Lo Howlers,

Got this done by the insane artist https://www.moitattoo.com/ in SLC. Still can't believe how good it came out.

"My Honor Remains"

I’m 5 books in and I still can’t comprehend half of what is going on. I can still enjoy them, hence why I am five books in, but I struggle so bad to keep up or even visualise a lot of what is happening. I never know where we are or how we got there, what’s happening and to who etc etc. I’m on Dark Age, only about 12% of the way and I have to google things every 5 minutes. I fear it’s above my level of reading comprehension or rather my concentration levels because I bet if I sat and properly analysed every sentence I’d get it in the end. Either my reading comprehension sucks, my brain is lazy or both. Either way I struggle and I fear I’m not getting the best experience I could be of these great books.

Edit: To clarify, I didn’t find the first book difficult. I didn’t keep up 100% with names and houses and all but it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was once complexity increased the further the series went that I started becoming lost a lot more frequently.

I know the whole point is people at that level are all bastards to some degree but damn, The Minotaur is the perfect adversary. Like, we’ve all heard of anti-heroes but he’s an anti-villain. Every scene with him is wonderful. One of the best characters in the series

I’ve been drawing a lot of main characters so here’s my favorite side character Diomedes my beloved

Red rising is known for having many horrifying and brutal moments like the blood eagle, the jackal torturing Darrow and Ulysses on the tree. However, some go under the radar like Tharsus being crippled then fed to a manticore whilst having a bowl over his head to preserve it as a trophy. That moment was incredibly shocking despite the fact that it came from the fear knight himself as it shows that he’s still capable of causing terror even in seemingly peaceful areas. What moments do you think are overlooked in terms of brutality?

History shows us what humanity is capable of. Fiction just gives us more ways to explore it.

Starting my journey into Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Something tells me this one's going to be a ride.

No spoilers, please. I'm just getting started. 🔴

The Battle of Phobos. It’s well written, it has a lot of great moments, it’s certainly not as epic as the Ladon. But it was super hype seeing Victra launch a rain behind enemy lines (even if the reason it worked being thanks to Cissero’s incompetence). Valdir is awesome, etc etc. Pity them fuck yeah :D

The reason it’s so frustrating is it highlights what the republic really sucks at. Intel. For whatever reason they are just so bad at it. In IG I don’t even blame Darrow for going after the Ash Lord. They have a veritable army of Greens, and all these people, and they couldn’t figure out that Atalantia was leading the society for years. Why do they suck so bad at intelligence gathering? Holy hell. You’d think it would be one of their strengths, but maybe they burned too many assets, and have nothing left.

Back on point Virginia almost crashed out in the Nexus because they’re intelligence was so shit, you let Lysander have the initiative, an esoteric rim order wiped half the fleet on the pole because the republic can’t even scuttle something properly. It really just goes to show that Darrow is the only reason the republic accomplished anything during the time skip. Jesus Christ man. It’s like they’re trying to lose. And that was without Atalantia who’s stronger than all the forces attacking Phobos combined.

Darrow needs a pay raise and a bigger statue. I for once agree with Dancer. I have no confidence in These guys without Darrow. (Though unlike Dancer knowing that wouldn’t have stabbed Darrow in the back) Thank god Darrow’s coming back, but I’m worried how jacked up Mars is going to be by the time he gets there.

She’s killing Lysander. Everyone says it’s gonna be Darrow or Sevro, but that’s just not likely. I can’t envision either of them doing it. The most I see happening in RG is them defeating Lysander and either Rhonna assassinating him or some other plot point. It just makes sense for her to do it.

I had read like 100 pages of dark age after which I stopped reading books for a while and now today I started reading dark age again and boom..... Orion dies, like wow this is the first thing that happens as soon as I return to reading

I’m a big fan of 40k and after reading the red rising series, I can’t help but picture the golds in pulse armour as just slender Astartes.

I had some Blood angels sitting on a shelf, and now i think they are a pretty decent proxy for what a Gold would look like.

Any thoughts ?

Do you pronounce them like:
Cassius (ow) Bellona or Cassius (Ay You)
Holiday (tea) Nakamura or Holiday (Tee Eye) Nakamura

just curious how everyone else pronounces them.

I know, I know… this has been discussed so many times, but her lack of POV between RR and GS still bothers me, even on rereads. So I wrote this more as an outlet and a way of keeping things straight. Hope some of you enjoy it!

You arrive on Luna 🌝. You see how low on favours your father is with the old hag, so you become her apprentice after she promises not to hurt your family. But you know these promises mean shit in the bigger picture.

Then you meet a boy who is an asshole (referring to the interaction we see in IG in Lysander’s POV), but his family is the one that’s going to replace yours. So you come up with another plan. This boy is vulnerable, and if you can get a hold on him, you might find out whether or not his family is planning to assassinate/remove yours. He also has a blood feud with the man you love, so you might be able to prevent that from escalating too. And you use every tool available to you: your ability to manipulate ppl, your sexuality, his vulnerability.

