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jefferz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The fifth book in Pierce Brown’s Sci-fi epic, this review assumes you have read the previous four books in the series. Spoilers specific to Dark Age will be hidden with spoiler tags, but any content covered in the previous books will not be hidden. Besides, why in the world would you be reading a review for a book in the middle of a long-running series, go read Red Rising first, it’s really good. Now on to the actual review-
The 2nd book in what’s considered the 2nd phase of Pierce Brown’s series, Dark Age needed to be solid to maintain the series’ momentum. Despite being an overall great book, I found the previous entry Iron Gold to easily be the weakest and most inconsistent book thus far. I acknowledge that a good portion of its length was required to both bridge the big time jump from Morning Star and to introduce what was perceived to be the new set of main characters. While Iron Gold accomplished what it needed to do, the reading experience for me felt disjointed with its jumping between three different plot threads and the overall direction felt lacking. Picking up after a short time jump, Dark Age lived up to its name, feeling like the darkest and most grim novel in the series. Recapturing the ridiculously twisty plotting of the Golden Son and reverting to violence and brutality rarely seen since the harshest parts of Red Rising, I loved it. Dark Age is another book that left me thinking “amazing, how does somebody come up with this stuff!”, with Pierce taking a tiny overlooked detail 0r gap in someone's history and making an amazing revelation out of it. However similar to and more extreme than Red Rising, Dark Age is not for the faint of heart (check for trigger warnings if you’re a sensitive later in this review). But if you can stomach the sheer amount of violence brought on by war, you will be rewarded by yet another stellar outing in this new classic space opera series.
I’m truly convinced that Pierce Brown is a wizard and really did attend Hogwarts before being an author (a reference to his early cheeky author blurb in Red Rising prior to JK Rowling’s fall from grace). Either this guy has a sixth sense or he and his editing team are best in class, I'm constantly amazed by how hyperaware Pierce Brown is with what his readers like and want out of his books. Similar to how Golden Son improved off of Red Rising, Dark Age literally took every single item critiqued in
my review of Iron Gold and chucked it back in my face with the intensity of a pulseFist. Dark Age’s story goes where the reader hopes it won’t and will prey on any attachment you have to your favorite character (within reason, more on that below).
First off, the setup and pacing. I noted that Iron Gold felt fragmented due to the story being split across four different plot threads and focal characters. While some story arcs were certainly more interesting than others, collectively they often would derail the momentum building with each part back to back. While all four parts were within the same “world”, they each featured different characters on different planets and of different affiliations that felt fragmented. To make matters worse, three of the four arcs focused on newly introduced characters which varied in likeability and the only arc featuring Darrow was by far the least substantial and most repetitive from a narrative standpoint. Despite obviously being fan-favorite characters who most readers want to follow post time-jump, Darrow’s arc felt tedious and Mustang/Virginia was barely present at all. While I loved Ephraim’s character and story, I was less interested in Lysander and the Outer Rim the more it progressed and I outright did not like and understand why Lyria’s arc was given so many pages compared to the others. Midway through when Lyria and Ephraim’s stories finally converged, Iron Gold started to find its footing, but it never reached the intensity of past books.
Dark Age rectifies those issues by immediately opening with Darrow’s survival arc on Mercury from the get-go and instead of switching between storylines each chapter, each arc is given its own self-contained part for considerably better flow, only alternating when relevant in the final part. Iron Gold was also lighter in terms of action and fight scenes compared to Dark Age’s copious amounts all in the first quarter of the book. And while Virginia was less present in books two through four, she is front and center here with an entire arc focused on the Sovereign’s role and her strategic planning on Luna. While I found Darrow’s endless skirmishing on Mercury to be slow to read, I found Virginia’s story on Lune to be refreshing and her shrewd plotting similar to Golden Son’s best strategic outplay moments. I really think Virginia is an underrated and fascinating character, and Dark Age gave us by far the biggest glimpse into her head.
The two remaining arcs were those I had me completely invested in, focusing on Ephraim and Lyria. Ephraim’s arc and his abduction of the kids was already one of the highlights of Iron Gold, but Dark Age managed to build on that even further, all while simultaneously giving the reader an introduction to the Obsidian tribe culture and dynamics. That, coupled with Ephraim's banter and heartwarming godfather-like relationship with Pax sealed the deal with being my personal favorite part of the story. While intentional by design, Ephraim and Pax’s relationship served as a perfect foil to what Cassius and Lysander could’ve been if not for Octavia’s influence and Lysander’s gold upbringing. And lastly, Lyria’s arc on Mars following her capture by Victra’s forces was easily the most surprising arc that changed my opinion on the character (helps that a new gimmick makes her less useless). Unlike the other arcs, Lyria and Volga’s arc is non-stop high-stakes fugitives on the run, focusing on a rather unexpected duo that I wouldn't have expected back in Iron Gold. This part was also coupled with Victra’s grand return (Victra was another character completely absent and underused in Iron Gold) and the results were spectacular. Encompassing ruthless oppression, misogynistic wife slavery, forced enlistment, child abuse, it’s impressive how much Pierce was able to cram into this one arc. The back-half of Ephraim’s arc in Olympia and Lyria/Volga/Victra’s arc at the Cimmeria mines are also by far some of the most brutal and heart wrenching moments of the entire series so far.
Related to brutality, another one of my criticisms of Iron Gold was that the ever expanding cast was getting too big and difficult to keep track of. Incorporating every character that didn’t die in the uprising in Morning Star, Iron Gold introduced even more political and social groups than before, each with numerous figures. Each novel included a listing of the notable characters and their affiliations for reference with earlier novels listing maybe 20-30 names at most. Dark Age’s listing had 68 names, and that’s pared down from what easily could’ve been 80. While I initially thought the story and plot was getting out of hand while reading Iron Gold, I’m now convinced this was purposefully setup so Pierce Brown could cut them all down in Dark Age and leave the reader contemplating life. Iron Gold also suffered from having far too many political social groups in play and although Dark Age introduces one more party, it thankfully reduces somesuch as the Red Hands and the shrinking/merge of the Syndicate , making it easier to keep track of all the moving pieces.
Dark Age was absolutely ruthless in terms of violence and death. While I didn’t notice it at the time, in retrospect both Morning Star and Iron Gold were relatively light in terms of character deaths and loss. Ragnar’s death was immense in Morning Star and I can understand why the only other notable “good guy” deaths were Trigg (brief appearance and small role within that novel at the time) and Roque/Thistle (formerly good guys), but when you think about it, few characters actually died in what was one of the biggest political upheavals. Iron Gold was also light with only Wolfgar and Romulus's deaths who were both narratively important characters that didn’t have a lot of actual screen time. However I’m willing to give Iron Gold pass considering it also had Cassius’s “death” which would’ve more than made up the low body count (I would have been very upset had I not been accidentally spoiled that he doesn’t actually die in Iron Gold). Coming off of those two novels, Dark Age truly felt dark as more than 12 “good guys” are killed off.
