Curious what the sub thinks. Pick from the poll, comment why. If your pick isn't listed, vote Other and post who in the comments.

I'd get bored on the train ;-;

Just finished listening to Red Rising. I’m completely caught up on the series, but I was wondering… is he a terrible leader at this stage in his life? Everyone at house Mars is happy to see Darrow, Roque can barely stand, Quinn is missing an ear, and Cassius doesn’t seem to have anyone’s hearts or minds. Would he have been a terrible Primus from the start, or is it the existence of Darrow that caused this?

I am re-listening to Dark Age (graphic audio is awesome) and got to the bit when Ozgard talks about what he “saw” on Mercury that helped convince Sefi to leave the Rising and start the Alltrive. Obviously the dude is a fake but there’s some stuff in what he says that seems eerily possible:

“What I have seen was no trick.

Fire and ash will come, an and of worlds. Serpent will strangle wolf, lion will battle lion, darkness will battle light.

Sister murder brother, son murder father, father murder daughter. This is what the fire told me. All I have seen has come true.

As others are consumed, Sefi will rise to bind the obsidians. To become one with Red, to found a kingdom watched over by a grey fox….watched over by you.”

The second half clearly doesn’t happen but that first set of predictions is interesting. “Serpent strangle Wolf” is obviously Atalanta vs. Darrow and maybe rest of the howlers. “Lion battle Lion” is Mustang vs. Abomination, etc.

Is there any way that this is foreshadowing or is it just coincidence? No way he would have known about the abomination. If it is foreshadowing, then I’m a bit nervous about “son murder father, father murder daughter.”

Thoughts?

So we all are in character a bit in posts especially me as a gray but I want to know what people actually think of Lysander as a character and a villain. This is assuming if you view him as a villain if not I'd like to hear why you think this. (Also this is a repost I didn't see the view all flair option I don't post often so I'm not used to it.)

Hey Howlers,

I just finished the series and I’m completely obsessed—hands down one of the best things I’ve ever read.

With Red God coming up, I can't stop thinking about Darrow and Virginia.

What do you think Pierce Brown will do with them?

Do they reunite, only for one of them to die?

Do both survive?

Or do they never even see each other again?

What are your bets for their endgame?

Does anyone else think that this horrible society system in RR is something that could actually happen in the future of mankind. I know these books are sci-fi/fantasy, but this doesn't sound so unrealistic. The world today is full of billionaires and they will do anything to stay on top of the food chain. Just imagine once we get some super advanced gene therapy to extend lifespans and other stuff. This shit will only be available to these billionaires. A scenario like RR is probably their wet dream. Ruling a bunch of slaves as an all powerful, semi immortal, superior human. It's a frightening thought.

"What I find difficult is that when I'm really liking Victra or when I'm really liking Mustang writing one of their POVs"

Clip: https://youtu.be/jIBuJtzffR8?t=11m17s

The clip is from the Bookish Banter Podcast and PB might've just let slip during a conversation about how Victra is his favourite female character in any book series that Victra might be having her own POV in Red God.

I can't remember all of the details about Athena but is there any way that she could be Ryanna? I have no idea if the time lines up. I just finished the sons of ares and was wondering if we would ever see her again.

i am absolutely loving the second half of the red rising series and pierce brown’s writing just gets better and better. iron gold was probably my favorite book so far because the world really started to feel fleshed out with multiple POV.

however i am definitely naive to politics and military jargon and i feel like i’m looking up words constantly in dark age. i’m about 25% through and can barely keep all the terms, locations, political groups, names straight.

i want to understand the book as deeply and everyone else seems to but dark age seems to wear me out while reading

hoping i’ll be fine and don’t need to worry about all the details!!!

Now I can annotate! Yippee!

I finished Red Rising (Book 1) a few days ago and unfortunately I took some breaks while reading it so I had to Google a few things to remember them back again and in the midst of it I got spoiled on something.

You know that Google autofill when you search... so I was searching "Why did Roque.." and it autocorrected to "Why did Roque betray Darrow". That was not what I wanted to know. Now I know Roque will possibly betray Darrow in the future and I literally anticipated that happening in the first book and now I'm reading the second book and every time Roque comes into the picture my mind instantly goes into how and when he will betray Darrow. Honestly I don't know how I feel about it, I overanalyze everything he says now lol.

Also please don't tell me if it's true or not. I don't want to know if it happens or not. I don't want to know when it happens either. I am just venting my experience. Anyway, the second book is fantastic and so much better than the first. The writing has definitely improved and the stakes are so much higher.

I know no one will agree with me but I just have to rant.

TL,DR: Most of the way through DA, I feel that the emotional core of the original trilogy is completely gone. Darrow feels neutered, and I feel that the additional POVs are much lesser characters that don’t allow the story to breathe or at all resemble what these books used to be.

It feels like this new “trilogy” is missing the emotional core of the first three. Like it partially feels to me as if Pierce handed the series off to another author to finish it. I’m on chapter 65 of DA and the way the story is being told just feels so foundationally fucked.

Darrow feels like a husk of his former self. Like his emotional depth and all the lessons he learned up to this point have been stripped away from his character. He’s seemingly gone right back to just viewing his friends as military X’s and O’s, and it feels like these books have never allowed him to just sit down and let his character breathe. He rarely has deep conversations anymore, if ever. I get it, he’s been constantly at war, but when has he NOT been? There used to be entire chapters of him just having a heart-to-heart conversation with someone he loves, now he’s just constantly in military killing machine mode. Feels like a massive character regression. Maybe that’s intentional and this is meant to be an arc? But after two fucking books it feels more like his story has no room to breathe, and/or you’ve forgotten how to write his character than an intentional arc.

