Iron Gold is the next installment in Pierce Brown's Red Rising series and as always, I was blown away by his way of telling the action packed story of Darrow.
Red Rising takes place in a future in which people have settled all of this and live in a strict class system, divided according to color. Our hero Darrow is a red and therefore part of the lower class. But a group of rebels wants to destroy the class system and smuggles it into the superior golds. Power struggles, conspiracies and intrigues await Darrow here.
In Iron Gold Darrow has accomplished the revolution, but not all is well and settled. There are still many who do not like the new world order.
In this book, we for the first time also have other perspectives than Darrows' - A refreshing new way to keep the story interesting.

It's Pierce Brown and the Red Rising series. Of course it's great. Some old characters, some new characters, and a whole lot of space chaos.

I am so glad to meet Pierce Brown in person, his books are one of the most awaited books on my list. I love the way he writes and this book Iron Gold? It's worthy!

Pierce Brown's Red Rising series is a bit of a phenomenon. Brown's <em>Red Rising</em> seemed to come out of nowhere and quickly got a lot of attention and gained a following (or so it appears to me). I've mostly enjoyed the ride and very much enjoyed this latest edition in the series.

It is ten years after the revolution where Darrow, born a Red, escaped his Red servitude and had himself surgically altered to appear a Gold so that he could bring down the caste society from within. Now there is a new democracy, with an all-color senate, so everything is 'right.' Or is it?

Some of the Golds have managed to hold on to their control in off-world colonies and if they have one thing in common, it is their hate and desire for the head of Darrow. Darrow hatches a plan to kill the Ash Lord - the worst of the Golds trying to bring back the Gold rule - but in order for the plan to take effect, Darrow must leave Luna with his closest allies and attack Ash Lord in his own territory, surrounded by his own guard. And Darrow's family will have to remain on the hostile Luna without his protection.

This book features a number of different characters who take a chapter's focus. I don't remember the other books changing the POV as much as this one, and that did become just a bit distracting. Additionally, some of the characters were not distinct enough for me (and often working toward similar goals) so that it often took me a little extra time to make sure I knew who I was following - and these are dense books which already take a good deal of time to properly read!

I did feel that this book was in many ways a return to the adventure, action, and angst of the first book that started it all. Darrow is driven, for a reason that is established here, and that carries through the book. But so are the others that we follow. This may seem obvious - of course they are! - but I felt, perhaps, that in books two and three, Darrow's drive was still what had been established in the first book. The immediacy of the motivation definitely has an impact.

Brown manages to build heart-pounding action sequence after heart-pounding action sequence without losing sense of the story - which also is a nod to the first book. And Brown definitely writes his action scenes extremely well. One man's determination to go off to his death (I won't say who) with resolve and dignity is an incredible scene.

This has been an enjoyable series (and actually, this is the beginning of a new trilogy, I understand) but it definitely requires a commitment. This is not the sort of book (or series) that one reads for light entertainment or to keep oneself occupied on the beach. You need to be willing to commit to the characters and their story, but the payout is worth it.

Looking for a good book? <em>Iron Gold</em> by Pierce Brown is the 4th book in the Red Rising series, with all the intensity and excitement of the first book. Fans of well-written action and science fiction will enjoy this book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I have decided to DNF this series and therefore won't be reviewing it and am giving it a neutral 3 stars.

I loved this book! It's Pierce Brown so it's still written splendidly, with characters who will stay with you long after you turn the last page. And what I loved most about it are the character development, the world building, and the perfect set-up for the sequel!

First line: Silent, she waits for the sky to fall, standing upon an island of volcanic rock amidst a black sea.

Summary: It has been ten years since the Rising and Darrow overthrew the old order. However, new does not always mean that things are going to be good forever. Turmoil churns in the galaxy and enemies of the new Republic still lurk in the shadows. Darrow is still trying to save the galaxy and bring peace to all. We meet Lyria, a young Red, who has lost everyone she loves to this new Republic. Lysander is trying to stay hidden and survive after the fall of his family. In addition, Ephraim is forced to steal something that may end his life. When we thought the story was over, we were wrong.

