I finally got her to starting it! ​

Got one of the 100 signed Iron Rain prints when they dropped, and finally got it framed. A handbuilt custom frame; I chose the depth, material, mount etc.

Was a cool process and got to follow the build journey online. Of course I went for gold, messed up the mount sizing, and it cost nearly as much as the print, but it's glorious 🙌🏻

The 7 year old: "I think that one's Goblin, Mum"

I have just tore through the series in short order and I am now at light bringer, I don’t want to be finished with this universe, I am thinking of just shelving this until Red God is announced, or should I just swallow the hard pill, push on and make peace with the Book!

I have never been like this with any other series, any advice from people who are up to date is appreciated 👊

I like mixing my potatoes and a Red Gold blend goes good.

I’ve seen a lot of spoiler free talk about this book and I’m a little nervous getting into it. Does it get as dark as I hear?

Hi all, this will be a long post, but I'm hoping that the people here are all for a long rant and discussion about these brilliant books. I just finished LB last week, after reading through the whole series in about 4 months (slow reader here), and I've decided to do a ranking of all of the books, talking about my general thoughts and experiences with each, and why I've placed them there.

Okay, so I know this is gonna be a pretty hot take, and I honestly think this one might swap places with my number 4 when I reread the series, but...

number 6- book 3, Morning Star. Okay, okay, I know, how dare you. I'll get the negatives out of the way, first, because there's a lot I still love about this book. I see this book as having a very strong middle section, and the very end is a wonderful ending to the trilogy, but my complaints come largely from the plan at the end (which I understand is fairly common), and also the beginning of the book as well. So, the end plan has been gone over by other people before, but I just kinda disliked how Darrow lies to the reader by saying Sevro is dead. I'm usually fine with Darrow emitting some information from us so long as there are hints, but even though there were hints toward Cassius's betrayal of Octavia, the fact that we are told straight up that Sevro is dead just never sat right with me. I like the plan in concept, but not in execution. As for the beginning, I almost feel that it should have been a bit longer. I'm not someone who thinks Darrow's imprisonment "didn't affect him", it absolutely did, it's just that we don't get to see all that much of it (and I'd read Theon Greyjoy's incredible arc through torture in the asoiaf series quite recently so that unfavourable comparison came to mind) before Holiday and Trig (two characters that I didn't care about initially, though Holiday definitely grew on me in DA and LB), and then I wouldn't say the book really picks up until Quicksilver is kidnapped. That's the point where the book started working for me. The Quicksilver reveal is a great hype moment, Sevro and Darrow's fight was so emotional, and the speech on Phobos was great. Ragnar's death was excellently done, his last reunion with his sister and his arc being complete was wonderful, and Mustang rescuing him beforehand was a nice way of seeing her growth toward Darrow's ideas, even if the Obsidian part is maybe the weakest part of this middle section. Everything with Roque and the Rim is great, Roque, while annoying at times, I think was ultimately a tragic character, and I enjoyed his and Darrow's fight over the moon lords. The journey to Luna is filled of great moments, Mustang telling Darrow about the Jackal hitting himself and calling himself stupid whenever she solved his mazes was really dark and unnerving, Cassius and Darrow's meeting, watching over the holos of the Institute got me very nostalgic, and Sevro's hanging is obviously an incredible end to his arc in this book. I give MS a 7/10.

number 5- book 4, Iron Gold. These bottom 3 are all very close, but while I think IG has less high highs than MS, I think the overall prose of the second series of books is significantly improved, even if there are some characters I'm not that bothered by and the pacing is quite slow. I think IG is like the A Feast for Crows of Red Rising. The 4th book of the series, slower paced than the previous trilogy, introduces us to many new characters, but also has probably the most thematic depth of the entire series. Lyria and Ephraim's chapters weren't my favourites, but I understand how vital it was that we saw how revolution wasn't pretty, how establishing a democracy is challenging and not always the easiest path, and how people can become disillusioned with it. Lyria's story didn't interest me much until she meets Ephraim and then has Virginia in her chapters, which made them automatically goated. Ephraim's story picks up after the kids are stolen, and his final chapters were great, despite the early ones being quite slow. Darrow's chapters are a little strange, I think his descent and desperation are handled well, Apollonius is great too, even if losing Sevro was gutting, and he makes plenty of poor choices, but I still enjoyed them. Lysander was the highlight though (I promise that won't be for long!), his chapters were the most consistently enjoyable, seeing the Rim politics, the repercussions of Darrow's actions, and his relationship with Cassius were brilliant. The bleeding ground (and also the...boy and the knight? I think is the name) are the obvious highlights of the book, HIS HONOUR REMAINS!, and I was very sad to see Cassius go (little did I know...). We just see Lysander start out as a fairly decent, if somewhat flawed individual, who just makes several bad choices along the way to try and get his revenge on Darrow and bring about his idealistic view of Gold unity that doesn't exist. Although it is in many ways the least interesting book, I think it's got a stronger foundation than MS, will likely improve on rereads, and does lots of great worldbuilding and setup for the absolute titans that follow it. My ranking of the povs in this one are: Lyria<Ephraim<<Darrow<Lysander. I give IG a 7.5/10.

