Iron Gold by Pierce Brown (3.5 stars)

I approached this with some trepidation and reluctance. Brown did such a good job on the red rising trilogy, adding another book seemed like a mistake. I wasn't particularly motivated to regain all the state of the characters from the various houses that I had forgotten from the trilogy. But I dove in anyway.

Some minor spoilers ahead.

Some of the things I liked from the trilogy are present. It's a messy war: things don't go to plan, Reaper loses support, makes mistakes, and creates big rifts in the fragile peace he has managed to construct through revolution.

The central theme in this book is the tension between Darrow's family life and what he feels is his responsibility to the new world order he has created through his bloody uprising. This was good depth for Darrow's character, but I didn't find it particularly compelling as he obviously chose the war over his family many years ago and has barely looked back. This twinge of regret as he finds his star falling, and is ostracized from his own government is understandable but not all that deep, since he doesn't change direction in the slightest, but instead continues on the same path with more self awareness.

I feel the trauma of what I’m doing not just to him, but both our families. It feels like the world is doing this to us. But is it the world, or is it me? The way I am built? A breaker, not a builder after all.

Prior to embarking on what seems like a suicide mission, he only decides to say goodbye to his son after Sevro insists on saying goodbye to his. Eventually he realises he has effectively abandoned his family.

I have made my choice and it kills me to know I chose not to be a father. Not to be a husband. I failed at both when I chose the Rising over my family. And now it teeters on the razor’s edge. Orion might already be lost. Our fleet, cobbled together, the product of ten years, might already be debris.

There are a lot of different points of view to follow, and Lysander seemed like a complete waste of time. Lyria brought an important perspective of a 'liberated' Mars colony, but once she is off Mars she is isolated, in a position of little power, and effectively becomes a prop for the heist. Ephraim's perspective is for the heist, which is entertaining. Darrow's is of course required.

I'm fairly sick of Darrow surviving this long. He's been in front-line tooth-and-nail combat too many times to count at this point, there's just no way he could have survived all those battles. Darrow and Sevro should have died in this book, then we would have had a real story. What happens to the rising once they are gone?

Having said all that, it's still an entertaining read, and I could mostly ignore trying to piece back together all the multitude of character relationships from the earlier novels, but I probably missed a lot of significant points.

I wish Brown had left the Red Rising universe alone and embarked on a fresh new series in a different world.

3.5 stars.