(Red Rising 5) Dark Age by Pierce Brown
My Rating: 
Highly recommended 5 star novel. This is book 5 in the Red Rising Saga, a science fiction saga of social class casts of many colors..., and war. The wars of piddling slaves rebelling against the titan giant leaders, or so it was in the first trilogy.
In my mind, Dark Age is book #2 of the second trilogy of the Red Rising series. Officially Red Rising #5. If you're a fan of Red Rising, you don't need my review. I strongly recommend it to any Science Fiction fans, particularly if you love epic space opera/sagas. In this second trilogy it seems to me that Pierce Brown has abandoned the black and white of the fight between good and evil and has ventured in to the muddy marbled gray and white of reality.
Generally: Since this is the second book into the second trilogy of a complex epic space saga series there is no simple or generally.
I checked in at Fandom.com to refresh my memory on this book. The Dramatis Personae at Fandom has 5 separate tabs of classes of characters with no fewer than 5 characters in each tab. So if you are 5th book deep in the Red Rising series expect to challenge your memory with plots, subplots and character arcs that are both logical and as befuddled a tangle as the electromagnetic fields of our local sun. To steal a popular relationship phrase from Facebook: It's complicated.
At this time, 8-2-20, the third book in the second Red Rising trilogy is slightly less mysterious than the odds that George Raymond Richard Martin will finish A Song of Ice and Fire series before he meets the Earth's population Editor in the Sky.
For more detailed info about Dark Age check out the blurbs here or massive spoilers here.
My Notable Notes: Are deleted. I do recall having rather focused attention and emotions about Lyria of Lagalos. 👈🏻Link is major spoiler
Likes and Dislikes: (Possible spoilers). I've grown to like and even anticipate chapters with Lyria, Ephraim, or Volga as focal characters in this second trilogy series. Turns out the one character I liked least, Lyria, grew into a character I liked nearly as much as Darrow, Virginia, or the Barca's.
But what of Darrow, the Reaper? He still has a major role. For those anxiously awaiting the “happy every after” that fans may crave for, Pierce Brown has decided to mimic reality in this second trilogy instead of fairy tales.
I didn't like that this second trilogy has ventured from the Heroic Journey plot that is near always uplifting to a more "looking-under-the-hood" of the reality dystopian type plot. In the second trilogy seemed to me we're looking at the Red's class ditches, urinals, and ghettos of the Red Rising rebellion rather than the Gold class castles, royalty, and the mighty.
Where do slaves go when the masters are driven off of their backs? Who enforces or even makes laws in ghettos or refugee camps when the authority slips away? Or worse, who becomes tyrants wielding power with a belly full of resentment?
Part of my souring on the continuation of the Red Rising series is precisely the because of the character depth and the plot intricacy that is so real that it brings tears. Or with me, it prodded at my tender but genuine loathing of injustice. I think the reason so many folks tend to dislike Lyria, for example, is because she's genuinely disgusted with the failure of hope. I suspect some find this character a little too close to a illusion of reality that actually sucks. Most ardent readers don't appreciate reality seeping into their mode of escape from reality via literature.
The Technical: Pierce Brown is an excellent writer who understands the craft and how to tell stories. In Red Rising series there are literally 40 characters the reader is familiar with and interacts with on an emotional basis. This is certainly storytelling a reader can get lost in. Mr. Brown knows all these characters and their relatives. He's lived with them for ages and sometimes he is likely surprised they jumped instead of ducking. He's a courageous writer. I could write a novella on that topic alone but it isn't something any average reader will find amusing.
After a good deal of thought I realized Dark Age is just the kind of novel one would expect from an expert like Pierce Brown. I gave in and embraced the new ideas and plot turns.
Conclusion While some of your favorite people return to warm your cockles, there are new characters you will struggle to like. The cloud that hovers over science fiction is undeserved in the hands of Mr. Brown. There is more character driven drama than in many romance novels. Any lover of fiction will have little choice but to fall in love with his new tragically flawed characters.
Read on... January 01, 02, 04, 05, 11, 12, 2020
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- Author: Pierce Brown
- Narrator: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Narrator: John Curless
- Narrator: Moira Quirk
- Narrator: James D. Lanton
- Narrator: Rendah Heywood
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