think/hope for the ending: -I don’t think Darrow can live. I think he has to die and the morning chair has to end up with Pax, the perfect combo of Mustang and Reaper. -Fa has to die. Volga and Lyria(plus parasite) turning the Obsidian is the only chance our heroes have of toppling the moonies+Atlantia. Volga will complete the mission of uniting the Obsidian under a queen and finding a home for them by assisting the Republic. -Electra becomes Pax’s Aja...because danger will always exist for the ruler of the new Republic...Gold families will never fall 100% in line - impending DiomedesvAjax fight > Cassius/DarrowVLysander/Apollonius - Barca-Julii house is the most intriguing end; maybe it’s them that gets the “happy” ending intended for Mustang and Darrow -If Brown wraps this series in the quality we’ve come this far along with, it will take the spot as my favorite ever. He’s amazing, the characters are exquisite, the storylines elicit every emotion possible And series thoughts to this point: Spoiler Darrow da gawd - the consistency with which he’s written is astounding. As troubled of a protagonist as you’ll find in literature, honestly. -RIP Ragnar, you beautiful hammer of the Rising -I, for one, appreciate Brown’s willingness to go full ASOIAF on every character you create an emotional bond - even babies aren’t safe -Iron Gold is the only book in the series that dragged on a bit; Dark Age was long but it never felt like a chore to read -fuck Lysander and I’ve still got a soft spot in my heart for Roque -they did Alexander dirty but I kind of dug it -I knew Cassius wasn’t dead when his death happened off-camera; the reunion is going to be amazing when Darrow fully comes to -Pierce has done a clever job of making even the meekest characters worthwhile - Lys, Lyria, Roque, etc. -clone Jackal feels unnecessary -regular Jackal was amazingly ruthless; I’m struggling to not let his return cheapen his incredibly rewarding end -Romulus was a G -We’ve definitely not seen the end of Mama Bellona -I love the Telemanuses - literally all of them. Daxo’s death was brutal, right up there with Sefi’s for gruesomeness and Ragnar’s for sadness -is the reason Sophocles kept madly chasing the birds in the garden because he recognized they were spies?!? -I’ll definitely be re-reading the first 3 before book 6 and I really want to attend a signing/Q&A when he tours the last book
I re-read Iron Gold after I read Dark Age. Knowing what happens makes it a lot better. Pierce dropped a ton of seeds for DA. Even the Mind's Eye which I thought came out of nowhere in DA
I like Mind’s Eye for Lysander - he wasn’t gifted the fighting training from Lorn he would have gotten if he hadn’t been banished, so he needed something to equal the playing field. The podcast discusses the possibility of Pax having it because Mustang got into Ovtavia’s vaults of secrets. Maybe that was one of them? We probably haven’t seen them all yet. Was scrolling through my kindle today and accidentally tapped on book 1, and I’d left it at the preview for book 2 he includes - it’s the scene where Darrow jumps on the Bellona table and challenges Cassius, but you don’t know he’s trained under Lorn yet. That ends up being one of my favorite scenes in the series.
https://www.fairyloot.com/product/red-rising-saga-deluxe-set/ In for 1. They're doing the second trilogy when it's done, too.
Covid probably only affects writers in the fact that they're not doing book tours and stuff but feels like this long period of being home would be optimal for a lot of writers to put in new installments of their series. Looking at you, Pierce!
I loved the initial trilogy but have tried and failed to read Iron Gold like three or four times. Every time I get to Darrow being pensive with his family, I feel like I'm in a mashup of an emo song and someone's therapy session. It's awful. That said, one of my favorite exchanges from any of the books: Sevro: What'd he want? Darrow: What do all men with power want? Sevro: Prostitutes!
Iron Gold is a bit of a slog, but Dark Ages is amazing. And makes a re-reading of Iron Gold better with 20/20 hindsight
IronGold was a hard read. It was much slower than the other 3 books and there was bound to be a letdown (world reseting after the end of the first Trilogy) DarkAge was a hard read for a totally different reason but I enjoyed it quite a bit more than IronGold. There is some seriously depressing scenes in DarkAge but the plot moved faster to me Spoiler I hope Book 6 really pays off and we finally get a reunion for Darrow/Mustang and Victra/Sevro. Those are some of the best interactions in the first trilogy
Also I think Pierce Brown knew reading an entire book from Emo Darrow would be miserable which is why he mixed up POVs.
Finished the 1st trilogy but had to bail on the thread so I don't get spoiled for the next 3. Are they worth reading. Really enjoyed the 1st 3.
Yes, Iron Gold is a lot of exposition bringing you up to date on what happened over the 10 year gap and setting up the rest of the trilogy. It’s still good though. Dark Age is the best book yet.
The seat of power in Red Rising is also on the moon. Works both ways. Orrrrr what if Red Rising just happens millennia after The Expanse and the proto molecule is what gives them the technology to make the color system. Ok that’s enough nerding out for me
A third of the way into Iron Gold... Spoiler Darrow just killed Wulfgar.... by accident. I really like these books and go with the flow during some of the outrageous stuff but that was rough. He slices hands of all the others he fights so not to kill them but then impales his buddies face with a razor. Taking effort to pick it back up after that.
Just finished Iron Gold. Least favorite one by far. Liked the new character's stories better than the old. Darrow's chapters we're very meh. Immediately starting up Dark Age tonight.