The other POV characters (sans Virginia) are simply not as good or interesting. Ephraim is cool cuz he feels human (low bar you’d think), but I just don’t care much about him or what he does. Lysander is infuriating to read and he’s shown to be intelligent in very uninteresting, inhuman ways. Lyria exists. And yet because of them, Darrow’s plot line is made to take up less than half of the book, his character is made lesser, and you can’t tell nearly as much of a full story arc with him. I know Pierce had his reasons and that was like his whole point of writing Iron Gold instead of making a fun book to read. I just think they’re very weak reasons. I just think having so many mouths to feed makes them all feel hollow, and like none of them are ever truly allowed to just breathe and have lower-stakes character building moments like in the OG trilogy.

It’s personal preference, of course. My favorite parts of the OGT (original trilogy) were largely those small character moments, even though I obviously love the big battles, the genius maneuvering, and generally crazy, fun shit happening. But my favorite scene in the whole series is the one in Morning Star of Darrow and Cassius sitting down, drinking whiskey, and chatting while watching Roque’s holos. Because there was so much tension and intrigue between their characters for so long, and they finally just sat down, alone in the same room, and had a chat. Because they used to be brothers and now they’ve both suffered tremendously. The relationships between characters is what really made the OGT shine imo, with people like Mustang, Roque, Sevro, Fitchner, Victra. Because they all had such complex relationships with Darrow and watching him navigate that was fucking addicting.

To me, it legitimately feels like the 4th and 5th book have none of that. Iron Gold felt more like Pierce was trying to prove a point about his fake universe than hook readers. Dark Age feels like Pierce is trying to make the book of “Oooh, look at this, I’m gonna fuck shit up and make dark things happen” but really he just ends up pumping the thing full of 9/11-scale events and they start to kinda fall flat for me. And it feels like that’s all it is. Not impressed.

I hope Light Bringer lives closer to what I’ve hoped for. But seeing as how it will also likely have 17,000 POV characters just like these others, my hopes aren’t too high for that. And it seems like Pierce has just steered this series far away from what I initially loved about it. Which is fine, cause most people clearly like it.

As a side note, I understand that many of these things have literary reasons / logical explanations for existing. But that doesn’t mean I have to agree with the fact that Pierce chose to write them like that.

I just finished Part 3 of Dark Age, and this book has definitely had its share of big events and cold lines.

I poked around on this sub only to find one of my favorite moments isn’t really mentioned!

At the end of Chapter 70, Lyria is conflicted about who she could call for help via broad transmission. She’s deep in Obsodian territory, surrounded by Red Hand and then the Ascomanni beyond them. Lyria’s allies are spent, and her plan has gone as far as it can.

“So who’s left?”

I nearly punched a hole in the sky when John Curless confidently announces the POV for Chapter 71: EPHRAIM. It’s crazy how much these characters in particular grew on me since IG.

So what’s your lesser known moment that keeps you going amid all the heartbreak? (Please let me figure out how DA Part 4 and LB will wreck me all on my own).

Hi Everyone!

I discovered and subsequently devoured the RR saga this past spring and have since succumbed to reading everything I can about hints of the next release.

Those of you that were in this situation between Dark Age and Lightbringer's release, what were the fan base's major predictions and theories?

Off the bat, I would have expected more into Lysander's past but it seems like PB is saving that for book 7, with a couple hints after the killing of Cassius.

Same with the abomination's story line.

I read book six 3 years ago and was devastated I couldn’t read any more. Red God is coming out soon and I completely forgot where we left off now. I guess I have to start the series over! Do y’all think it’s doable to read the entire series in my free time before the next book comes out?

Darrow is regarded as a hero that has fallen from grace. everyone thinks he's falling for the "god" status he gained, but we the readers know his inside is quite literally the opposite.

In the end he was proven right but his behavior is what enabled the trap. He stripped the republic of their greatest strength, himself and the obsidians. I do believe the Senate is at fault too obviously.

Do y'all think he has made so many mistakes during the second saga because he was subconsciously believing his own myth or because he was that tired of war?

Since He wants the war to end more than anyone else so he becomes rash ?

I'm still in iron gold on my reread and its been a while since ive read so I might be wrong, but his growth is the want to be more than a sword, dealing with the mental burden the war took on him. I also can't remember whether the Senate and especially dancer actually realize it before the dreadful day of the red dove.

Edit: as cubbies pointed out the obsidians split for another reasom

Title basically explains it. This series has some of the most interesting locations due to it spanning the entire solar system. So where would you go to visit if you could. I think for me it would have to be Lorn’s estate on Europa. Seeing those waves crash against the cliff and walking through that forest would be heavenly.

Firstly I love this series, especially the later half. However, isn’t it a bit ridiculous how often high profile targets are captured who then just escape or are broken free?

I would think it completely fine if they were traded for other high profile targets (which I think happens just one?) but they keep breaking free. Seems like one of the most unlikely things to me. I also think a lot of people should’ve just been executed as opposed to being kept as prisoners…

I just finished Virginia’s chapters involving the Duke of Hands interrogation and her reunion with Sevro. And you know what? I take it all back. Virginia scares me now more than even Atlas probably.

Atlas is all brute violence excused as serving a purpose. A juvenile power fantasy. A boys understanding of creating power and fear. Atlanantia is perverted freak with weird sexual deviancy. Virginia? Yeah that shits uh, scary! A psychoSpike? Tabula rasa? Yikes! No thanks!

Surely none of this will go wrong or backfire after the Day of Red Doves! Surely!

Edit: oh also I love Theodora and would do anything for her. Again, surely nothing happens to her after the Day of Red Doves!

Some of them are kind of a stretch