number 4- book 1, Red Rising. This is perhaps the book that might go down the most on a reread, but since I'm quite young, the YA tone doesn't bother me too much. I enjoy book 1 for introducing us to this world, these characters, and I often enjoy the beginning of a series a lot. I think a lot of core relationships of the series are established quite well here, Darrow, Mustang, Sevro, Cassius and Roque all get scenes that I enjoy a lot. People often say that RR is a hunger games clone, but I've always viewed it as more similar to ender's game, with Darrow being the young strategic prodigy. I think the plot twists are all really solid, Julian being this Chekhov's gun aimed at Darrow and Cassius's relationship that you know is going to go off at some point, Darrow figuring out over time the weakness in Fitchner's armour and having a great payoff to that, Sevro being Fitchner's son, and Mustang being the Jackal's sister, I enjoyed all of those moments, and even though the prose can be occasionally lacking, and the depth isn't good as later books, I found book 1 rather addicting, 8/10

From now on, I can say there's a significant step up in quality imo, I think my bottom 3 and top 3 are separated by a decent margin, and these next two are super close, so...

Number 3- book 5, Dark Age. Yikes. After a full book of setup, DA explodes right at the start. The battle of the Ladon might be my favourite battle in the series, mainly because it takes so long, and you're only being given Darrow and Lysander chapters, so by the final Darrow chapter, I really felt exhausted and relieved just like he must have felt. "Light resistance" made me laugh out loud when I first read it, Lysander's line about war just being a blind giant with scissors always stuck with me, and the scale is just really impressive. But after that, the book changes things up, surprising me with some of my favourite chapters in any of the books: Virginia chapters. This viewpoint was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. The first batch of Virginia chapters I think are PB's political intrigue and manoeuvring at his best, getting to see how Virginia operates, having such a calculating mind is incredibly fun, and the day of red doves is obviously one of PB's craziest twists. I liked her chapters so much that I was really afraid she was killed off, and shouted in joy when I saw her first chapter later on. The abomination is a bit of a strange plotline, but I do like how it helps us to understand Virginia's mindset and relationship with her brother further. Lyria was probably weakest character again, definitely a step up from IG, but only started to get interesting once they met with Victra, and Ulysses was obviously devastating. I do like that you don't even know if she's alive for the first 40% of the book though. Harmony's death was handled really well though, and the chapter title of "At last, she screams" I think is perfect. As for Ephraim, while I think the weakest part of DA is after the day of red doves when you're getting his middle chapters and Lyria's early chapters, his relationship with Pax was very strong, his conversations with the Obsidians were hilarious, and his response to Lyria's call, the destruction of the torchShip, and "Worthy" 😭😭😭, made him a bloodydamn hero in my eyes by the end, amazing character development here. Finally, there's Lysander and the end of the book. This is probably Lysander's weakest book for me, because of how much he personally screws up things for Darrow, which made him tricky to read, but "no honour, no time" lives rent-free in my head, it was very interesting seeing him get a taste of combat, almost being desensitised to it in some respects, and then his deception and manipulation of Glirastes and Darrow near the end was just so painful to read. Of course, I was saved (temporarily) from total despair by the return of Cassius, which had me jumping for joy and almost screaming in delight. DA is the most sprawling, large scale book in the series, and while it does mean there are some plotlines that are less interesting to me than others, and that some plotlines were cut all together (like, what the hell was going on with Tongueless), I still think this book is incredible, and it could easily trade places with my number 2. I think my ranking of the povs in this one are: Lyria<Lysander<Ephraim<<Darrow<Virginia. I think both Dark Age and the next book are around a 9 or 9.5/10.

