Dark Age (Red Rising book 5)

This is the fifth book in the Red Rising series and it is quite the epic (750 pages).

It took about 75 pages for me to get back into this world–lots of “au Raa” and “au Barca” and other sorts of names, and the cast of characters is immense. But once I was back in, boy was I back in.

Pierce Brown writes the best action sequences I’ve ever read. I don’t know how he does it, either. Telling the story from different points of view (there are 5-6 main characters whose perspectives he jumps between from chapter to chapter) helps focus the action. But he’s also just a damn good writer.

This book is violent, but that’s a consistent part of the Red Rising universe. It’s a vicious place with a fancy veneer, and when the veneer is ripped away the vicousness spills out.

If this ever gets made into a movie or TV show I imagine they’ll need to tone down the violence or hint at it without showing it directly (Sefi’s death scene, in particular, was horrible – even “Game of Thrones” wouldn’t show that level of gore).