(Side note for people who think she loved Cassius or lusted after him: Cassius is extremely handsome and charming, yes, but Mustang is a charmer of charmers. She can clock that BS. She values beauty very little, if at all, and describes beautiful things as distractions that, ofc, her logical mind would hate. Plus, “she’s no bitch in heat.” The reason she even falls for Darrow is that he fucks with her brain: “a puzzle with missing pieces,” “such a rare character.” Loving or trusting someone isn’t easy for her.)

So, where was I? Yeah, now you have two plans, but you know the world is cutthroat, so you bring the Howlers back as a backup.

The day of the Gala comes. You fuck your boytoy to keep him content or at ease before meeting his family.(Side note: I’m of the view that Cassius didn’t know about the Sovereign’s plan. Mustang would have clocked that.)

You arrive at the Gala. Everything is going okay, then this crazy dude jumps onto your table 🤸. Lo and behold, it’s YOUR crazy dude 🧛, and he starts the very thing you’ve worked so hard to prevent.

The duel is about to start. You think your man is going to get himself killed, and then this mf has the audacity to call you by your name 👀 instead of the nickname he gave you. You call him insane and tell him you’ll try to stop the duel.

(Side theory: this could be far-fetched, but it’s based on what Sevro said to Darrow “I watched what you did at the Gala.” I think she messaged Sevro something and brought him near the Gala, possibly to intervene if things went wrong.)

The duel starts, and soon you realise it’s your boytoy who’s going to get sliced. You see your crazy man making a joke of it, but you know he feels guilty about killing your boytoy’s brother. So you stop him because you know he’ll regret killing him when there’s no need to and also before the furies 👹 get involved.

But your boytoy’s mother is another type of crazy, so she orders your man’s death. You barely save him, then chaos breaks out. Your man goes to his friends, so you stay beside your boytoy, where you and your year-long plan remain safe. And you tell your crazy man to protect your father.

You leave your boytoy in the medbay and go to the old hag to assess the situation. You know something doesn’t add up, given that she stopped your boytoy from getting killed. Then you discover she planned to assassinate your entire family right under your nose. You’re not entirely surprised, but you pretend to be, keeping the old hag at ease and letting her think she’s turned you against your father. You even tell her to go ahead with her plan.

Then, as soon as you leave, you howler the Howlers, kidnap the old hag’s grandson, and steal a ship to rescue your family and you do rescue them with the help of your crazy man, who shoots himself into space🧑‍🚀.

Yes, ma’am, you are a badass 💅.

P.S. 1) I’m not of the view that she felt absolutely nothing for Cassius. She did feel sorry for him and may even have come to care about him but all of it was shallow and as soon as her reason to stay with him went away, she also went away without looking back even once.

2) I think Darrow puts Mustang on a pedestal, almost as if he sees her as some Mary Sue. In the “Bacon and Eggs” chapter of GS, after she explains how awful she felt, he tells her, “You can’t be judged for doing awful things to protect your family,” and that not all of it could have been manipulation because Cassius isn’t a monster.

Dude, she felt awful precisely because she was manipulating a vulnerable man who wasn’t a monster. Darrow seems to struggle with the idea that Mustang can be cruel or do genuinely awful things. Also the fact that he had the audacity to think there was even 1% chance that she would come to his home after she found out he is Red tells you how much he put her on a pedestal."

RANT OVER!!!🙏

So, I have finally finished the Day of Red Doves arc and I kinda wanted to talk about it and my thoughts!

It has been the most traumatizing read thus far and caused me to take nearly a week off from reading lol. Also, it makes me want to cry at the bar (so serious rn about that). I loved it. And I loved Virginia throughout it! Her rationalizations, inner monologues, her worries and fears. Perfection! If there is no Mustang defender, then I have perished! Having to pick being the Sovereign over friend or wife. I wanted to CRY! Deanna caring for Virginia like her daughter? Oh my GOD! Almost crying into my drink, I’m so serious rn!

But also, a complaint. Or, a kind of complaint anyways: Publius. I will say there’s a bittersweet irony to Publius dreaming of equality and becoming a literal slave, again. BUT! I kinda wish his character had gone down swinging (even if it would’ve been worthless in the end). I feel like the entire Abomination arc robbed a bit of agency from the lowColors. I did NOT hate the Adrius reveal fwiw! I enjoyed it. Thought it was a perfect amount of creepy, but not as creepy as the Ascomanni reveal (talk about nightmare fuel!). And it complimented Virginia’s character growth too immensely.

Potential spoilers if you haven’t read the entire series.

Who is he? And why don’t we know him?

How did she conceive her daughter?

A bunch of you said shit was about to hit the fan and OH MY GOD it did.

