Iron Gold by Pierce Brown
Release Date: January 16, 2018
My Rating: 5 stars
Summary: They call him father, liberator, warlord, Reaper. But he feels a boy as he falls toward the pale blue planet, his armor red, his army vast, his heart heavy. It is the tenth year of war and the thirty-second of his life.
A decade ago, Darrow was the hero of the revolution he believed would break the chains of the Society. But the Rising has shattered everything: Instead of peace and freedom, it has brought endless war. Now he must risk everything he has fought for on one last desperate mission. Darrow still believes he can save everyone, but can he save himself?
And throughout the worlds, other destinies entwine with Darrow’s to change his fate forever:
A young Red girl flees tragedy in her refugee camp and achieves for herself a new life she could never have imagined.
An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life.
And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.
Red Rising was the story of the end of one universe, and Iron Gold is the story of the creation of a new one. Witness the beginning of a stunning new saga of tragedy and triumph from masterly New York Times bestselling author Pierce Brown.
When I heard that the author was writing more books in the Red Rising world, I was both scared and excited. Excited, because I wanted to see more of the characters, yet scared, because I was worried returning to these characters would be tedious and repetitive. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. (Mild spoilers throughout this review.)
Usually with more than one or two points of view, I get bored easily; however, Iron Gold succeeded where many books have failed. All of the narrators and their separate parts of the plot were all equally thrilling. The only problem was that the chapter always dropped off right when it was starting to get somewhere. The two new characters, along with two old ones, were refreshing. We get to meet and know the two new ones (Lyria and Ephraim), return to Darrow's mind, and see how he and Lysander have grown in the ten years that have passed since Morning Star. I'll handle each narrator separately.
Again, I was a bit scared to return to Darrow's point of view. How different would he be in this new book, after everything he's been through in the past ten years? I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he's not much changed. Darrow has developed, but more towards a negative way than a positive one. He maintains that war is necessary for peace, and he would do anything for peace. It's a bit exhausting to be in this mindset so long; in the original trilogy, we had to take Darrow's actions for good, but with the new narrators, we get to explore how his actions truly affect others. Since Darrow was the only narrator in the original trilogy, we see him as the hero, one who has done wrong but only for good. And I do believe this holds true in Iron Gold; however, he regrets little, which harms others much more than it hurts him. He's headed down a path where he is going to make disastrous decisions, especially ones that will result in even more war, like one (or many tbh) of his decisions from Morning Star coming back to haunt him. I am glad to have a protagonist with such duty, but I loved that Iron Gold explores the morality of his decisions and the weight that they hold. We don't have to see Darrow as the golden character anymore because he isn't one; as he increasingly becomes more and more of a morally gray protagonist, it's nice to see him taken down a peg or two (although not at the expense of others :(( like chill, Darrow, take a break and go home once in a while).
I enjoyed most of Lyria's chapters although they did get a bit tedious sometimes. She's headstrong and tough, but I did feel like sometimes it was too forced. Also, at one point I wanted to scream at her, but she grows a lot throughout the story. I can't wait to read more from her.
Ephraim's chapters were a bit boring at times, but towards the end. Wow. His character is established fairly early on, so I understand his decisions but man if I didn't want to punch him sometimes. Grief will make you as such though. But how his last chapter ended?? Why??
Lysander's story was definitely the highlight of the book. At first, he seems tame and then shows his true cunning side. He is really the product of Octavia's and Lorn's bloodlines. I did think it was a bit weird that it kind of skipped over a lot of the past ten years for him; like, it touched on it, but I feel like there could have been more details. Lysander's relationship with Cassius though; do you remember the feelings of camaraderie and unbreakable bonds in the original trilogy? So yeah, there wasn't much of that in Darrow's chapters (because, you know. he would do anything to win the war at this point, so some things have to go out of the window [that was sarcasm]), but we do find them a bit in Lysander's with Cassius. Their bond was probably the most humanizing thing in the whole book. Although I am upset with Lysander's decisions (smh WHY did you do that), I understand the reasoning, and it moves the plot to the next book.
With four different plotlines and three parts of the universe, it was a bit difficult to see how they would all converge. It does become more apparent towards the end of the book, and while I'm sad that these characters are against each other, I can't wait to see what happens next. I have never been more grateful that, although it took two years for this book to be published, the next one is already coming out this year.
Iron Gold is an exhilarating, intoxicating mess of a book; I couldn't put it down. Handling four narrators and separate plotlines is no easy feat, but Pierce Brown does it seamlessly while weaving together a story that slowly reveals itself to us the deeper we get into the book. A marvelous return to the Red Rising universe, Iron Gold explores everything more in depth: how does a ruined Society become a Demokracy? how does it do it with as little conflict as possible? what were truly the consequences of Darrow's actions ten years ago, and what will happen now? As the universe is divided into three, I can't wait to see where the story goes now. Iron Gold is a universe expanded and a story of duty and honor, anger and regret. I couldn't put it down, and neither will you.
About the Author: Pierce Brown is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, and Iron Gold. His work has been published in thirty-three languages and thirty-five territories. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next novel.
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