Again I really think Pierce Brown is a mind-reader as it felt like he knew exactly what he could get away with while still destroying readers’ emotions. Beloved characters or those that had existed in the Red Rising universe longer generally received more elaborate and substantial ends while characters that debuted in Iron Gold and onward were given less impressive deaths. In particular, certain characters that were either generally disliked, forgettable, or had little impact on the story were kicked out of the story unceremoniously, sometimes unintentionally comically (or was it intentional…? You never know with Pierce). A perfect example isSeraphina who I believe wasn't very popular in Iron Gold for her questionable morals and had vague character ambitions. Her death is delivered so amusingly nonchalant like “and then suddenly half her body was gone having been shot through by a random particle gun (though Lysander would later reflect on her demise on several later occasions). I did not like her at all in Iron Gold and literally laughed out loud at the way Pierce wrote her out. While not disliked but certainly less developed than other howlers, Min-Min was another character that was killed towards the end of Dark Age swiftly as an emotional blow to Sevro, C. She was another supporting character added in Iron Gold who never got the same spark or growth compared to Clown or Pebble who were established howlers way back in Red Rising. I also didn’t understand what role or purpose Tongueless was supposed to do in Iron Gold who frankly felt quite random and unnecessary to me. Perhaps Pierce also agreed (or changed his mind about his planned character arc), deciding to kill him immediately at the beginning of the book with little fanfare. And while his character has existed in all the books thus far, Daxo was one that didn’t really feel as developed compared to other Republic Golds and his death made perfect sense for as a character moment for Virginia without excessively traumatizing the reader (maybe).
On the other hand, if there’s a popular or beloved character who needs to die for narrative purposes, Pierce also delivers thoughtfully, all while giving them resolution and a proper sendoff.While being at odds with Darrow and Virginia during all of Iron Gold, Dancer was a crucial mentor in the first trilogy and his resolution and alliance with Virginia prior to his death came full circle. Orion is also given an entire backstory via the book’s prologue that explains her actions and psyche that contributed to her ultimate death. And after portraying her as a lone wolf and hot/cold figure to Darrow, the way Pierce humanized Sefi during Ephraim’s stay in Olympia before her brutal and shocking death was excellent. However, Dark Age is the first book since Red Rising to kill off one of my personal favorite characters that came as close to destroying me as a book can do, which sounds over dramatic since I’m generally not a very emotionally invested reader. I could see Pierce Brown preparing the noose for Ephraim the moment Pax started looking up to him as a mentor and he and Volga had a touching moment where they acknowledged they are truly family in every way except for blood. Still, Ephraim’s death caught me off guard as he was the first main character whose perspective the reader follows to die. Honorable and cheeky to the end, his brutal death in Olympia was shocking but so perfectly pitched and planned that I can’t even be upset at it, especially after his fantastic character growth (one of the series best). As soon as you can see everything starting to work out and fall into place for someone, you know he’s about to chop them to pieces (damn you Pierce for being so good at what you do).
Besides character deaths, Dark Age had some of the most triggering content not seen since Red Rising’s Institution arc. I’ll spoiler tag these as some of them are sure giveaways and spoilers, but I would caution readers that are triggered bychild abuse, infant death (the brutality also shocked me), referenced off-screen rape via plundering, one consensual but brief sex scene with an age gap, traditional forced women gender roles and of course violence, gore, torture, and maiming that’s per the usual for this series.
Despite the dark content and certain elements that I know some sensitive booktoker is going to call out for being misogynistic, Dark Age is not all dark and violence. Despite the dismantling of certain female characters by male oppressors and some forced traditional gender roles, Dark Age still retains the positive liberal and queer representation that this series has become known for. The misogynistic setup and harsh elements are an effective conflict that Lyria, Volga and Victra triumph over in the most intense arc of the book. Despite having a relatively large female cast and the Obsidian tribe being female dominated previously, Dark Age also has the most notable and important female characters of any Red Rising book so far with the trio already mentioned plus Virginia (and they are badass, no damsels in distress here). Unlike past books, Darrow’s strongest battlefield ally is a woman for a change (Thraxa), the biggest perceived threat is another woman (Atlantia), the Republic's two most powerful characters are Virginia and Holiday, I could go on.
Another less obvious theme is that of family and perceived responsibility. Previous books also touched on that (some examples being Virginia vs her father and the Jackal, Victra vs her sister) and Iron Gold set the groundwork for it, but Dark Age really pushes it further. Despite being uninterested and hesitant about war and glory, Pax’s growth and discovering his own kind of strength while slotting into his father’s role (against Darrow’s hopes I might add) was great to see. Lyria becoming something (surpassing my expectations and dislike for her I’ll also add) was also satisfying, there’s nothing I love more than being proven wrong supported by backstory and details! And finally there’s Lysander’s gradual descent away from being neutral and making a name for himself.
The only slightly negative comments I had with Dark Age was that despite likely needing to have more Darrow content in the book to satisfy many long-time fans, Darrow’s content and endless combat felt like the weakest material in the book. Darrow’s arc was also paired off with Lysanders which serves as a parallel and opposite perspective on the other side of the battlefield. While I understand their purpose to show Darrow's doom and Lysander’s crucial character shift, the entire Mercury arc as felt like it went on for far too long for too little development. Perhaps that’s purposeful to show that war isn’t always glorious and can be slow and arduous, but the reading experience shouldn't also drag like that. On it’s own the content is far from bad, but it just shows how good the rest of the book was by comparison.
While Darrow’s perspective was generally well done albeit repetitive, Lysander’s perspective felt like it had a lot of good ideas that were either underdeveloped or felt mishandled. Maybe I missed or forgot something in the five months since I read Iron Gold, but I remember Lysander being less focused and really only having the belief that Golds know what’s best and should govern the rest of the colors. I don’t know what it is but something about Lysander’s characterization felt odd from the get-go and while his gradual shift in morality and outlook makes sense given what occurs on Mercury, it still feels a bit conveniently forced and inconsistent (again, that’s a back-handed compliment considering how amazing Pierce usually is at transitions and wildly complex plotting). His backstory and repertoire with Kalindora felt like it was meant to be meaningful, as exhibited during the closing chapters of the book, yet the emotional impact and conflicting feelings Lysander and the reader were meant to experience didn’t feel earned and authentic. I believe Kalindor needed more screen time to leave an impact and to show the reader why she’s called “The Love Knight” (Lysander relationship with Cassius felt more substantial by comparison). And while Lysander’s prospective provides valuable information and insight into the Society’s forces, there were a lot of characters introduced back to back with not enough time devoted to each; specifically Scorpio, Cicero, Rhone who for the life of me I can never remember, Seneca that randomly pops up to be brutal and nothing else. In general, the pacing and focus in Lysander’s arc felt misplaced and further muddied the already weakest arc in the book (it also doesn’t help that I am personally apathetic to what happens to Lysander).
