What an amazing sci-fi collection, Pierce Brown really brings a universe to life, mixing past Roman ideology to a future where a breed of enhanced humans calling themselves golds have terraformed all planets in the solar system and have created a “utopia” which they call The Society. Organising different job components of what they believe to be an ideal society to a pyramid of colours i.e. gold as the peak of humanity, silvers the business managers, white as religious overseers, black as warrior giants, yellows as doctors, greens as technology experts, orange as mechanics, etc. A red working in the Mars mines finds out his gold leaders have been lying to his entire red brethren about the supposed inhabitability of Mars, forcing them to live out their days working for them underground promising that one day they will be able to inhabit the surface. After much turmoil and tragedy he makes it to the surface and joins an uprising against his gold masters.
Not for the faint of heart (definitely think the books has some sensitive subjects for adult-processing only) but a real page turner. I have just finished the 4th book in the series and I am kinda sad that there is only 1 more after lol.
Tl;dr: First book is much like Hunger Games, thereafter the books expand into a space opera.
Edit 1: Clarified the tl;dr
by Money-Use-5309
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My favorite series. The improvement that Brown makes with each book is incredible. The scope is massive as the series expands. The characters grow and change as war forces them to become something more pragmatic and logical. More ruthless and willing to kill. The second book also starts with my favorite opening line. “My silence thunders.”
Can’t wait for the next book. Awesome series.
I read the trilogy long ago and picked up the audio books as well. It is one of my favorite of all time, Darrow is so whiny sometimes but his situation is always so heartbreaking.
It is really difficult stepping back into it for the next trilogy since I thought it ended so satisfyingly. I was really excited, but just haven’t been able to.
Ragnar!!!!! He was my favorite character. Can’t wait for the newest book… This is my favorite series.
Tim Gerard Reynolds’s audio version of this series is amazing.
I thought the fourth was a big step down from the first three, I didn’t care for the new POV characters…but then the fifth was so good it brought me back right back in. Looking forward to the sixth one in July!
For anyone who might be turned off by the Hunger Games vibe of the first book, the series matures into a grand scale space opera. The first book is great, but the series only gets better from there
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One of my favorites. It has interesting characters, humor, tragedy, ass kicking, plot twists. I disagree with the comparison to Hunger Games though and as the series progresses it is most definitely adult sci-fi.
Great book series. And great author. One of my favorite quotes comes from the Author’s note in Morning Star:
“Everything grand is made from a series of ugly little moments. Everything worthwhile by hours of self-doubt and days of drudgery. All the works by people you and I admire sit atop a foundation of failures. So whatever your project, whatever your struggle, whatever your dream, keep toiling, because the world needs your skyscraper.”
The sixth one is supposed to come out this year!
So count yourself lucky that you only just picked it up lol, I’ve been waiting since 2020, but I know some people have been waiting longer
Dropping in to say that the first book is a bit melodramatic and not indicative of the massive leaps in quality and scope books two and three take.
Also do the audiobooks, they’re phenomenal.
Just started Red Rising last night and am very excited to get into it with how many people speak praise about it.
Are the books after the third one good? I only ask because the author did the thing that a lot of authors do where they release what is supposed to be a trilogy, only to come back later and say “jk, there’s more!” I have multiple unfinished series that are only unfinished because the author did that after I had already completely the trilogy. Usually I find it annoying because the next installment(s) has to concoct some problem out of thin air since the original trilogy left things nicely wrapped up.
TLDR: I read Red Rising back when it was a completed trilogy, just wondering if the second trilogy is worth reading?
Golden Son: Iron Rain chapter. It was such an action packed chapter.
I enjoyed the series quite a bit myself as well. If you liked the mixing of Roman ideology, and are also a fan of fantasy books (I have an almost equal love of both genres), I’d very much recommend the ***Codex Alera*** book series by Jim Butcher. I really enjoyed the world building / mixing of Romanic war and leadership ideas with the world’s magic system. There’s six books in the series, so you’ll be entertained for a while.
my favorite series, first read red rising and golden son 5+ years ago while I was still in school, bought morning star recently and can’t wait to continue with the saga
I was a little put off early on in the audio book, not sure if it was the narrator or the factional aspect (do I even remember?). This may just be the push I need to give it another shot, hope it is all you are hyping it up to be 🚀
Really love these series. There’s a fair amount of interesting sci-fi out there, but much of it isn’t great at creating drama/tension. Red Rising has it in spades. The main characters are really put through the wringer.
Dark Ages was so good, can’t wait for the next.
A little off topic, but the Red Rising board game by Stonemaier games is really fun.
My favorite series I’ve read in the last 5 years
I read the first book and it felt very YA-ish. I absolutely don’t have a problem with that, just not what I was into at the time. Glad to hear the rest of the series might be a bit more of what I’m looking for now.
Oh boi you will regret your words after you read the 5th. Not because it gets worse, but because it gets better. And MUCH MUCH more painful. Remember what you felt when you read >!the ceremony scene where so so many of our beloved characters die, and darrow is captured?!< (First trilogy spoilers)… Now imagine that but worse. A LOT WORSE HOLY SHIT I BAWLED MY EYES OUT.
I read the series a bit into the second book if I remember it correctly and I absolutely hated the protagonist. He was the worst kind of Gary Sue character.
Fun read for the most part, but that single aspect became so insufferable, that I just put it aside and never picked it up again.
I am on book 3 and still wondering how this series can keep this frenetic pace up. Sounds like it does. Book 3 sounds like it could wrap up and be the end with everything out in the open now. Amazing that it’s not.
To the people who liked this book, did you at any point beyond book 1 think there were any stakes? It seemed to me that Darrow overcame almost everything either being a genius in the moment or some weird off-screen prep.
I really struggled with this series. Got through the first two books then gave up. So much of the plot is like… Oh an insurmountable problem! Then the main character just *gets more determined * and super heroes his way out of it. Absolutely boring by the end of the second book. Never found the enthusiasm to carry on further.
Also, Pierce Brown is a legitimately nice guy. He is very sincere and takes time to talk to all his fans at signings.
I read the first book and decided it was a little too YA for my tastes.
If I thought the first was too YA, any reason I wouldn’t find the rest of them to be so as well?
Unpopular opinion: fairly cliche teen fic. Read them all, they were meh.