Blurb:

They call him father, liberator, warlord, Slave King, Reaper. But he feels a boy as he falls toward the war-torn planet, his armor red, his army vast, his heart heavy. It is the tenth year of war and the thirty-third of his life.
 
A decade ago Darrow was the hero of the revolution he believed would break the chains of the Society. But the Rising has shattered everything: Instead of peace and freedom, it has brought endless war. Now he must risk all he has fought for on one last desperate mission. Darrow still believes he can save everyone, but can he save himself?
                 
And throughout the worlds, other destinies entwine with Darrow’s to change his fate forever: 
                 
A young Red girl flees tragedy in her refugee camp, and achieves for herself a new life she could never have imagined.
                 
An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life.
                 
And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the Sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.
                 
Red Rising was the story of the end of one universe. Iron Gold is the story of the creation of a new one. Witness the beginning of a stunning new saga of tragedy and triumph from masterly New York Times bestselling author Pierce Brown.

Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga:
RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER

Review:

“The hardest iron cannot be bent, only broken.”

Prepare for emotional damage! And put on your workout clothes, because your heart is going to be pounding in your chest and your anxiety is going to be thru the roof!

Ok, I loved the first three books in this series and knew I needed to get back to the Reapers world before I  waited too long!  I grabbed the audio and the physical book for this one because I KNOW that Pierce Brown is just going to DELIVER all the quotes!!  

I found that the time jump of 10 years was enough that I was comfortable with the characters changing and I was also able to recognize them. They had all grown, most of them are parents now, and I was so pleased that this creates a new layer in these books!  Not only are the characters fighting for their lives and for their newly established government, but they also have to weigh their decisions as well as their consequences: what will happen to my family if I choose this?  

“I only feel the cold weight of duty, and fear of what it will do to my family.”

Iron Gold is the first book in the series to offer multiple POV characters (don’t worry, we still have Darrow)!  Four characters can be a lot to juggle  in a book, but I think it is executed perfectly here, as each one is unique.  

Darrow – Now as the ArchImperator, Darrow leads the endless war against the Ash Lord, and the Inner planets.  After a decade of fighting and a war he has not won, and his people are restless and weary.  Darrow makes the brash decision to reject the peace talk and take matters into his own hands, undermining both the Senate and his wife. 

“I always thought when I became a man, I’d feel more confident, but towering over this boy, I feel so very small. I lost my own father to a cause, have I doomed Pax to the same fate?”

Lyria – A Red Gamma from Mars, she was “liberated” by the Republic, but her life is not better. I think her POV chapters allowed us to see some of the characters we are familiar with through the lens of an everyday citizen.  She is an emotional impact character, and my heart broke for her more than once. Lyria gets to interact with a fan favorite Sophocles, she becomes his minder.  

Ephraim – a freelancer thief, who gets caught up in something way bigger than he expected. 

Lysander – exiled heir to the old government. Lysander has been in hiding with Cassius for 10 years.  While he loves Cassius like a brother, he doesn’t always agree with him. 

**Spoiler Section**

Now an Outlaw, Darrow barely escapes with half his Howlers and a stain on his name, darker than he could have imagined.  Stripped of his role, Darrow becomes our Anti-Villian, (it’s a real thing, I looked it up), he is now carrying out things the Republic and its laws would not allow him to do, terrible things, but he does them to protect those he loved.  I think Darrow does the hard things, I was always hoping that he would be successful, even when I didn’t fully understand what he was doing yet. I KNOW he means well, but not everything he does is good. 

Lyria’s interactions with the Telemanus show us how Virginia must have been raised, and we get a peek at Pax through her eyes which I thought was well do in establishing his character.

I was absolutely floored to realize that Ephraim was Lyria’s new friend. But I was a bit surprised that the Duke of Hands rolled over so quickly during the escape with the children. 

Lysander is a great contrast to Lyria, while they both have every reason to be mad at the world, they each present in different ways. Lysander is such a bookish nerd in the first half of this and I was tentatively happy with him, I know it cannot last. Lyria was being taught to read by Kavax, just another great parallel between these two characters!

“I swore to protect the people. That is what I will do. No matter the cost.”

Cassius has always been such an interesting, honor bound character to me.  He does remind me Jamie Lannister with his aristocratic heritage, sword skills, charisma and his complicated sense of honor.  He cannot be dead, because I NEVER SAW THE BODY, and because the depth of feeling Pierce Brown uses when he removes a character from the story was missing.

“I am Cassius Au Bellona, son of Tiberius, son of Julia, Morning Knight, and MY honor remains.”

Victra is such a fierce multi-dimensional character.  Now that she is a mother, her loyalty and protective instincts are unparalleled.  She has some of my all-time favorite quotes in this one!

“Darling, I am the trouble.”

I was also happy to meet the Raa’s.  Dido had such a great character introduction and her love story with Romulus had such a heartbreaking ending.  I will be curious to see how Lysander navigates the new alliance he has made and wonder if it will ever be more than he expected it to be.

Final Thoughts: 

I would love to know more about the Olympic Knights and their history, as well as the Furies!  If there was a supplemental book with some of that history, I would certainly read that!  It reminds me of the Arthurian Knights!

Iron Gold (much like Golden Son) is a PAGE TURNER.  I cannot express how fast I flew thru this book; I need to know what happens next and have already grabbed the next in the series!

This is going on my list of Favorite Fantasy Books of the Year list and I’ll still trying to decide if I liked this one or Golden Son MORE.  I am leaning to Iron Gold though!  We are getting to see Pierce Browns writing improve with each new book in this series!

Would reread? Absolutely, YES. I know I would pick up more on  a re-read, and to revisit some of these scenes would be a delight.

Would recommend? Yes, this new saga (books 4-7) is off to a bit darker, bit grittier, bit more political tone.  I think fans of Mistborn, especially the Well of Ascension, will like this and  I think people who are fans of Game of Thrones will also enjoy this series, with the addition of POV characters and the new governmental politics Pierce has created a world where morality is grey, and everyone is someone else’s villain. 

“Hail libertas. Hail Reaper.”