Highlights: I really enjoy Lysander’s chapters. He is very young in the original trilogy so we do not get to learn much about him but here we get a better look. The new character of Lyria is a good addition. A girl’s point of view is nice. However, Sevro is still one of my favorite characters. He makes me laugh and adds a little lightness to the story. Even though I rated this one lower than the other books I still plan to read the next books. I liked the second book in the previous trilogy better last time.

Lowlights: Not much happens in the first half of the book. It is a lot of political intrigue and building of the story. It is also rather slow moving with lots of new characters.

FYI: You HAVE to start with Red Rising and its trilogy!

I wish this was a standalone volume. It reads well, but I don't think the series needed a whole other follow-up trilogy.

Pierce Brown does it again - and I have to admit I was worried. I thought the Red Rising trilogy was outstanding. The plot, the character development, the world building, and the writing were all superb, and considering it was a debut series, it was just all the more impressive. I wasn't sure how Brown was going to be able to continue the story in a convincing way, but I was thrilled to see that nothing about this author is a fluke. His skill is genuine and his ability to craft convincing characters who have somehow managed to develop in the 10 years we aren't with them is really impressive. I love being proven wrong!

I have a lot of emotions right now. mostly finger numbing rage. some few redeeming qualities? and the need to flip a fucking table.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via netgalley. sometimes I can't remember what the rules are for when I can post a full review and I can't currently find the email that tells me more for this particular book so I'm just going to wait a couple weeks before writing more.

and it's out now so I can review it!

When I first read Red Rising, I was impressed. I feel I thought it was slightly different and new. Or maybe I just wasn't reading a lot of dystopic YA with a male lead. But.... I was reading a lot of dystopic YA and some had male leads? I don't know. Basically it was Hunger Games but with a different world and a male lead and it was different enough and more violent than a lot of the other things I read with a really great, full realized world and it was interesting but also delightfully banal in parts that were basically camping with friends and it went together great and I loved it. I raved about it to others. I read the second book (which I liked even more) and then the third book (which I found to have some serious problems) and there I let it rest, honestly thinking it was over. I never thought there would be MORE books about Darrow. And now that I've re-read the first 3 and this one, I really wish there weren't.

And here's why: Pierce Brown is maybe a misogynisic a-hole. Do you hate women, Mr Brown? Why? What have they done to you?

Listening to the audio books of the first 3 last year, I started wincing every time a female character tried to do ANYTHING. Because no matter how smart she seemed to be or how awesome if she tried to do something it was almost inevitably bound for failure and all the men would hate her for whatever it was anyway. There is SO MUCH FEMALE SHAMING GOING ON IN THESE BOOKS. As a woman, the stereotyping and blatant unfair treatment is so awful that I wish these books didn't exist. What terrible lessons all readers will pick up subconsciously. Except for those readers who recognize what shitty behavior is happening and just want to flip tables and shoot all the assholes in their fucking faces.

Iron Gold takes all that misogyny from the first 3 and increases it by a factor of a million. That might be an overstatement. I don't care. The first 3 books are all told from just Darrow's perspective. And, in case you haven't noticed, no matter what shit Darrow pulls, he is a fucking god still no matter what and all his friends love and follow him (mostly. With some caveats I won't get into because, spoilers). This book is told in alternating chapters from 4 points of view. One, of course, is still Darrow. Two others are men (Lysander, the deposed Princeling Lune) and Ephraim (a Gray thief/fighter/excitingly gay with absolutely zero sexual encounters ever so it's basically not progressive at all!/widow of Tripp from book 3/brother-in-law of Holiday), and, lastly, Lyria (a girl! a Red! Like Darrow! But female! With a vagina!) You might be super excited if you're thinking this will give you a female lead to root for and feel connections to on a personal level since you get her POV, but DON'T BOTHER. Because she is treated like shit almost the entire time because you know what a vagina gets you in this series? NOTHING GOOD. (view spoiler)

