Dark Age

by Pierce Brown
751 pgs  (Red Rising series #5)

Darrow, the former slave who led the revolution against the caste system that had enslaved him along with every other red, is back. And not just in the sense of this new installment in the Pierce Brown's series being released, but back to his merciless and vengeful ways.

It's been ten years since he led the revolution and founded the Republic. But now Darrow has been abandoned by it, even labeled a traitor and deemed an outlaw. Along with what remains of his army, Darrow, the once great Reaper, now finds himself waging a rogue war on the fields of Mercury. But he's no longer interested in the politics that restrained him in Iron Gold, and he's determined to continue what he started decades ago.

His wife Virgina still leads the fragile demokracy, their son Pax has been abducted by their enemies, and Darrow is willing to kill billions, if that's what it takes to get back what he's lost.

This is the fifth book in the series, the longest so far, and Pierce Brown appears to have found yet another gear to move forward in. The action and the pacing are relentless, which is a good thing, because that's where Brown shines the brightest. I'm enjoying the series more now than ever before, but don't know how much more I can take, You'd think this far in, some things would have been resolved by now, but that's not the case. The space opera that Brown is writing keeps getting more and more intriguing and complex.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Iron Gold

by Pierce Brown
596 pgs  (Red Rising series #4)

It's been ten years since the uprising and rebellion of the Red slaves on Mars against the Gold ruling caste. Darrow, the slave who led the revolution and took on the persona of the Reaper, has become a legend during those years, as he's continued to lead the new Solar Republic in battles against the Ash Lord in an effort to liberate the rest of the solar system. But there is a faction at work within the Republic, one that wants to undermine Darrow, the war he's fighting, and the millions of lives that have been lost in his quest to provide that freedom.

In this, the fourth book in his "Red Rising" series, Pierce Brown does something unexpected with the series. Instead of continuing to focus primarily on his main character and follow him as he continues to fight for those unable to fight for themselves, he instead shifts the focus to others in the series and removes Darrow from the pedestal he and others have put him on.

I've heard this series referred to as a "space opera," and that label is deserved. The story and the action are often over the top, and the characters tend to be more caricatures with extreme personalities than fully fleshed out characters with complex personalities. But in this case, I'm okay with that. The series is fun. And I think it's exactly what Pierce Brown wants it to be.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Morning Star

by Pierce Brown
524 pgs  (Red Rising series #3)

As Morning Star begins, Darrow has been imprisoned for a year in an underground cell, one so small the only way he can fit is curled up into a ball. He was betrayed at the end of Golden Son, his identity as a Red, genetically and physically modified to become a Gold revealed. He successfully shattered the color caste system, but now his followers have had to continue to fight his war across the entire solar system without him.

Eventually they liberate him, but he's broken and weak, in no position to lead the uprising he himself began. The stakes have gotten higher in his absence as well. The Jackal, the man responsible for imprisoning and torturing Darrow has stolen Sovereign's stockpile of hundreds of planet-destroying atomic weapons. If he's able to discover the location of Darrow and his rebel army, he'll waste no time in using those weapons to destroy them, with no concern for the collateral damage he would cause.

As the story progresses, the level of action grows. Brown packs it in to an impressive degree. If this trilogy is ever made into a movie, it will most likely be directed by Michael Bay. That's the type and level of action we're talking about here. But while Michael Bay films are all action and no substance, Brown's story isn't. The action is just a byproduct of the scope of the story Brown has written.

Brown also excels at developing his characters. As the trilogy began, Darrow was the only character that seemed to have much depth, but by the time the last book finished, he was almost more of a supporting character. the others had become so interesting that for me, they were the ones that seemed to be driving the story forward.

I was excited to learn that Brown is now planning a new trilogy of books. One that will take place in the same universe he created with Red Rising, but years later, when the effects of what Darrow and his army did have been fully realized. Hopefully those books will be coming soon.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Golden Son

by Pierce Brown
442 pgs  (Red Rising series #2)

Darrow, a teenage Red, began his life as a slave, working every day in the mines below the surface of Mars. He, and all other Reds, had been taught for generations that their role in the solar system was to work to bring about a better future for all mankind. Meanwhile, the Golds, the ruling caste in society, lived off of their efforts and kept the Reds ignorant of the life all others lived on the surface of Mars, and throughout the solar system.

In Red Rising, he is taken by a group of rebels and transformed into a Gold--a transformation that involved an extensive education, training in battle and war strategies, and surgeries that changed him physically into a perfect human specimen. All these changes were made so that he could be inserted into the world of the Golds, and find a way to destroy their system from within.

Golden Son begins a couple of years after Red Rising ended. Darrow now serves one of the ruling families of the Golds--the head of which was responsible for the death of Darrow's wife. Darrow now has to fight against every instinct he has for revenge and wait until he's able to accomplish his ultimate goal.

Golden Son doesn't suffer from the "sophomore slump," nor does it suffer from any of the issues that tend to plague the middle books of trilogies. You never feel like Brown is holding all of the best parts of his story until the last book. The action and pace of the book are fantastic, and if the increase from book one to this one is any indication, book three is going to be impressive. Fortunately Morning Star comes out next month.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Red Rising

by Pierce Brown
381 pgs  (Red Rising series #1)

Red Rising is the first book in a science fiction trilogy currently being written by Pierce Brown. The setting is the planet Mars, at a point in the future in which mankind has extended its reach to the edge of the solar system and is terraforming the non-gaseous planets, like Mars, so that they can eventually become habitable. Society is ruled by a color-coded caste system, consisting of Golds, Pinks, Reds, and several others that people are born into, which determine their station for the rest of their lives.

Darrow was born a Red, the lowest of the castes. He has spent his entire life below the surface of Mars, drilling and mining for the substance that he and the other Reds in his mining colony have been told will one day make it possible for mankind to live on the surface. He believes that his life has a purpose and he's content with it--until he learns that everything he's been told has been a lie.

Unbeknownst to Darrow and the rest of the mining colony, the surface of Mars has been habitable for generations now. In fact, there's an entire civilization that exists there, and able to exist because of the Reds below the surface. Darrow and the other Reds have had no idea that their entire existence has been that of a slave. When Darrow eventually learns the truth, he becomes part of a resistance group that has been trying to bring down the Golds--the ruling class--and destroy the entire caste system.

Darrow undergoes extensive training and an entire physical and genetic makeover in order to be able to infiltrate the Golds on the surface. He becomes the key piece in the resistance group's plans to destroy the Golds from within.

Red Rising is a fantastic beginning to a very promising trilogy. It's been compared to Ender's Game, and Hunger Games, two apt comparisons, although this one is not for younger readers.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