Despite a few negative points, if it wasn’t already obvious from my excessive rambling, I loved Dark Age. Besides it’s excellent strategic plotting and fantastic storylines, Dark Age was also the first book in the series where I noticed Pierce Brown’s improvement as a writer (content aside). While fully functional for an action adventure saga, the level of visual details, particularly grandeur, have really come a long way. Compared to Red Rising’s constant action, later books have equally strong introspection and versatility. I remember commenting while reviewing Red Rising how it felt like Darrow angry, Darrow smash, Darrow will rise and conquer, and not much else. The diversity in character personalities, mannerisms, diverse culture and customs, not to mention now Lysander’s frequent poetic and philosophical quotes, it’s really good stuff. I’m going to need a bit of a break and a lighter read after this to recover before continuing along with Lightbringer, but Dark Age has successfully erased any doubts I had during Iron Gold about the trajectory and quality of this series. It’s easily one of the best action-adventure oriented books I’ve read since getting back into reading.
The 2nd book in what’s considered the 2nd phase of Pierce Brown’s series, Dark Age needed to be solid to maintain the series’ momentum. Despite being an overall great book, I found the previous entry Iron Gold to easily be the weakest and most inconsistent book thus far. I acknowledge that a good portion of its length was required to both bridge the big time jump from Morning Star and to introduce what was perceived to be the new set of main characters. While Iron Gold accomplished what it needed to do, the reading experience for me felt disjointed with its jumping between three different plot threads and the overall direction felt lacking. Picking up after a short time jump, Dark Age lived up to its name, feeling like the darkest and most grim novel in the series. Recapturing the ridiculously twisty plotting of the Golden Son and reverting to violence and brutality rarely seen since the harshest parts of Red Rising, I loved it. Dark Age is another book that left me thinking “amazing, how does somebody come up with this stuff!”, with Pierce taking a tiny overlooked detail 0r gap in someone's history and making an amazing revelation out of it. However similar to and more extreme than Red Rising, Dark Age is not for the faint of heart (check for trigger warnings if you’re a sensitive later in this review). But if you can stomach the sheer amount of violence brought on by war, you will be rewarded by yet another stellar outing in this new classic space opera series.
I’m truly convinced that Pierce Brown is a wizard and really did attend Hogwarts before being an author (a reference to his early cheeky author blurb in Red Rising prior to JK Rowling’s fall from grace). Either this guy has a sixth sense or he and his editing team are best in class, I'm constantly amazed by how hyperaware Pierce Brown is with what his readers like and want out of his books. Similar to how Golden Son improved off of Red Rising, Dark Age literally took every single item critiqued in
my review of Iron Gold and chucked it back in my face with the intensity of a pulseFist. Dark Age’s story goes where the reader hopes it won’t and will prey on any attachment you have to your favorite character (within reason, more on that below).
First off, the setup and pacing. I noted that Iron Gold felt fragmented due to the story being split across four different plot threads and focal characters. While some story arcs were certainly more interesting than others, collectively they often would derail the momentum building with each part back to back. While all four parts were within the same “world”, they each featured different characters on different planets and of different affiliations that felt fragmented. To make matters worse, three of the four arcs focused on newly introduced characters which varied in likeability and the only arc featuring Darrow was by far the least substantial and most repetitive from a narrative standpoint. Despite obviously being fan-favorite characters who most readers want to follow post time-jump, Darrow’s arc felt tedious and Mustang/Virginia was barely present at all. While I loved Ephraim’s character and story, I was less interested in Lysander and the Outer Rim the more it progressed and I outright did not like and understand why Lyria’s arc was given so many pages compared to the others. Midway through when Lyria and Ephraim’s stories finally converged, Iron Gold started to find its footing, but it never reached the intensity of past books.
Dark Age rectifies those issues by immediately opening with Darrow’s survival arc on Mercury from the get-go and instead of switching between storylines each chapter, each arc is given its own self-contained part for considerably better flow, only alternating when relevant in the final part. Iron Gold was also lighter in terms of action and fight scenes compared to Dark Age’s copious amounts all in the first quarter of the book. And while Virginia was less present in books two through four, she is front and center here with an entire arc focused on the Sovereign’s role and her strategic planning on Luna. While I found Darrow’s endless skirmishing on Mercury to be slow to read, I found Virginia’s story on Lune to be refreshing and her shrewd plotting similar to Golden Son’s best strategic outplay moments. I really think Virginia is an underrated and fascinating character, and Dark Age gave us by far the biggest glimpse into her head.
The two remaining arcs were those I had me completely invested in, focusing on Ephraim and Lyria. Ephraim’s arc and his abduction of the kids was already one of the highlights of Iron Gold, but Dark Age managed to build on that even further, all while simultaneously giving the reader an introduction to the Obsidian tribe culture and dynamics. That, coupled with Ephraim's banter and heartwarming godfather-like relationship with Pax sealed the deal with being my personal favorite part of the story. While intentional by design, Ephraim and Pax’s relationship served as a perfect foil to what Cassius and Lysander could’ve been if not for Octavia’s influence and Lysander’s gold upbringing. And lastly, Lyria’s arc on Mars following her capture by Victra’s forces was easily the most surprising arc that changed my opinion on the character (helps that a new gimmick makes her less useless). Unlike the other arcs, Lyria and Volga’s arc is non-stop high-stakes fugitives on the run, focusing on a rather unexpected duo that I wouldn't have expected back in Iron Gold. This part was also coupled with Victra’s grand return (Victra was another character completely absent and underused in Iron Gold) and the results were spectacular. Encompassing ruthless oppression, misogynistic wife slavery, forced enlistment, child abuse, it’s impressive how much Pierce was able to cram into this one arc. The back-half of Ephraim’s arc in Olympia and Lyria/Volga/Victra’s arc at the Cimmeria mines are also by far some of the most brutal and heart wrenching moments of the entire series so far.