I can't even with this book. Without giving away too many spoilers, you know how in all the books it's patently obvious that Virginia/Mustang is the smart one and everyone says so and thinks she's awesome? And then by the 3rd one when literally she has been the smartest and the best at survival and is spinning webs in a corner with plots and plans and not just fighting and getting all her friends killed because of stupid rushing in, Darrow ruins everything she's got going on because his primary character trait is "bull-in-a-china-shop". But she then joins him again because OF COURSE no matter how awful he treats her, she keeps coming back for more (this abused victim mentality does make me sad for her), but when she joins him again it is all slut shaming by the others and dismissive male egos? Yes, well some of that happens again in this one. Sort of. Where as always, Darrow thinks his way is the only way and is also the best way and listens to nobody, especially not his very clever wife, and due to his actions, people die, families are ripped apart, terrible shit happens and everyone thinks Mustang is dumb and boring and naive when she is obviously none of those things because she is RULING A FUCKING GALAXY, YOU FUCKING ASSWIPES.

Even Victra in this one! I love Victra. And she does get some of the best lines along with Sevro, but she is basically the pregnant, barefoot woman in the kitchen. Left behind while the men go off to war and then has rampant hormonal rage black outs and fucks shit up for multiple people. This woman is possibly the most kick-ass person in all the books ever. Second only to Ragnar. But she's relegated to being the pregnant stay-at-home mom (the staying related only to war not to a job because she is at least one of the richest and most powerful leaders in the galaxy market. I got the sense she was basically Jeff Bezos).

Holiday continues to be barely female. Sefi is off doing who the fuck knows what but I doubt it's good for anybody. There's a girl who Lysander meets and you're like, oh maybe she'll be cool. He is spending a LOT of time describing how she's not conventionally pretty but has interesting cheekbones, but then, no, she is as ugly on the inside as she is on the outside. HONESTLY as soon as Lysander decides she's a super egotistical snob with a major superiority complex the text starts describing her previously interesting features as unattractive. ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS? Ephraim has a female sidekick Obsidian who's kind of cool? But repeatedly stated to be dumber than a bag of bricks. Darrow's niece, I feel, is not long for the land of the living. And mostly she seems to be there to show off how the men are smarter and she can never compete in size, battle or intelligence.

The shit that Darrow decides to do in this book is so terribly awful, and often feels against character, that by the end I found him to be completely irredeemable. I honestly hope he does not survive the next one. I also hope Lysander dies in some horrible way because he is equally a completely raging narcissist and imbecile. Can you really be that stupid, Lysander? And am I supposed to LIKE you? I can't tell. I mean, I feel like Brown wanted me to but that was definitely impossible each time I had to read his POV and he opened his mouth. What a little shit monkey.

I like Lyria. Too bad about that whole having a vagina, the non-survivable Rising disease.

I still love Sevro the absolute best. In the third one you know how it turned out to be that Sevro was doing everything wrong from a military stratagem standpoint and only Darrow could save the day and to do so Darrow had to knock Sevro down and back and treat him like shit so that everyone else would worship Darrow again? In this one, that was reversed. Except, haha, for the part where Darrow ever got treated like shit by anybody. Not Darrow the god-like savior!

Is it obvious yet that I kind of hated this book? You guys, I kind of hated it. I'm not even sure I can read the next one.

Because I now feel bad, here are some things that I did like -

Pierce Brown wrote an amazing wonderful article on the GoodReads blog about Iron Gold and some of the political and moral quandaries he wanted to capture in it. You can read it here: https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1...

The things he says in it like, "I once thought that the arc of history did indeed bend toward justice. But that thesis has been challenged of late" and "liberty is not permanent and unassailable. It is not our destined, final state of being. Liberty is a tenuous state that must be nurtured by constant care, defended by dogged struggle, and replenished by new generations" and "Iron Gold is about the struggle to preserve liberty in a bleak landscape, where heroes of the past look suspiciously like villains and the inspiring dream of liberty has been hijacked by politicians, dirtied by social strife, and muddled by interest groups and competing factions".

This kind of thing, where you can see where he's coming from and apply it to an analysis of the book and what goes in it is VERY INTERESTING. I still hate so many of the things that happen but I get more of his overarching plan for some of the background stuff in which Darrow and the other characters are acting. And I did like the whole, it's been 10 years and WHERE ARE THEY NOW vibe. It was interesting to fast forward and see how their world looks after a new rule and how successful (or mostly not) they have been in the revolution.

