Red Rising
9 primary works • 12 total works Complete
Books 1-3 are the original trilogy. Books 4-6 are the second trilogy, which takes place years later.
Book 1
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, BUZZFEED, GOODREADS AND SHELF AWARENESS
Pierce Brown's heart-pounding debut is the first book in a spectacular series that combines the drama of Game of Thrones with the epic scope of Star Wars.
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'Pierce Brown's empire-crushing debut is a sprawling vision . . . Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow' - Scott Sigler, New York Times bestselling author of Pandemic
'[A] top-notch debut novel . . . Red Rising ascends above a crowded dystopian field' - USA Today
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Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars, generations of people who spend their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that, one day, people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left.
Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. That Mars has been habitable - and inhabited - for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down at Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.
Until the day Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside.
But the command school is a battlefield - and Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda.
Book 2
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR, BUZZFEED, AND BOOKLIST • “Gripping . . . On virtually every level, this is a sequel that hates sequels—a perfect fit for a hero who already defies the tropes. [Grade:] A”—Entertainment Weekly
As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.
A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.
He must live for more.
Praise for Golden Son
“Stirring . . . Comparisons to The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones series are inevitable, for this tale has elements of both.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Brown writes layered, flawed characters . . . but plot is his most breathtaking strength. . . . Every action seems to flow into the next.”—NPR
Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga:
RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER
Book 2
![Cover of Golden Son [Dramatized Adaptation]](https://images.bookhype.com/covers/4f/5b/9a700bb1-ba33-472e-8d1d-37cf67d6b5f4/9798212978941-02fc039611ab6a4eb7d709.jpg)
Book 3
ITW THRILLER AWARD FINALIST • “[Brown’s] achievement is in creating an uncomfortably familiar world of flaw, fear, and promise.”—Entertainment Weekly
Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society’s mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within.
Finally, the time has come.
But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—and too glorious to surrender.
Praise for Morning Star
“There is no one writing today who does shameless, Michael Bay–style action set pieces the way Brown does. The battle scenes are kinetic, bloody, breathless, crazy. Everything is on fire all the time.”—NPR
“Morning Star is this trilogy’s Return of the Jedi. . . . The impactful battles that make up most of Morning Star are damn near operatic. . . . It absolutely satisfies.”—Tordotcom
“Excellent . . . Brown’s vivid, first-person prose puts the reader right at the forefront of impassioned speeches, broken families, and engaging battle scenes . . . as this interstellar civil war comes to a most satisfying conclusion.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A page-turning epic filled with twists and turns . . . The conclusion to Brown’s saga is simply stellar.”—Booklist (starred review)
Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga:
RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER
Book 3
![Cover of Morning Star (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]](https://images.bookhype.com/covers/4f/d0/9b4b4da1-f9cb-474b-9dd1-be2ff14d0df4/9798874714253-2d9e350067de74f2c52b65.jpg)
Book 3
![Cover of Morning Star (2 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]](https://images.bookhype.com/covers/4c/9b/9c269597-343b-40a0-bb5d-76486e47b9c4/9798874824389-e4e6b8c8ac57eabddf91f5.jpg)
Book 4
'Another sizzling space epic to entice, excite and tease. 5 STARS' - Starburst
Darrow was born a slave. He became a weapon.
He ended centuries of Gold rule, broke the chains of an empire, and now he's the hero of a brave new republic. But at terrible cost.
At the edge of the solar system, the grandson of the emperor he murdered dreams of revenge.
In his hidden fortress in the oceans of Venus, the Ash Lord lies in wait, plotting to crush the newborn democracy.
And, at home, a young Red girl who's lost everything to the Rising questions whether freedom was just another Gold lie.
In a fearsome new world where Obsidian pirates roam the Belt, famine and genocide ravage Mars, and crime lords terrorise Luna, it's time for Darrow and a cast of new characters from across the solar system to face down the chaos that revolution has unleashed.