Related to brutality, another one of my criticisms of Iron Gold was that the ever expanding cast was getting too big and difficult to keep track of. Incorporating every character that didn’t die in the uprising in Morning Star, Iron Gold introduced even more political and social groups than before, each with numerous figures. Each novel included a listing of the notable characters and their affiliations for reference with earlier novels listing maybe 20-30 names at most. Dark Age’s listing had 68 names, and that’s pared down from what easily could’ve been 80. While I initially thought the story and plot was getting out of hand while reading Iron Gold, I’m now convinced this was purposefully setup so Pierce Brown could cut them all down in Dark Age and leave the reader contemplating life. Iron Gold also suffered from having far too many political social groups in play and although Dark Age introduces one more party, it thankfully reduces some
Dark Age was absolutely ruthless in terms of violence and death. While I didn’t notice it at the time, in retrospect both Morning Star and Iron Gold were relatively light in terms of character deaths and loss. Ragnar’s death was immense in Morning Star and I can understand why the only other notable “good guy” deaths were Trigg (brief appearance and small role within that novel at the time) and Roque/Thistle (formerly good guys), but when you think about it, few characters actually died in what was one of the biggest political upheavals. Iron Gold was also light with only Wolfgar and Romulus's deaths who were both narratively important characters that didn’t have a lot of actual screen time. However I’m willing to give Iron Gold pass considering it also had Cassius’s “death” which would’ve more than made up the low body count (I would have been very upset had I not been accidentally spoiled that he doesn’t actually die in Iron Gold). Coming off of those two novels, Dark Age truly felt dark as more than 12 “good guys” are killed off.
Again I really think Pierce Brown is a mind-reader as it felt like he knew exactly what he could get away with while still destroying readers’ emotions. Beloved characters or those that had existed in the Red Rising universe longer generally received more elaborate and substantial ends while characters that debuted in Iron Gold and onward were given less impressive deaths. In particular, certain characters that were either generally disliked, forgettable, or had little impact on the story were kicked out of the story unceremoniously, sometimes unintentionally comically (or was it intentional…? You never know with Pierce). A perfect example is
On the other hand, if there’s a popular or beloved character who needs to die for narrative purposes, Pierce also delivers thoughtfully, all while giving them resolution and a proper sendoff.
Besides character deaths, Dark Age had some of the most triggering content not seen since Red Rising’s Institution arc. I’ll spoiler tag these as some of them are sure giveaways and spoilers, but I would caution readers that are triggered by
Despite the dark content and certain elements that I know some sensitive booktoker is going to call out for being misogynistic, Dark Age is not all dark and violence. Despite the dismantling of certain female characters by male oppressors and some forced traditional gender roles, Dark Age still retains the positive liberal and queer representation that this series has become known for. The misogynistic setup and harsh elements are an effective conflict that Lyria, Volga and Victra triumph over in the most intense arc of the book. Despite having a relatively large female cast and the Obsidian tribe being female dominated previously, Dark Age also has the most notable and important female characters of any Red Rising book so far with the trio already mentioned plus Virginia (and they are badass, no damsels in distress here). Unlike past books, Darrow’s strongest battlefield ally is a woman for a change (Thraxa), the biggest perceived threat is another woman (Atlantia), the Republic's two most powerful characters are Virginia and Holiday, I could go on.
Another less obvious theme is that of family and perceived responsibility. Previous books also touched on that (some examples being Virginia vs her father and the Jackal, Victra vs her sister) and Iron Gold set the groundwork for it, but Dark Age really pushes it further. Despite being uninterested and hesitant about war and glory, Pax’s growth and discovering his own kind of strength while slotting into his father’s role (against Darrow’s hopes I might add) was great to see. Lyria becoming something (surpassing my expectations and dislike for her I’ll also add) was also satisfying, there’s nothing I love more than being proven wrong supported by backstory and details! And finally there’s Lysander’s gradual descent away from being neutral and making a name for himself.
The only slightly negative comments I had with Dark Age was that despite likely needing to have more Darrow content in the book to satisfy many long-time fans, Darrow’s content and endless combat felt like the weakest material in the book. Darrow’s arc was also paired off with Lysanders which serves as a parallel and opposite perspective on the other side of the battlefield. While I understand their purpose to show Darrow's doom and Lysander’s crucial character shift, the entire Mercury arc as felt like it went on for far too long for too little development. Perhaps that’s purposeful to show that war isn’t always glorious and can be slow and arduous, but the reading experience shouldn't also drag like that. On it’s own the content is far from bad, but it just shows how good the rest of the book was by comparison.
While Darrow’s perspective was generally well done albeit repetitive, Lysander’s perspective felt like it had a lot of good ideas that were either underdeveloped or felt mishandled. Maybe I missed or forgot something in the five months since I read Iron Gold, but I remember Lysander being less focused and really only having the belief that Golds know what’s best and should govern the rest of the colors. I don’t know what it is but something about Lysander’s characterization felt odd from the get-go and while his gradual shift in morality and outlook makes sense given what occurs on Mercury, it still feels a bit conveniently forced and inconsistent (again, that’s a back-handed compliment considering how amazing Pierce usually is at transitions and wildly complex plotting). His backstory and repertoire with Kalindora felt like it was meant to be meaningful, as exhibited during the closing chapters of the book, yet the emotional impact and conflicting feelings Lysander and the reader were meant to experience didn’t feel earned and authentic. I believe Kalindor needed more screen time to leave an impact and to show the reader why she’s called “The Love Knight” (Lysander relationship with Cassius felt more substantial by comparison). And while Lysander’s prospective provides valuable information and insight into the Society’s forces, there were a lot of characters introduced back to back with not enough time devoted to each; specifically Scorpio, Cicero, Rhone who for the life of me I can never remember, Seneca that randomly pops up to be brutal and nothing else. In general, the pacing and focus in Lysander’s arc felt misplaced and further muddied the already weakest arc in the book (it also doesn’t help that I am personally apathetic to what happens to Lysander).