Maybe one of my main problems is that even with our current shitty reality (American here) I do still really, REALLY want to believe that the arc of history will always bend towards justice. And reading Iron Gold forces me to acknowledge that it might not.

Iron Gold has all of the action and suspense as the first three books. However, told in four alternating perspectives, parts of the book were very slow. Pushing through the slow portions proved be worth it, but in true Pierce Brown fashion there is yet another shocking cliffhanger ending.

I just love the world pierce created, and really liked this spinoff. Looking foreard to more exciting installments!

Alright, I am QUITE EMBARRASSED at how long it's taken me to finish Iron Gold, but in my defense I was busy buying a house and fixing it up!

Iron Gold picks up 10 years after the Red Rising Trilogy, and things aren't exactly going well. I mean, crush a galactic empire and things are bound to be kind of...messy? I won't bore you with a plot synopsis because many already exist. This book, differing from the original trilogy, is from multiple POVs which really kept things interesting, particularly because the narrators are from different color castes.

I felt like the first third of the book was a little slow, but once I got back into it it progressed very quickly and at an aggressive pace. That's partially why I like Brown's writing so much--it can be flowery, but rarely is it boring. Brown is also particularly skilled at writing flawed characters and fleshing out their thoughts and motivations. Even if you disagree with a character's choices, you sympathize with them.

Solid 4.5/5. My only qualm as I mentioned earlier was a slow start. I expect great things from the next book, Dark Age!

(Also thanks to NetGalley for allowing me early access to this book, & apologies this review is so late!)

I'm so grateful for 1) Pierce Brown writing this series and 2) NetGalley which introduced me to the series. Darrow's character as an adult is equally as complex (if not moreso) than as a 15-year-old rebel. He has gone so far beyond the original intention of following his Red wife's song that he's almost unrecognizable. His friends, followers, and believers are waivering, or have lost, faith in Darrow and the path he follows. New strongly developed characters are introduced, and politics (while confusing at times) run deep in decisions made. It's a great continuation of this series, and has cemented --for me-- Pierce Brown as a favorite author.

Once again Brown immerses us in a world of political intrigue, friendship and loyalty. Every boundary is tested and the characters we know, love and hate fill the cast alongside expanded and new characters. This is a wonderful addition to the Red Rising world, a post-"freedom" book following Darrow's difficult path and weaving between 3 new perspectives.

I read a digital copy courtesy of Netgalley. Thanks Netgalley, and I'm sure sorry it took me so very long to finish it! I did ensure it was purchased for my local library in time for its release.

I read this aloud to my 16-year old son, and we both agree on the four star rating. I thought we were done with Morning Star, so I was mildly surprised (though pleasantly) by this addition. My son still misses one of the characters from the previous books (Pax Au Telemanus!!!) and delighted in fake-shouting his name a few times a week during our readings. That's not really related to this story, but it amused me.

These books are really too long to read aloud; it takes many months to get through one. By the time we're halfway done, I've forgotten what happened at the beginning. There are, as ever, many characters to keep track of. I liked getting to know some new characters, and getting to know some old characters even better. The separate(ish) storylines appealed to both my son and myself, and I liked seeing what 10 difficult years have done to the Reaper.

If #5 is released before my son goes away to college next year, we'll read that one too.

The size of this book scared me. But when I started reading it went by quickly. Having four different characters with different settings helped open up this large world. Be warned, there isn't much of an ending. Nothing but cliffhangers.

Loved it!!!! I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire series!!!
Darrow is trying to end the conflict he began 10 years ago but the Ash Lord still needs to be defeated to bring peace. But all is not well in the universe - the rising did release the Reds from the mines but it did not solve the problems of the people. Although Darrow and Sevro have married and have families, they never get to spend any time with their families because they are always off fighting. The disillusionment and frustration is evident in this book on all fronts.
This is another exciting adventure with three intertwined plots and three huge cliffhangers at the end. So bring on the next book I'm more than ready.....

I could not have anticipated a book more. Pierce has created a universe that I will not soon forget. With multiple points of view, this book take you right back into his world.

Good continuation of the series with an introduction to some new characters with out neglecting the important surviving players from the first trilogy.