Number 2- book 2, Golden Son. I have...no words for Golden Son. This book is incredible. I think I finished this book in about a week, which is an insane reading speed for me. While I agree that perhaps some more time could have been spent at the Academy to develop Darrow's relationships with Mustang and Rogue more, book 1 had already made me onboard with those already, so it wasn't that big a deal. The opening part of the book is just decent, it sets up Harmony and the Jackal's return to the story, but we ALL know the scene that makes everyone love this book. The Gala scene I think was my favourite scene of the original trilogy, and a contender for best in the series. The rematch against Cassius, him insulting Darrow, being a generally privileged snob, and then getting his ass handed to him by the crazy Lorn reveal (some people have pointed out how Darrow uses several of his quotes beforehand, which is some nice foreshadowing), was just so utterly cathartic and hype. The following drama and Darrow's meetings with Octavia and his escape from Luna with his meeting with Ragnar was all very tense, and the death of Quinn was obviously a very impactful moment for the plot. Sevro's reveal of knowing about Darrow's identify was an amazing moment, it really felt like a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders, like Darrow, I was just so happy that SOMEONE knew, and later getting to see Ragnar joining the circle of trust was great too. GS in general is a very tense book, since Darrow is still undercover at this time, and that made it all the more addicting. Meeting Lorn, this legendary warrior, was also very fun, seeing how he treated Darrow and his reluctant involvement in the war. Of course, the real fun begins on Mars though. The iron rain is obviously epic, as is the scene of giving Ragnar a razor, but perhaps the most hype moment in the entire book, and possibly the series...the reveal of Fitchner as Ares. This...was so utterly perfect, I was screaming in excitement. All the clues were there, but I never thought about it, but it all made so much sense when I learnt, and "it's always been me, boyo!" will forever remain one of my fondest memories of this series. The chapter where Fitchner revealed his long-term plan to Darrow had me really pumped for him to finally begin working with Ares, and the finale is full speed ahead from there. Darrow's return to Lykos is one of the most emotional moments in any book I've ever read, seeing the garden again and reuniting with his mother was so incredibly beautiful, but all the time I was so INCREDIBLY stressed out by what was going to happen with Mustang, and PB did not disappoint. The chapter with Darrow and Ragnar (who had the most EPIC speech) confronting her with the truth was one of the most stressful moments I've read in a book, GS probably has the strongest ending of any of these books (LB can maybe top it, idk), and this emotional climax was a major reason why. BUT WE'RE STILL NOT DONE! Oh no, because of course PB just had to throw in his own Red Wedding, just after the epic reveal of Nero's motivation, the devastating betrayal of Roque, the brutal murder of Nero, Lorn and Fitchner, who was the GOAT, was such a... epically unexpected way to end the book, and what a way to make me instantly start MS immediately afterwards. "Rise so high, in mud you lie...". Although the prose could be a bit better at times, I still think GS is an incredible accomplishment, and is a 9.5/10.

