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A review by nanitiq
Dark Age by Pierce Brown
4.0
I think this book, along with Iron Gold will struggle to ever match the phenomenon that was Red Rising in the last decade. I believe the original trilogy acted as a gateway series from YA to Sci-Fi that not many people have wanted to cross. The sequels to this trilogy, unfortunately need to be kept separate from those 3 books in history. These books are a lot less approachable to me, and I even struggled reading Iron Gold the first time, to the point where I set it down halfway through and did not come back for the better half of a decade. While the action is still non-stop, and the twists are still gut-wrenching, these books have grown up and expanded and I think it may turn the less hardcore fans away. If I had not read the first 5 back to back this time, I may have gotten to the same point in book 4 where I left off and quit again. I struggle to keep track of a lot of the side characters and many of them seem to fill similar roles to each other that ends up with me have to go back and check who they are. I don't know if it's the naming convention of the series but outside of the main 10-15 characters I struggle to keep things straight. Maybe the character list at the beginning needs to be even more detailed.
I originally claimed that the second book of the series was more A Song of Ice and Fire with the first and 3rd book being Hunger Games and The Expanse respectively. I no longer think that's the case. These books have thoroughly expanded Brown's universe and added a complexity that does have me questioning who is really doing the right thing. These sequels are the closest I have read to the way I felt reading/watching ASOIAF the first time and if there was ever to be a show it would need the same treatment.
I am lucky to be going right into Lightbringer after this book, but part of me does wish it was the final book as originally planned. I did love this book, and quite a bit more than Iron Gold, but the last two books really need to hit for me to keep these books in my favorites of all time.
EDIT: I'll come back in a couple days or after the 6th book and see how I feel then. I find my opinions of a book take time to sit and I wrote this after 2 nights of blasting through the last quarter of this one.
I do think that overall the writing has improved drastically from the first trilogy and shows here in this book. This book was crafted really well and you can tell how hard it was for Brown to get this on the page and into a final form.
I originally claimed that the second book of the series was more A Song of Ice and Fire with the first and 3rd book being Hunger Games and The Expanse respectively. I no longer think that's the case. These books have thoroughly expanded Brown's universe and added a complexity that does have me questioning who is really doing the right thing. These sequels are the closest I have read to the way I felt reading/watching ASOIAF the first time and if there was ever to be a show it would need the same treatment.
I am lucky to be going right into Lightbringer after this book, but part of me does wish it was the final book as originally planned. I did love this book, and quite a bit more than Iron Gold, but the last two books really need to hit for me to keep these books in my favorites of all time.
EDIT: I'll come back in a couple days or after the 6th book and see how I feel then. I find my opinions of a book take time to sit and I wrote this after 2 nights of blasting through the last quarter of this one.
I do think that overall the writing has improved drastically from the first trilogy and shows here in this book. This book was crafted really well and you can tell how hard it was for Brown to get this on the page and into a final form.