Iron Gold

by Pierce Brown

Info

Date Finished: 9/15/2026

First Sentence: Weary, I walk upon flowers at the head of an army.

Last Sentence: I pull the key Pax gave me and put it in my bag, setting aside the father, welcoming the Reaper and letting the old rage take hold.

Companion Album:

New Cover

Book cover for Iron Gold by Pierce Brown. The title runs in two vertical columns of heavy blackletter capitals, IRON on the left and GOLD on the right, in near-black on a khaki background. Behind the letters, printed in a muted olive tone, is a distressed image of a classical male figure seen from below, head tipped back, one arm raised straight up into a circle with thin rays fanning down from it. The author's name sits small in the lower right corner.

A Few Thoughts

Iron Gold feels like the story Pierce Brown wanted to tell all along. It's much more adult and unflinching than the first three books, which feel shackled to their YA beginnings. Spoilers ahead! Stop reading here if you want to avoid them.

The start of a second trilogy in the Red Rising universe, Iron Gold continues the overarching story while expanding the perspective. This time, alongside Darrow, we follow three more characters, each with their own flaws.

Each new character has strongly held beliefs informed by their lived experience. These beliefs run counter to Darrow's, and I honestly believe they're not wrong.

Lyria is a young Red who is set adrift after the Rising liberates her mine. No longer a slave, she's now free to ... scrounge in the mud in a refugee camp? At least in the mines, her family was still alive, and she had a role and purpose in her community.

Ephraim is a middle-aged Grey and mastermind thief who relentlessly pursues the next big gig (and no small amount of drugs) to escape his horrific memories of serving with the Rising during the urban Block Wars. The love of his life is dead, and the men he led were tortured and killed in front of him, and yet, the Sovereign, Mustang (Darrow's wife), pardons some of the enemy Golds?

Lysander is a young Gold we've met before, heir to the throne that Darrow and his friends toppled. He's now the ward of Cassius, another returning character, who tries to teach him the values of the Rising. But Lysander isn't blind. It's an era of chaos, and the only time of order he's ever known was while his grandmother was in charge.

These three storylines interweave with Darrow's storyline as our "hero" goes on to try and fix one mistake after another, only leading him to cause, perhaps, the biggest, most consequential mistake of his life.

Iron Gold is a more nuanced and fascinating story than the first three books. I can't wait to learn more about this world and how these characters will collide. I ended up finishing this book in three days, finding excuses to listen to it: I'll go a little longer on this run, you know I should probably clean the oven, etc.

The first Red Rising trilogy is a decent 6 out of 10 series for me. A fun ride, but nothing to write home about. If the rest of the second Red Rising trilogy is like Iron Gold, we just might have a top-ten favorite series on our hands.

Another semi-failed attempt at replicating this kind of lofi scanned illustration style. I think for the next books I'll try something totally different or at least go back to the drawing board. We'll see! The dude reaching is pulled from Antaeus Setting Down Dante and Virgil by William Blake. The type treatment was inspired by this Pride and Prejudice cover I found on Are.na.