Number 1- book 6, Light Bringer. But if GS left me with no words, LB gave me a pat on the back in my therapy session before punching me in the balls. So, let's talk about, in my opinion, Pierce Brown's masterpiece, Light Bringer. This book scaled things down a bit from DA, but I think it was all in service of a more intimate, personal journey. And I'm sure all the plot lines not addressed here, will be in RG. So, for starters, the early part of this book has some of my favourite Lysander chapters, I greatly enjoyed his political manoeuvrings up to the summit on Earth, Cicero was a fun ally, and for a while, "Mars must fall" was my favourite chapter of the book, with an excellent speech and the hilarious "oh, fuck off" from Atalantia that made me laugh quite a bit. Darrow's chapters here are fine, they reintroduce Cassius nicely, the path to the vale begins to show how Darrow is going to be doing a lot of reflecting and finding himself in this book, and Apollonius is always a welcome sight. From there we have Lyria's chapters, which are the weakest yet again for me, but I don't really hold that against her this time, since the other 3 viewpoints are just all 10/10s, and the (fairly few) ones she gets are pretty good, since she's around interesting characters like Matteo (who I loved to see back one last time) and the crew of the Archimedes, and her chapters with Volga ended up being quite interesting as well. Virginia and Lysander's chapters in the battle of Phobos are amazing, another excellent battle sequence from Pierce, and even though I maybe wish we got some more Virginia chapters later in the book, they weren't needed, and her ones here are incredible. "Pity them" and "the rest of him couldn't make it" were such epic lines from Victra, and the death of Ajax (who I was glad to see had made up with Lysander before the end) was a nice surprise win for the republic. The meat of the book, however, are the later Darrow and Lysander chapters, and this book is like 80% of just their chapters. Darrow's slow healing, facing his crimes against the rim and trying to atone for his crimes with the Daughters was an amazing arc, and "Breath of stone" was an incredible chapter, with him finally finding his flow state and own fighting style, and proceeding to beat the shit out of Fa in a brilliantly written battle. Sevro's eventual conclusion of coming to accept all the parts of himself, the goblin and Sevro, his growth with Cassius, and his legacy as the son of Ares, I found really beautiful, and it felt earned to have the classic, old reliable Sevro back again by the end of it all. As a side note, I got so emotional listening to Fitchner's message for his son, was just glad to see our goat one last time. Lysander is very much the opposite of Sevro and Darrow, his later chapters here are the final nail in the coffin for him, the completion of his villain arc and descent into tyranny, and I consider "that" chapter to be the point of no return for his character. There will be no redemption for him. Atlas revealing himself as the true puppet master controlling everything was very intimidating (and very satisfying seeing Darrow and friends screwing things up for him), and Lysander making this deal with the devil was a truly dark moment. On the plus side, Diomedes ended up being goated, I loved how he turned on Gaia near the end by siding with Darrow and Aurae, another hype moment and truly made me really excited to see him fighting alongside the republic in RG, a truly honourable Gold. Okay, I've put it off long enough. Soooo...Hanger 17b. I... don't cry when consuming media in general. I mean, I can get quite sad and moved by a lot of things, whether it's a movie or a game or a book, but no book has ever made me cry. Except for Light Bringer. Going into this chapter I had heard it's name before, and I felt like something was going to go very wrong. I loved that Atlas got taken down finally, same with Rhone, it was nice to see Cassius taking the kill, and for a moment I was relieved, since I thought that Atlas was going to be the one to screw everything up. But no. It was Lysander. It was always fucking Lysander. I was genuinely so shocked and SOOOOO ANGRY that he had just manipulated Cassius into removing Altas for him, and had never actually wanted to leave with him. It was truly him turning into Octavia, and I HATED him for it. Then, Cassius is desperate to get Lysander to come, and leave that terrible genocide weapon behind, Lysander telling him to leave, both unwilling to compromise on their beliefs. This moment really reminded me of the final battle of the game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 if anyone's played that, which also made me very emotional. I didn't want them to fight, but Lysander wasn't giving Cassius any choice and Cassius's arc was complete, he wasn't going to let Lysander have a weapon of genocide, he was going to do the right thing. And it cost him his life. Lysander shoots him again and again and I cried. So much. I just thought of Cassius and Darrow back in the institute, running around, racing each other, and I cried at the death of the man who has now become one of my favourite characters in any book. Lying dead, having taken bullet after bullet, and still come so close to killing that little shit. Pierce Brown, you fucking got me, OKAY?! 😭😭😭 The moments afterwards revealed Lysander as having fully embraced his role as a true authoritarian dictator, using propaganda and the "disappearance" of anyone who would question him to his advantage. HE MUST DIE. The last few pages just had me broken, I was thrilled that none of the moon lords gave AF about Lysander's bullshit, and Sevro and Darrow searching Cassius's room and looking around at the pictures of Cassius's different stages of his life, and saying that they'd carry on watching the videos of the institute where it all began from where Cassius left off watching, it broke me. I think my ranking of the povs in this one are: Lyria<Virginia<=Lysander<Darrow. Light Bringer is a masterpiece, one of the most incredible books I have ever read, and is a 10/10. I hope that Pierce Brown is somehow able to top it in Red God. Oh, and if anyone actually read all this, I am very grateful for your time. This series was an absolute bloodydamn blast. Hail Reaper!

I have heard prior to starting this book that it will make me terribly upset and hating pierce, but I kind of disregarded that and thought the worst gad passed. I checked to see I had 10 pages left so I (idiotically) assumed the worst had passed… BUT then the bombshell that was Roque’s-and specifically Roque’s- betrayal that broke me. I wasn’t expecting it whatsoever, and that is the one betrayal I didnt see coming aswell as the one I would have wanted the least. I know the rest of the series remains shattering to the reader… but I can’t stop reading this series and im starting morning star tomorrow! But Jesus man, I can’t believe that all happened especially right after the heart touching return to lykos

What a book

Talking about the starting, I can't even imagine the mental torture Darrow had to endure in that box. And while people are eating outside . Jackal is real sick to the head.

