Review: Iron Gold by Pierce Brown

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on May 21, 2018 | 2 Comments


Review: Iron Gold by Pierce BrownIron Gold by Pierce Brown
Series: Red Rising #4
Published by Del Rey (1.16.2018)
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction
Format: Hardcover, 601 pages
Source: I own it


4 Stars

They call him father, liberator, warlord, Reaper. But he feels a boy as he falls toward the pale blue planet, his armor red, his army vast, his heart heavy. It is the tenth year of war and the thirty-second 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 everything 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.

My thoughts

Death begets death begets death.

It’s going to take some time for me to mull this over…I’ll try to get my thoughts into coherent sentences haha! It seriously took me nearly two months to get through this – mostly because I read it as a buddy read and our page goal was 50 pages a day and even then we kept running behind. And I got busy. But also because it takes SO FREAKING LONG to read. It takes me twice as long to read Pierce Brown’s prose because it’s just so heavy.

I’m not sure how I feel about the switching POVs in this book, other than deeply worried. I feel like they’re setting up the death of the Reaper – it was mentioned more than once that he has to die. I don’t think I can handle a world without the Reaper, even after all the ridiculous mistakes he’s made.

I will say that the POVs all felt very distinctive. I never got lost in anyone’s perspective like I tend to in some (most) multiple POV books. Each character had his or her own personality. Really, all characters in this series are like that – Pierce Brown is a pro at bringing characters to life! They feel SO REAL. The whole story feels insanely real, it’s very cinematic and convincing!

I didn’t like Lysander and HATED Ephraim, so I cared much less about their chapters. Lyria was okay, I guess? Mostly I just wanted to read Darrow’s perspective. I miss it being just his perspective. I kind of hate when a series goes from one perspective to multiple in the middle of the series, it’s off-putting. It wasn’t terrible though, and it did work for this book even though I wasn’t a huge fan.

I’m sad to say that don’t like who Darrow has become. It breaks my heart! View Spoiler »

Sadly I felt emotionally underwhelmed by this book – sure, it was dark AF and super heavy and depressing (like seriously I need some rainbows and unicorns after this), but all 3 original books reduced me to a sobbing mess at least once. I never actually cried in this one, even though I felt plenty of emotion (mostly anger, heh). View Spoiler »

I LOVED Volga!!! I think she was my favorite character in Iron Gold besides Sevro. Omg if she dies I’m going to be so upset. She was the only thing I liked about Ephraim’s chapters, and he treated her like shit on his shoe. I hated him even more for that, since Volga was like a loyal puppy to him. He was SUCH a bastard – there were times where I thought he’d have redeeming moments and then just nope. GONE. But it’s okay, he’s a turd because had a shitty past, blah blah blah. *rolls eyes* He was a really horrible person and I kinda hope he dies? Oops.

View Spoiler »

Sooo this book was really depressing? And it felt like a giant competition of Who Can Fuck Up The Most™. Like I wanted to throttle the shit out of the characters! I don’t think I’ve ever read a cast of characters who screw up so royally, so often.

View Spoiler »

Also, I marked this book as Adult, not YA. I think it could probably fit into both categories, but it feels too mature for YA to me. (The original 3 did too, but the age of the MC made them YA.)

Overall Assessment

Plot: 4/5
Premise: 5/5
Writing style: 4.5/5
Originality: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
World-building: 5/5
Pace: 3/5
Feels: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall rating: 4.5/5

Jessi (Geo)

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2 responses to “Review: Iron Gold by Pierce Brown

  1. Eeep I’m glad it ended up working out for you! I still am SO mad at how Darrow’s character has been…well, I feel like he’s “been ruined” but I know that’s personal taste and who am I to say against what the author wants to do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I just feel like everything we fought and cheered for in the first series has been burned in this one? Which makes the first series feel like a lot of wasted feelings. lol I’m so bad! I AGREE about Cassius so much. Ha. And Emphram is such a worm!!

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