Tech: Not a ton of new tech, but the Blues having emblems that can connect to the computers is really trippy. I wonder if Mickey or someone could carve anyone to be able to hack computers just by touching them.

Setting: The gala was cool, the ship they steal is absolutely massive (it’s over 3 miles long)

Characters: (there’s a bunch I don’t mention because I don’t have too many thoughts on them)

Mustang- very cool that she’s back, and I definitely enjoyed the scene in the mess hall with her and Darrow

Lysander- not sure how he’s going to come back into play but he seems like too much of a psychopath to get sidelined

SoA- so Harmony (and Evey I guess) have gone rogue, apparently Dancer is still alive, and Sevro is working with the Sons. This goes pretty well with my theory that Fitchner is Ares, as Sevro could just be lying about how he got pulled into the Sons, but it’s interesting regardless.

Victra- she kissed Darrow and I’m very glad Darrow shut down the love triangle with them and Mustang.

Augustus- he seems more human in this part than he had previously, being stripped of much of his power and wealth

Jackal- I’m still sketchy about this guy, but after Mustang warns us about him, maybe the plot twist is that he’s actually a super chill guy

Octavia au Lune- I’m kind of mad she got saved from the scorpion thing, but it seems like there’s be no plot if she actually dies there so I’m not too upset about it. She seems like a good antagonist, but is somewhat annoyingly similar to Augustus, just in a different political position and family.

The Bellonas- they take a backseat to the Sovereign and the Society as a whole, but Cassius is definitely going to come back with a vengeance after being embarrassed again.

Plot: I was definitely happy to get back to the action. The first part was a bit slow but I read part 2 in like a day. I was having kind of a hard time visualizing all of the action, especially in the part where Darrow and the howlers are trying to save the Augustans. Every time someone said “hangar” I get progressively more scared for 17B. How bad can it possibly be? (Don’t tell me)

Predictions: Jackal definitely still seems like he’s going to betray Darrow. There’s still a chance I’m right about Fitchner being Ares. I thought for a while that Eo was still alive somehow but now that theory is pretty much dead. I think this book will end with Darrow revealing his Red-ness and really starting the rebellion, while he spends this book tearing down a lot of the Society.

can someone explain the rage knights and the stained obsidians to me they don’t make sense

Honestly it was a great book, but i’ll definitely take a break before reading iron gold. My favorite scene honestly has to come down to Aja’s fight with sevro, mustang, darrow, and cassius. It’s honestly astonishing how strong she was and how she held her own for SOOO long, props to Aja 100% it’s terrifying to know she could’ve easily killed a duo. Favorite character in morningstar definitely goes to sevro, his character development was so great to watch, his little fight with darrow was a cute scene too. but one thing that kinda bothers me is that how fast and quick the main villains died, literally all 4 died in the same room, wish i saw more of the jackal but im sure there will be even greater monsters throughout the series. And for Darrow, i’m glad he knows that he has people around him who loves him hopefully he won’t do anything stupid in the next 4 books

Just finished it yesterday and I've been simmering with what I'm feeling.

This book could've been longer.

The first half of this book keeps the relentless pace and quality of the golden son but then after the death of roque everything seems a bit rushed. I don't have issues with the plot points per se it's just how fast we arrive at it. I love this world and the characters so I don't mind sitting with them for a while.

Just as I'm enjoying a scene and its narrative implications, it's like Pierce is always kicking me in the back to keep moving. Maybe it's his own anxiety with deadlines translated into the book but I wish the latter half of the book was a bit more thought out. Darrow being an unreliable narrator is fine but I just think some things were a bit too convenient.

Regardless, I'm still thrilled with this series and will be continuing with Iron Gold.

Bye Howlers.

Just finished Dark Age, and man, Lysander is probably the worst of the Golds, imo because he thinks he's good. He has this vision in his head that everyone will slip back into the society (back to slavery) because order is the way forward, but this time the Golds will lead with a guiding and caring hand. He will lie to himself and convince himself he is a good shepherd while becoming more of a tyrant than any of the "we are gods and will rule as such" mob because he is so blind to it.

Also, Cassius' honour remains (claps excitedly)

I just finished red rising, and relistened to all books on audio books already. It was perfect, I never got so addicted to a series I feel like I'm on crack. But now I need something new to read, give me recommendations, but not the sun eater series that is a dragging character study, without the brutal action, and not The will of the many because that's just a copy with less fight and more politics. I want something similar for the brutal fight scenes and the slightly dark side of darrow. I want the action, I want the academy vibes, or the brutal duel vibes or the honor vibes or the ,, I am Cassius au Bellona, son of Tiberius au Bellona, Morning knight of the solar republic, brother to darrow, and my honour remains" vibes. Ease help!!!!

If you could take any item from the red rising universe what would you take? I think an easy answer would be a razor because they are fucking awesome, but I also think that Ephriams omnivore would be sick or power armor. What would you guys take?