Despite a few negative points, if it wasn’t already obvious from my excessive rambling, I loved Dark Age. Besides it’s excellent strategic plotting and fantastic storylines, Dark Age was also the first book in the series where I noticed Pierce Brown’s improvement as a writer (content aside). While fully functional for an action adventure saga, the level of visual details, particularly grandeur, have really come a long way. Compared to Red Rising’s constant action, later books have equally strong introspection and versatility. I remember commenting while reviewing Red Rising how it felt like Darrow angry, Darrow smash, Darrow will rise and conquer, and not much else. The diversity in character personalities, mannerisms, diverse culture and customs, not to mention now Lysander’s frequent poetic and philosophical quotes, it’s really good stuff. I’m going to need a bit of a break and a lighter read after this to recover before continuing along with Lightbringer, but Dark Age has successfully erased any doubts I had during Iron Gold about the trajectory and quality of this series. It’s easily one of the best action-adventure oriented books I’ve read since getting back into reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcohol
kmmckeen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Incest, Rape, Trafficking, and War
entropyseeker's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
I dropped this series 8 or so years ago because Darrow's decline from a man of the people into a man of war made my heart too sad. Picking this book up after so many years later and I forgot just how gruesome the Red Rising series can be. I know it's called Dark Age, but goddamn, read the content warnings. Once again, characters you love die and things only get worse for our cast. Fingers crossed that it eventually looks up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Trafficking, and Abandonment
Minor: Vomit
mfrichter10's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
riellylucette's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Blood
ember17's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This was a long time coming. I put off reading this book for so long. Finally, I have conquered it. And it certainly lived up to its name. This book was dark. It was sad. It was miserable. There were hardly any happy scenes. This book was war and death and slaughter and more war and murder and more death. It was not enjoyable, but at the same time it was so compelling. That’s the thing about Pierce Brown. These books aren’t happy, but they suck you in. The characters are such geniuses in some senses, and so lacking in other areas. All of our characters have their biases and are utterly convinced of their own righteousness. It’s fascinating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and War
okayyyanna's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I crave being free from this dark and emotional story and dread the day I come to finish the last of the saga
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
mqabbadbest's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
pnwbibliophile's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
1.0
Spoilers ahead! This is going to be a long, detailed review as I have visceral negative feelings about this book and author. If you love this book or don’t want spoilers, click away. You’ve been warned.
Overall, I found the writing to be sloppy. It suffers from having far too many characters, gratuitous violence, lack of constraints grounding the world, unbelievable plot twists, lack of a cohesive plot, homophobia, misogyny, and an author’s disregard for his readers. Pierce Brown managed to take a formula that worked for him in the first trilogy and bastardized it to the point that it feels like a cheapened, hollow imitation of its former self.
Getting into the specifics:
1. Overly Swollen Character List
Each new character has a gaggle of other unimportant side characters to digest. Take a gander at the Dramatis Personae page, then realize the low-level side characters aren’t even listed there. Woof. Why so many characters? Oh, just so Brown can butcher them. Trying to understand who new characters were and their dynamics became a chore. If you devoted any significant mental energy to keeping everyone straight, you’re rewarded by realizing so many of them are dead by the end and thus all that energy to keep everyone straight was ultimately pointless.
2. Gratuitous Gore and Violence
There was gore, rape, torture, genocide, cannibalism, nailing a newborn baby to a tree, a lot of butchered horses, and not one but two separate cases of pedophilia. Look, I was girded for this book to be brutal. I’m not a sensitive person to this stuff, but this level of depraved gratuitous violence just for violence’s sake was just lazy. I’ve read books like The Poppy War series and Manacled with similar war violence and they were some of my favorite books. Not because of the violence but because the violence was contextualized. If an author takes the time to reflect and make you realize why these violence scenes are necessary for plot, theme, or a wider moral message, it can be quite poignant. This, however, felt like the violence was there only for shock value as due reflection was often glanced over if undertaken at all. The graphic violence is also unceasing to the point that it was all so absurd and overdone by the end.
3. Unmooring Known Constraints in the Book’s World
When long-dead characters come back from the grave for cheap plot twists, it begs the question of what is actually at stake in this world? Think about it. In this world, healing is extremely easy and dead characters are now coming back to life. They can engineer fantastical creatures and impossible to kill monsters. They can terraform planets, control weather, and travel impossibly far in space. Characters will accomplish unbelievable levels of education, cunning, and war training off the page. Darrow is such an overpowered hero that anything’s possible to him while simultaneously any mishap feels almost unbelievable because he’s so perfect. There’s a balance between creating an interesting sci-fi fantasy world and anchoring it with limits such as physics, biology, strength, time, death, politics, resources, the limits of the human mind and body, etc. This lost that balance. Anything seems possible, so any character growth or accomplishment feels cheap, unearned, and hollow. Brown has figuratively unmoored the series from the laws of gravity such that it feels adrift out in space.
4. Believability
The big plot twist was a lazy, reused idea. He resurrected the Jackal as a 10-year-old clone, who then successfully takes over the Republic government with a coup. Sigh. Here’s a running list of characters in the series who actually died or were written to seem dead to other characters and/or the reader: Darrow, Virginia, Sevro, Cassius, and the Jackal. Learn a new trick, boyo. The Jackal plot twist was all so unbelievably absurd. Laughably absurd. It was such a gross betrayal of his readers that it felt to me like the last season of Game of Thrones.
The Jackal coup wasn’t the only unbelievably absurd plot twist, but let’s start our examination there. Tell me how a 10-year-old clone boy can make an underground crime network, dupe a senator, then stage a coup inside the Senate chamber? This same boy was outsmarted and out gunned previously as an adult and is described as being less cunning as a boy repeatedly by Virginia during their interactions. Yet he somehow orchestrated this unbelievable coup? The way the coup played out as well was just done for shock value alone and was lazy as it wasn’t grounded in how historical coups have transpired. Imagine the whole of the US Congress and President are overthrown by a ten-year-old boy’s plotting. Even with the historically incompetent US political system we now have, that wouldn’t be conceivable even in the most low-budget Hollywood film.
Sefi is also overthrown in a coup that felt comically absurd. He built up the Obsidians as the most brutal of all the classes then Sefi just sits there as two men babble on and on and tell her they’re about to overthrow her. Instead of just shooting either of them, she sits there like a dumb log. Again, this happened only for shock value, not believability. It also threw out the whole moral arc of the Obsidian class in such a lazy and unsatisfying way, which challenges the central premise of the series. If the Obsidians can learn peace and cooperation only to descend back to war and committing genocide, then why is Darrow even trying to free all the races from the Golds? Doesn’t that just play into everything the Gold’s preach? Sigh. It was just done for shock value without consideration to how it tied in with the overarching plot and theme of the series.
Cassius comes back from the dead after being absent the entire book and miraculously rescues Darrow at the end. Again, unbelievable and all too convenient a twist. Then let’s unpack how unbelievable Lysander’s story was. First, he somehow survives a storm killing everyone else and a desert known to kill virtually all who get stranded. Then he somehow gets rescued in disguise by Darrow’s side, gets into the city where Darrow’s side is virtually under siege, gets discovered but escapes to run/fly across the city in plain sight without getting killed as all of Darrow’s forces pursue him, works with someone else to use Darrow’s own EMP to wipe out their tech (so their transport and weapons), then rallies the city against Darrow’s side to attack him. One man did this all by himself. Yup. And you’re telling me that the people who are getting called slaves are going to rally to the slavers? Again, unbelievable.