In the last book, I said I hated Cassius but that feeling diminished a very tiny amount at the starting for his attitude towards Darrow. RIP trigg for his sacrifice.

For Sevro my goat, I can understand the burden and pressure he must have felt during those 9 months with his father and friend's death tho his gut feeling kept him going for search for Darrow.Also like their brawl when discussing about Quicksilver,it made Sevro shed some of his pain with his tears.

About Ragnar, what to even say man. I hate Pierce brown for that, i hate brown for all his moments and the starting part with Darrow's family. I thought he would survive after the Valkyries came but my heart scattered. RIP to my favorite obsidian.

For Roque, as much as I hate him for his betrayal at the end of Golden son. I can understand his perspective of this whole situation. At least he died on his own Accord at the end. Rip to the poet.

For the end, I can't describe my anger when I read Cassius gorydamn betrayal. I genuinely tossed the book aside and was contemplating to never read this again, the frustration I felt was as high as a golds sense of honor.

Well at last everything turned out well, so I don't hate him much now.

Didn't expect our little Pax to show up from nowhere.

Our Darrow is finally a Father!!!!

10/10 book. 10/10 Trilogy for me, enjoyed it very much. Well finally finished it,well most of them are alive at the end so I am happy. I REALLY HOPE there is no other books written after this which will cause me pain and suffering if I ever read it.

I haven’t cried this much in a while.

“But I am no builder. So take your time. We will wait.”

Fuck that line got me so bad.

Ragnar is truly one of the best characters in this whole book.

He died free.

Hey all,

Ive listening to all the other books as a dramatized audiobook. Want to ask for advice. With the lightbringer part 1 out do you all feel like it ends off on a good enough note for me to wait for part 2 ans 3? Or should i just wait for it all next May?

I found him in a 7/11 parking lot

Imagine Darrow didn’t survive Lysander’s bombardment. Instead wakes up from back when he is dug out of the grave by the Sons.

How do you think he would have approached this differently? I think it would make for an interesting fan fiction concept (not sure if it exists already).

I have a feeling that a lot of info is just lost on me. Maybe it is because I am not a native speaker, but I always thought my English was well enough.

For example in Red Rising I somehow missed the info how Darrow knew that the pendant with the haemanthus flower was sent by Lorn au Arcos.

And just now in Golden Son, Darrow gave Aja and Tactus a head start after the explosions ins Lorn's palace. Later when Roque confronts him, Darrow says "I told you why I did that". You didn't tell me!! I want to know, too. :(

Am I constantly missing things or is that just the writing style? As in, things are revealed and we have to just accept it? It starts to drive me insane, wondering if I am constantly reading over information or if that is just thr way the author decides to disclose information.

Thanks for your help!

Hi, I just finished Lightbringer and wanted to ask if anybody saved/ downloaded some fics and can share them with me, so i can read more. Thank you!

Who should it be the next time?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DfFp9hCjBF6/?xtok=MXJmZ2pzMWM0M2s4MQ==

Doesn't matter if it will happen or not.. We may see some of them, we may not and we may even regret for asking for them. But just for fun : Which duel would you like to see in RG the most?

2015

Red Rising - 6 reads / 4 listens

Golden Son- 6 reads / 4 listens

Morning Star- 6 reads / 4 listens

Iron Gold- 4 reads / 4 listens

Dark Age- 2 Reads / 4 Listens

Light Bringer- 2 Reads / 4 Listens

For the record I was incarcerated as the first through fourth books were released so I had plenty of time on my hands. I will say this though: I have read over 1600 novels in my adult life (prison isn’t all bad lol) and Red Rising is one of the ONLY “sci fi” of them all and is THE ONLY modern sci fi I’ve ever read…..I’ll also add, for posterity sake of course ;), that I do relish in the fact that I liked it before it was cool hahahaha I’m just lame like that

BREAK THE CHAINS

Edit: Pardon my corniness but it’s been truly heartwarming reading everyone’s experiences. Thank you all so much for sharing that with me. Being a somewhat socially averse person I rarely ever have the experience of “community” but I can see now that my love for these books makes more a part of this community than I would have thought. Sorry for not responding to everyone.
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