Reviews

I never thought, after reading Red Rising and being thoroughly disappointed, that’d I’d be kind of excited to see what the next book in this series had to offer. Would’ve bet money, in fact.

I brute-forced my way through the first 3 books because the series is so popular and I just had to know if there was a good reason why.

The previous book, Morning Star, finally got character writing feeling good and Pierce Brown decided to go all-in and write multiple perspectives in Iron Gold. I feel like this was a breath of fresh air - and came at the perfect time. If there were multiple poorly written perspectives in the previous books, I would’ve gone crazy. In a bad way.

If I could criticize one thing now, it’d be the world-building. Social structures and cultural variances have always been pretty much front and center, yes, but I feel like it’s a thin veneer. People have colonized the solar system! Yet it still feels like everything takes place in such a small space.

However, I anticipate this not being much of a problem if Pierce Brown can continue to write characters like Lyria. That way a variety of perspectives can be shown and the world will become much more solid.

mari555's review against another edition

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adventurous sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

taylormanning92's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

4.0

the_tomster16's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

itskaitw's review against another edition

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4.0

HEEEEELLLLLL YEAAAAAHHHHHH. Giving it 4 stars rather than 5 for a couple reasons:

*MILD SPOILERS TO FOLLOW*

1. There's a 10-year time jump and a lot happened in those 10 years. After finishing, I appreciate the time skip for what it is, because it's necessary to the current plotlines and characters. However, it really threw me at first
2. The POV switches are new- we didn't have multiple POV's in the original trilogy. Also took me a little bit to get used to. Additionally, there were a lot of times I'd have to flip back like 30 pages to remember what was going on in each POV when it left off, because the POV's are VASTLY different. Most of them link up by the end, but for a solid half of the book we're being pulled in four different directions.
3. SO MANY CHARACTERS. I love the new characters & how diversifying the cast really expanded upon the already grandiose worldbuilding. But Mr. Brown. Be so for real. That pitiful little Dramatis Personae did nothing for me. I need a whole chart to remember all the family members, the bloodfueds, the alliances, the past interactions. It's very Game of Thrones but in space. I had to pull up the wiki a few times because a name would be dropped & I'd be like ??? Who is that again???
4. Overall my least favorite of the series (but the bar is so high that that really isn't saying much, this book was still great).
5. Ugliest cover of the series SORRY but when the other covers slay as hard as they do this is just :/ it's giving picsart. I still don't know why there's a feather. Where was the feather Mr. Brown

Onto what I loved + other random thoughts:
• The new characters, especially Ephraim. I love that gay shithead and all his heist shenanigans. He is awful. He is the worst. He is my middle-aged meow meow. And Lyria, oh my God? What a well-written character. I love her motivations and way of thinking, and she feels very very realistic. MWAH to both of them.
• Not me suddenly realizing 4 books into a sci-fi series that there are no aliens
• The family drama goes crazy. Giving telenovela but with murder
• Was anyone going to tell me the sigils in their hands are metal? Is anyone gonna tell me how they get there?
• The way the scope of this series increased tenfold in this book boggled my fuckin mind. The first 3 books are like looking at a map. This book is realizing you never unfolded the map and now you're looking at a huge atlas
• Tell me how the Olympic Knight system works I'M BEGGING. Hand over the lore Mr. Brown

This book had so many fantastic lines. Here are my faves:
• "She would have lived in peace, but you brought her nothing but war." Absolutely cooked with that callback
• "I once saw a man try to ride a shark."
• "Their conversations tinkle like spoons on rare china"
• "His skin possesses the anemic quality of a skinned rabbit." Disgusting description. Love it
• "All the good memories I have of him have been held hostage by the horror of his exit. Now the bars crack, the doors open, and they flood me. All I want is to say goodbye to him. To let him know he was mine and I his. But sitting here, surrounded by all the ruinous shit I've made, I still can't feel anything but anger." When I tell you this entire scene brought to my knees and had me shedding real tears. I felt like I'd been shot. Pierce Brown is SUPERB at writing grief.
• "I loved you before I ever met you. I will love you until the sun dies. And when it does, I will love you in the darkness." And I can't even get a text back smh.

Finally, have some silly memes I made <3

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