Repeatedly, sides which were on their last leg or dead suddenly come back and miraculously out maneuver characters with established political and physical prowess. Again unbelievable. Brown gets so caught up in catching the reader off guard with unforeseen plot twists that they end up feeling tired, cheap, and laughable by a certain point. I love a good plot twist, but you have to have it moored in reality.
5. Plot
Some previous points tie in here. The plot was all over the place. It’s a swollen 800ish pages, half of which felt unnecessary. You could cut out Lyria’s perspective entirely and wouldn’t lose anything but the shock value of what she witnessed which honestly wasn’t needed to advance any other character arcs (we already know Victra is primed for vengeance). Harmony was already known to be vile and we didn’t need to see her Red Hand faction being more heinous. Lysander’s perspective was also unnecessary. Being inside his head was also insufferable. Ephraim gets butchered after all that time spent redeeming himself. The fight scenes were generally well written, but often lasted too long and were too numerous. These action scenes were also juxtaposed against chapters that dragged such that you’d get whiplashed by: Action! Drag. Action! Drag (ad nauseum). And what is the plot? The only things of substance that happened were: Virginia and the Republic are overthrown, Sefi is overthrown, Darrow is booted off Mercury. All the other plot points introduced didn’t complement the main plot, but rather further cheapened it and made it drag.
6. Homophobia
Brown has let his own biases color the writing. It’s become its own trope for male sci-fi/fantasy authors to slip in misogyny and homophobia. Brown has repeatedly let me down here. I gave him a pass in the first book because he was a new author, it was published 10 years ago, and he likely had less editorial support. The issue is, I can’t keep blindly giving this man a pass. The language he uses and the treatment of the female and queer characters is not just unfortunate, it’s harmful. We'll come back to the mysogyny in the next section.
I've touched on the homophobic language he uses in previous reviews. The list of terms used in the series include "pricklicker," "buttboy," and "cock suckers" to name the most egregious. The term "pixie" Brown invented is also used as a pejorative for characters who are either materialistic or acting vain, hedonistic, or effeminate. Oscar Wilde was often derided as a "dandy" in his day and was famously jailed for being a gay author who liked the finer things in life. It's difficult not to see the term "pixie" in the same light as the term "dandy," which was used against Oscar Wilde in the media's portrayal of him during and after his trial. With the term pixie, you can substitute any gay slur (faerie, sissy, pansy, the f-slur) and the context of the sentence would remain unchanged. In Dark Age, there was also a scene where the word catamite is used repeatedly as a pejorative-another example of Brown introducing homophobic language. And it’s not just the villains who use this language, it’s even the characters such as Sevro and Darrow who are written to be respected and loved. The language you use in a series about fighting tyranny and oppression shouldn't marginalize your minority readers.
This book ruined Sevro for me because of his homophobic language. Let’s deconstruct that scene. Mustang catches the crime boss responsible for abducting her son and Sevro’s daughter and captures the man’s memories. She believes Dancer was involved because of the contents of the memory. Sevro and Mustang confront Dancer by showing him the memory, which shows Dancer having adult relations with this crime boss. We didn’t know Dancer was queer so he’s forcibly outed. What plays out is a tense scene where Sevro makes fun of Dancer’s sexuality with the pejorative language you’d expect from a cringy straight guy. Dancer thinks they’re trying to blackmail him for his sexuality. Mustang and Sevro then find out Dancer had no idea the man was a crime boss and that Dancer wasn’t connected to the abduction. Sevro apologizes but it’s while they’re trying to convince Dancer to rally his Senate faction to vote for something Sevro and Virginia want so the apology feels opportunistic and fake. Dancer tells them how hiding his sexuality was deeply emotional for him, but they’re all ultimately good with each other after talking and Dancer agrees to help them in the vote. They then go to the Senate. As Dancer is about to commit his support for Mustang’s cause, he’s brutally killed and a coup transpires. Really? REALLY? You torture this man by making fun of his sexuality, forcibly out him, make him think his sexuality is being used against him, make him think everything is okay, then not only brutally kill him but symbolically take away his voice the way you killed him.
Then Brown does it again with Ephraim, the only other significant queer male character. Ephraim is forced to watch Sefi be butchered then has his heart brutally ripped out. The man already had his heart figuratively ripped out when his husband died (also killed by this author). This book lost me before this part but that was the final nail in the coffin.
For those who would argue it’s a war series and characters die, let’s also examine this author’s history with his queer male characters. Every queer male is portrayed as creepily hitting on Darrow (Tactus), a villain (Tactus, Duke of Hands), deceitful (Duke of Hands, Ephraim, Roque), sexually promiscuous (Quicksilver, Matteo), overly materialistic (Quicksilver, Matteo), a drug addict (Ephraim), or killed off (ALL but Quicksilver and Matteo).
I will be generous and say that writing characters in such a large world and trying to give representation to groups you’re not a part of is always a hard undertaking. It can be a damned if you do, damned if you don’t thing. But you don’t want to reinforce stereotypes, use language which has historically been weaponized against these groups, or repeatedly subject almost all in the group to death or torture. You also put yourself under the microscope even more when your series is about fighting oppression. Brown did more harm with his queer representation than good, unfortunately. It's also hard to see this pattern and not wonder if it was done not in ignorance, but with malevolent intent.
7. Misogyny
As for misogyny, this series is rife with it. You only have to look at the bro banter between the men or what the women are subjected to. I was delighted to see Virginia get her own chapters and generally enjoyed them. Then Brown brutalized her. I liked Sefi and he brutalized her in the dirtiest way. Lyria had an interesting arc then is brutalized by…seeing other women brutalized. She helps Victra give birth in a cringey scene that felt very much like a man describing birth. Then Vicra and Volga are taken, tortured, and Victra’s day-old baby is nailed to a tree. Lyria discovers in the town that a Handmaid’s Tale-esque program is forcing women to be raped and used as broodmares. Except Brown makes it little girls because he always has to do the most. I can give him a pass for having some brutal things happen to a few of the female characters. It’s war. But do all of them need to be so brutalized? And the brutality didn’t even have a purpose most of the time. Treating your female characters again and again this way establishes a pattern that cannot be overlooked.
