Red Rising Series

By Pierce Brown

Series: Red Rising Saga
Author: Pierce Brown
Genre: Science Fiction / Fantasy / Dystopian
Rating: ★★★★★
Verdict: Story Worth Keeping

After I finished reading The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, I was searching for my next book—or, even better, a new series to completely consume my life.

A good friend of mine and fellow book lover highly recommended Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series. She told me it was one of the best series she had ever read.

So naturally, what did I do?

I went to the bookstore and bought it.

Red Rising begins with Darrow, a sixteen-year-old husband who lives and works in the mines beneath the surface of Mars. He lives in a future where society has been divided into a strict hierarchy based on color. Golds sit at the top, while Reds are at the very bottom. Each Color has its own role in society and is bred, raised, and trained specifically for that purpose.

After something devastating happens to Darrow’s wife at the hands of a Gold, his entire life changes. What follows becomes a mission to infiltrate the Golds from within—and unleash all of the fury he has been carrying with him.

Now, I’m not going to lie.

I struggled with this book at first.

About ten chapters in, I actually texted my friend and told her I wasn’t sure I was going to finish it. The beginning felt slow, and the fact that the main characters were sixteen years old and already married definitely threw me off.

I was dangerously close to a DNF.

And then, just a few chapters later, everything changed.

Suddenly, I was hooked.

What almost became a book I never finished somehow turned into me reading all six currently published books in the series.

The series is essentially divided into two arcs. The first includes Red Rising, Golden Son, and Morning Star. The second includes Iron Gold, Dark Age, and Light Bringer.

And for me, the first three books were probably my favorite.

The easiest way I can describe the beginning of this series is this: imagine The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars somehow had a very angry child.

That’s Red Rising.

The first trilogy feels more focused on Darrow, his relationships, the people around him, and the development of the characters we come to know throughout the story. There is war, violence, betrayal, and loss, but it still felt lighter to me than what came later.

Then you enter the second half of the series.

And everything gets heavier.

Much heavier.

The world expands. The politics become more complicated. The war becomes bigger. The losses become more painful. Instead of feeling primarily character-driven, the story begins to feel much more focused on the enormous world Pierce Brown has created and the consequences of everything that happened before.

And then there is Dark Age.

I cannot tell you how many times I had to close that book and stop myself from throwing it across the room.

It was probably the most difficult book in the series for me to read because it is extremely war-heavy. There were times I felt angry, annoyed, frustrated, devastated, and completely exhausted by what was happening.

Honestly, the second half of this series made me feel just about every emotion except happiness.

And somehow…

I still loved it.

That is probably one of the greatest compliments I can give a series.

Even when I was frustrated with it, I cared. Even when I was angry, I needed to know what happened next. Even when these books emotionally beat me into the ground, I kept picking them back up.

By the time I reached Light Bringer, I was fully invested in Darrow’s war and the people surrounding him.

And that ending?

Let’s just say that even if I didn’t know another book was coming, I would know that could not possibly be the end.

It may or may not leave you feeling like you’ve woken up inside a very bad dream.

The first trilogy gives you sadness.

The second half gives you sadness, rage, dread, grief, frustration, and approximately three seconds of hope before taking it away again.

But there is good news:

It isn’t over.

And after where Light Bringer left me, I am holding onto that fact very tightly.

If you want a series filled with rebellion, war, loyalty, betrayal, friendship, sacrifice, politics, impossible choices, and characters who will make you care far more than you intended to, I highly recommend stepping into this world with Darrow.

Just prepare yourself emotionally before you do.

Because really, who doesn’t love a series that makes you feel all of the things?

Those are the stories worth keeping.