A review by cody_crumley
Iron Gold by Pierce Brown

adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

“If you are wise and lucky and live long as me, you will learn that pain is just a drop in the sea”…So feel all of it, boy, before time makes you forget”

It always seems to be a struggle to continue a series after an initial end point, and the fourth book in the Red Rising saga by Pierce Brown is no different. The first half of the book really struggled to get into gear and I think a lot of that is the introduction of having multiple POVs. 

The chapters in the longest book in the series are broken up between four perspectives. Returning from the first three books is Darrow, now 10 years older after the time jump. He is still the most interesting perspective to me. Brown does a great job of showing how 10 years of war have drained this man, turned him into something he never wanted to become. You really get to see him struggle with leaving is family, and the distance that it has created between them. 

The other perspectives lag behind, they include a Red named Lyria, who was brought out of the mines but feels left behind by the new Republic, Ephraim, former Aries member turned thief, and Lysander, former Lune who was next in line for the throne before the events of the first three books. 

The non-Darrow perspectives get better in the second half once the plots start to develop, but the first half really struggled to get me to care about them. By the end they are all left in interesting positions that make good cliffhangers.

Overall I enjoyed coming back to this world and enjoyed the time jump, but I am still in a wait and see approach to see if continuing the series after what was a good ending in Morning Star (Book 3) was the right move.
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