8. Disregard for the Reader
Part of writing a good book is being able to elicit the breadth of human emotions in your reader. Sometimes bad things have to happen to do this. But there is a balance such that you don’t come across as an author who has a total disregard for the reader. Brown really just flipped us the bird with this one and said, “I know you’ll keep buying my books anyways.” This book was overall tainted with the fact that everything in it was unsatisfying and left us with no sense of hope. Doing this as an author shows a disregard for the reader that breaks their trust in you to pen the story. Authors often must emotionally manipulate readers to give us a good story. Great authors make you love the manipulation. Good authors make you tolerate it. Bad authors make you realize they weren’t a safe person to trust with your emotions. Pierce Brown is the latter. I don’t trust him to execute the theme of the series-fighting tyranny and oppression-properly. I don’t trust him as a queer man to represent me in this series or this world. So why would I want to continue on? There are plenty more qualified authors who tell the stories with the same theme better.
Overall, I found the writing to be sloppy. It suffers from having far too many characters, gratuitous violence, lack of constraints grounding the world, unbelievable plot twists, lack of a cohesive plot, homophobia, misogyny, and an author’s disregard for his readers. Pierce Brown managed to take a formula that worked for him in the first trilogy and bastardized it to the point that it feels like a cheapened, hollow imitation of its former self.
Getting into the specifics:
1. Overly Swollen Character List
Each new character has a gaggle of other unimportant side characters to digest. Take a gander at the Dramatis Personae page, then realize the low-level side characters aren’t even listed there. Woof. Why so many characters? Oh, just so Brown can butcher them. Trying to understand who new characters were and their dynamics became a chore. If you devoted any significant mental energy to keeping everyone straight, you’re rewarded by realizing so many of them are dead by the end and thus all that energy to keep everyone straight was ultimately pointless.
2. Gratuitous Gore and Violence
There was gore, rape, torture, genocide, cannibalism, nailing a newborn baby to a tree, a lot of butchered horses, and not one but two separate cases of pedophilia. Look, I was girded for this book to be brutal. I’m not a sensitive person to this stuff, but this level of depraved gratuitous violence just for violence’s sake was just lazy. I’ve read books like The Poppy War series and Manacled with similar war violence and they were some of my favorite books. Not because of the violence but because the violence was contextualized. If an author takes the time to reflect and make you realize why these violence scenes are necessary for plot, theme, or a wider moral message, it can be quite poignant. This, however, felt like the violence was there only for shock value as due reflection was often glanced over if undertaken at all. The graphic violence is also unceasing to the point that it was all so absurd and overdone by the end.
3. Unmooring Known Constraints in the Book’s World
When long-dead characters come back from the grave for cheap plot twists, it begs the question of what is actually at stake in this world? Think about it. In this world, healing is extremely easy and dead characters are now coming back to life. They can engineer fantastical creatures and impossible to kill monsters. They can terraform planets, control weather, and travel impossibly far in space. Characters will accomplish unbelievable levels of education, cunning, and war training off the page. Darrow is such an overpowered hero that anything’s possible to him while simultaneously any mishap feels almost unbelievable because he’s so perfect. There’s a balance between creating an interesting sci-fi fantasy world and anchoring it with limits such as physics, biology, strength, time, death, politics, resources, the limits of the human mind and body, etc. This lost that balance. Anything seems possible, so any character growth or accomplishment feels cheap, unearned, and hollow. Brown has figuratively unmoored the series from the laws of gravity such that it feels adrift out in space.
4. Believability
The big plot twist was a lazy, reused idea. He resurrected the Jackal as a 10-year-old clone, who then successfully takes over the Republic government with a coup. Sigh. Here’s a running list of characters in the series who actually died or were written to seem dead to other characters and/or the reader: Darrow, Virginia, Sevro, Cassius, and the Jackal. Learn a new trick, boyo. The Jackal plot twist was all so unbelievably absurd. Laughably absurd. It was such a gross betrayal of his readers that it felt to me like the last season of Game of Thrones.
The Jackal coup wasn’t the only unbelievably absurd plot twist, but let’s start our examination there. Tell me how a 10-year-old clone boy can make an underground crime network, dupe a senator, then stage a coup inside the Senate chamber? This same boy was outsmarted and out gunned previously as an adult and is described as being less cunning as a boy repeatedly by Virginia during their interactions. Yet he somehow orchestrated this unbelievable coup? The way the coup played out as well was just done for shock value alone and was lazy as it wasn’t grounded in how historical coups have transpired. Imagine the whole of the US Congress and President are overthrown by a ten-year-old boy’s plotting. Even with the historically incompetent US political system we now have, that wouldn’t be conceivable even in the most low-budget Hollywood film.
Sefi is also overthrown in a coup that felt comically absurd. He built up the Obsidians as the most brutal of all the classes then Sefi just sits there as two men babble on and on and tell her they’re about to overthrow her. Instead of just shooting either of them, she sits there like a dumb log. Again, this happened only for shock value, not believability. It also threw out the whole moral arc of the Obsidian class in such a lazy and unsatisfying way, which challenges the central premise of the series. If the Obsidians can learn peace and cooperation only to descend back to war and committing genocide, then why is Darrow even trying to free all the races from the Golds? Doesn’t that just play into everything the Gold’s preach? Sigh. It was just done for shock value without consideration to how it tied in with the overarching plot and theme of the series.
Cassius comes back from the dead after being absent the entire book and miraculously rescues Darrow at the end. Again, unbelievable and all too convenient a twist. Then let’s unpack how unbelievable Lysander’s story was. First, he somehow survives a storm killing everyone else and a desert known to kill virtually all who get stranded. Then he somehow gets rescued in disguise by Darrow’s side, gets into the city where Darrow’s side is virtually under siege, gets discovered but escapes to run/fly across the city in plain sight without getting killed as all of Darrow’s forces pursue him, works with someone else to use Darrow’s own EMP to wipe out their tech (so their transport and weapons), then rallies the city against Darrow’s side to attack him. One man did this all by himself. Yup. And you’re telling me that the people who are getting called slaves are going to rally to the slavers? Again, unbelievable.
Repeatedly, sides which were on their last leg or dead suddenly come back and miraculously out maneuver characters with established political and physical prowess. Again unbelievable. Brown gets so caught up in catching the reader off guard with unforeseen plot twists that they end up feeling tired, cheap, and laughable by a certain point. I love a good plot twist, but you have to have it moored in reality.