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Further praise for Iron Gold
'Fascinating . . . This is one you absolutely will have to read' - The BiblioSanctum
'[Iron Gold] offers us both a continuation of the story Brown has been telling for years right alongside an eye-opening widening of his universe, as though we're watching it all through an exquisitely calibrated telescope that can slide on perfect bearings from one side of the solar system to the other without the slightest blur . . . Mature science fiction existing within the frame of blazing space opera' - NPR Books
'The books are an exhilarating fusion of The Hunger Games, Blade Runner and Dune. Amid a pulse-pounding narrative, they fearlessly tackle major issues like the fragility of democracy and the fallibility of human nature to betray its ideals even when freedom is attained' - Express
'[A] thoughtful blend of action, intrigue, and prosaic human drama' - Publishers Weekly
'Iron Gold offers more of everything we loved about the first three books. Pierce Brown builds upon the foundations of the incredible universe and story he spun in the first trilogy, pivoting on his characters' flaws and fallibility to steer the narrative in unexpected directions. Suffice it to say, readers will be soon be dying to read the next one' - Barnes & Noble
'This book lives up to every expectation I have for Pierce Brown . . . you MUST read this, it will not disappoint!' - The Speculative Herald
'Brown succeeds not only in writing a great book, but adding to the world and Red Rising's mythos . . . The mix of political intrigue, action and thematic journeys elevate this book from a simple sci-fi adventure into something more thought-provoking and rewarding. Fans of Brown and his series should really enjoy this latest addition to Red Rising' - FlickeringMyth.com
Book 5
“Brown’s plots are like a depth charge of nitromethane dropped in a bucket of gasoline. His pacing is 100% him standing over it all with a lit match and a smile, waiting for us to dare him to drop it.”—NPR (Best Books of the Year)
He broke the chains. Then he broke the world….
A decade ago Darrow led a revolution, and laid the foundations for a new world. Now he’s an outlaw.
Cast out of the very Republic he founded, with half his fleet destroyed, he wages a rogue war on Mercury. Outnumbered and outgunned, is he still the hero who broke the chains? Or will he become the very evil he fought to destroy?
In his darkening shadow, a new hero rises.
Lysander au Lune, the displaced heir to the old empire, has returned to bridge the divide between the Golds of the Rim and Core. If united, their combined might may prove fatal to the fledgling Republic.
On Luna, the embattled Sovereign of the Republic, Virginia au Augustus, fights to preserve her precious demokracy and her exiled husband. But one may cost her the other, and her son is not yet returned.
Abducted by enemy agents, Pax au Augustus must trust in a Gray thief, Ephraim, for his salvation.
Far across the void, Lyria, a Red refugee accused of treason, makes a desperate bid for freedom with the help of two unlikely new allies.
Fear dims the hopes of the Rising, and as power is seized, lost, and reclaimed, the worlds spin on and on toward a new Dark Age.
Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga:
RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER
Book 6
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER!
Darrow returns as Pierce Brown's New York Times bestselling Red Rising series continues in the thrilling sequel to Dark Age.
The Reaper is a legend, more myth than man: the savior of worlds, the leader of the Rising, the breaker of chains. But the Reaper is also Darrow, born of the red soil of Mars: a husband, a father, a friend.
Marooned far from home after a devastating defeat on the battlefields of Mercury, Darrow longs to return to his wife and sovereign, Virginia, to defend Mars from its bloodthirsty would-be conqueror - Lysander. Lysander longs to destroy the Rising and restore the supremacy of Gold, and will raze the worlds to realize his ambitions.
The worlds once needed the Reaper. But now they need Darrow, and Darrow needs the people he loves - Virginia, Cassius, Sevro - in order to defend the Republic. So begins Darrow's long voyage home, an interplanetary adventure where old friends will reunite, new alliances will be forged, and rivals will clash on the battlefield.
Because Eo's dream is still alive - and after the dark age will come a new age: of light, of victory, of hope.
Books 1-4
Golden Son: As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies.
Morning Star: Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back.
Iron Gold: 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.
Books 1-5
Books 1-3
From the New York Times bestselling author Pierce Brown, the first three books of the Red Rising series, and a free preview of the fourth book in the series, Iron Gold.
Darrow is a Red, born under the heel of the elite Golds. After tragedy reveals to him the truth of civilization and the enslavement of his people, he seeks retribution. And he will stop at nothing to bring down the Golds who took everything from him—even if it means becoming one of them.