5. Plot
Some previous points tie in here. The plot was all over the place. It’s a swollen 800ish pages, half of which felt unnecessary. You could cut out Lyria’s perspective entirely and wouldn’t lose anything but the shock value of what she witnessed which honestly wasn’t needed to advance any other character arcs (we already know Victra is primed for vengeance). Harmony was already known to be vile and we didn’t need to see her Red Hand faction being more heinous. Lysander’s perspective was also unnecessary. Being inside his head was also insufferable. Ephraim gets butchered after all that time spent redeeming himself. The fight scenes were generally well written, but often lasted too long and were too numerous. These action scenes were also juxtaposed against chapters that dragged such that you’d get whiplashed by: Action! Drag. Action! Drag (ad nauseum). And what is the plot? The only things of substance that happened were: Virginia and the Republic are overthrown, Sefi is overthrown, Darrow is booted off Mercury. All the other plot points introduced didn’t complement the main plot, but rather further cheapened it and made it drag.
6. Homophobia
Brown has let his own biases color the writing. It’s become its own trope for male sci-fi/fantasy authors to slip in misogyny and homophobia. Brown has repeatedly let me down here. I gave him a pass in the first book because he was a new author, it was published 10 years ago, and he likely had less editorial support. The issue is, I can’t keep blindly giving this man a pass. The language he uses and the treatment of the female and queer characters is not just unfortunate, it’s harmful. We'll come back to the mysogyny in the next section.
I've touched on the homophobic language he uses in previous reviews. The list of terms used in the series include "pricklicker," "buttboy," and "cock suckers" to name the most egregious. The term "pixie" Brown invented is also used as a pejorative for characters who are either materialistic or acting vain, hedonistic, or effeminate. Oscar Wilde was often derided as a "dandy" in his day and was famously jailed for being a gay author who liked the finer things in life. It's difficult not to see the term "pixie" in the same light as the term "dandy," which was used against Oscar Wilde in the media's portrayal of him during and after his trial. With the term pixie, you can substitute any gay slur (faerie, sissy, pansy, the f-slur) and the context of the sentence would remain unchanged. In Dark Age, there was also a scene where the word catamite is used repeatedly as a pejorative-another example of Brown introducing homophobic language. And it’s not just the villains who use this language, it’s even the characters such as Sevro and Darrow who are written to be respected and loved. The language you use in a series about fighting tyranny and oppression shouldn't marginalize your minority readers.
This book ruined Sevro for me because of his homophobic language. Let’s deconstruct that scene. Mustang catches the crime boss responsible for abducting her son and Sevro’s daughter and captures the man’s memories. She believes Dancer was involved because of the contents of the memory. Sevro and Mustang confront Dancer by showing him the memory, which shows Dancer having adult relations with this crime boss. We didn’t know Dancer was queer so he’s forcibly outed. What plays out is a tense scene where Sevro makes fun of Dancer’s sexuality with the pejorative language you’d expect from a cringy straight guy. Dancer thinks they’re trying to blackmail him for his sexuality. Mustang and Sevro then find out Dancer had no idea the man was a crime boss and that Dancer wasn’t connected to the abduction. Sevro apologizes but it’s while they’re trying to convince Dancer to rally his Senate faction to vote for something Sevro and Virginia want so the apology feels opportunistic and fake. Dancer tells them how hiding his sexuality was deeply emotional for him, but they’re all ultimately good with each other after talking and Dancer agrees to help them in the vote. They then go to the Senate. As Dancer is about to commit his support for Mustang’s cause, he’s brutally killed and a coup transpires. Really? REALLY? You torture this man by making fun of his sexuality, forcibly out him, make him think his sexuality is being used against him, make him think everything is okay, then not only brutally kill him but symbolically take away his voice the way you killed him.
Then Brown does it again with Ephraim, the only other significant queer male character. Ephraim is forced to watch Sefi be butchered then has his heart brutally ripped out. The man already had his heart figuratively ripped out when his husband died (also killed by this author). This book lost me before this part but that was the final nail in the coffin.
For those who would argue it’s a war series and characters die, let’s also examine this author’s history with his queer male characters. Every queer male is portrayed as creepily hitting on Darrow (Tactus), a villain (Tactus, Duke of Hands), deceitful (Duke of Hands, Ephraim, Roque), sexually promiscuous (Quicksilver, Matteo), overly materialistic (Quicksilver, Matteo), a drug addict (Ephraim), or killed off (ALL but Quicksilver and Matteo).
I will be generous and say that writing characters in such a large world and trying to give representation to groups you’re not a part of is always a hard undertaking. It can be a damned if you do, damned if you don’t thing. But you don’t want to reinforce stereotypes, use language which has historically been weaponized against these groups, or repeatedly subject almost all in the group to death or torture. You also put yourself under the microscope even more when your series is about fighting oppression. Brown did more harm with his queer representation than good, unfortunately. It's also hard to see this pattern and not wonder if it was done not in ignorance, but with malevolent intent.
7. Misogyny
As for misogyny, this series is rife with it. You only have to look at the bro banter between the men or what the women are subjected to. I was delighted to see Virginia get her own chapters and generally enjoyed them. Then Brown brutalized her. I liked Sefi and he brutalized her in the dirtiest way. Lyria had an interesting arc then is brutalized by…seeing other women brutalized. She helps Victra give birth in a cringey scene that felt very much like a man describing birth. Then Vicra and Volga are taken, tortured, and Victra’s day-old baby is nailed to a tree. Lyria discovers in the town that a Handmaid’s Tale-esque program is forcing women to be raped and used as broodmares. Except Brown makes it little girls because he always has to do the most. I can give him a pass for having some brutal things happen to a few of the female characters. It’s war. But do all of them need to be so brutalized? And the brutality didn’t even have a purpose most of the time. Treating your female characters again and again this way establishes a pattern that cannot be overlooked.
8. Disregard for the Reader
Part of writing a good book is being able to elicit the breadth of human emotions in your reader. Sometimes bad things have to happen to do this. But there is a balance such that you don’t come across as an author who has a total disregard for the reader. Brown really just flipped us the bird with this one and said, “I know you’ll keep buying my books anyways.” This book was overall tainted with the fact that everything in it was unsatisfying and left us with no sense of hope. Doing this as an author shows a disregard for the reader that breaks their trust in you to pen the story. Authors often must emotionally manipulate readers to give us a good story. Great authors make you love the manipulation. Good authors make you tolerate it. Bad authors make you realize they weren’t a safe person to trust with your emotions. Pierce Brown is the latter. I don’t trust him to execute the theme of the series-fighting tyranny and oppression-properly. I don’t trust him as a queer man to represent me in this series or this world. So why would I want to continue on? There are plenty more qualified authors who tell the stories with the same theme better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, and War
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, Outing, and Classism
arkiwi88's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, and Death of parent