Red Rising Books in Order By Pierce Brown
Home isn’t where you’re from, it’s where you find light when all grows dark.
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son
- Red Rising (2014)
- Golden Son (2015)
- Morning Star (2016)
- Iron Gold (2018)
- Dark Age (2019)
- Light Bringer (July 2023)
- Red God (expected 2024)
What is the Red Rising series about?
Darrow, a member of the lowest caste known as Reds, lives in a colour-coded society on Mars. Believing that his hard work will create a better world for future generations, he toils alongside his fellow Reds. However, Darrow eventually discovers that humanity reached the surface of Mars long ago and that Reds are merely slaves serving a decadent ruling class. Motivated by a desire for justice and fueled by the memory of lost love, Darrow makes a drastic decision to infiltrate the prestigious Institute—a training ground for the dominant Gold caste. In this cutthroat environment, where the future rulers compete for power, Darrow risks everything to bring down his enemies and fight for the future of civilization. He is prepared to go to any lengths, even if it means adopting the ruthless ways of his adversaries.
The series starts in a Hunger Games like scenario where young Golds are pitted against each other. In later books this turns into an epic space opera of twists, betrayals and heartbreak.
There’s a related series called Sons of Ares, which is a graphic novel series covering the formation of the Sons of Ares.
Who is Pierce Brown?
Pierce Brown is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, Iron Gold, and Dark Age. Brown’s work has been published in thirty-three languages and thirty-five territories.
Brown lived in eight different states growing up and spent most of his childhood exploring new places and building forts and traps for his cousins in the woods. After college he worked a variety of jobs from manager of a social media startup to an NBC page and even put in time working as an aide on a US Senate campaign. Throughout his various occupations, Brown worked tirelessly on becoming a writer and finished his first draft of Red Rising when he was just 22 years old. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next novel.
The Order
WARNING: There may be spoilers for some of the books mentioned. These are taken from the official descriptions but can sometimes spoil parts of previous books. So please be careful!
1. Red Rising (2014) 
Red Rising Saga #1
124,749 words, 382 pages, 16 hrs and 12 mins to read.
Published by Del Ray
4.26 out of 5 on Goodreads
Darrow is a Helldiver. A pioneer of Mars.
Born to slave beneath the earth so that one day, future generations might live above it.
He is a Red – humankind’s lowest caste. But he has something the Golds – the ruthless ruling class – will never understand.
He has a wife he worships, a family who give him strength. He has love.
And when they take that from him, all that remains is revenge.
2. Golden Son (2015)
Red Rising Saga #2
139,334 words, 466 pages, 19 hrs and 2 mins to read.
Published by Del Ray
4.45 out of 5 on Goodreads
‘I’m still playing games. This is just the deadliest yet.’
Darrow is a rebel forged by tragedy. For years he and his fellow Reds worked the mines, toiling to make the surface of Mars inhabitable. They were, they believed, mankind’s last hope. Until Darrow discovered that it was all a lie, and that the Red were nothing more than unwitting slaves to an elitist ruling class, the Golds, who had been living on Mars in luxury for generations.
In RED RISING, Darrow infiltrated Gold society, to fight in secret for a better future for his people. Now fully embedded amongst the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his dangerous work to bring them down from within. It’s a journey that will take him further than he’s ever been before – but is Darrow truly willing to pay the price that rebellion demands?
A life-or-death tale of vengeance with an unforgettable hero at its heart, Golden Son guarantees Pierce Brown’s continuing status as one of fiction’s most exciting new voices.
3. Morning Star (2016)
Red Rising Saga #3
162,656 words, 544 pages, 21 hrs and 50 mins to read.
Published by Del Ray
4.49 out of 5 on Goodreads
Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars, generations of people who spend their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that, one day, people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left.
Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. That Mars has been habitable – and inhabited – for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down at Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.
Until the day Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their society.
4. Iron Gold (2018)
Red Rising Saga #4
179,699 words, 601 pages, 23 hrs and 23 mins to read.
Published by Del Ray
4.23 out of 5 on Goodreads
Darrow was born a slave. He became a weapon.
He ended centuries of Gold rule, broke the chains of an empire, and now he’s the hero of a brave new republic. But at terrible cost.
At the edge of the solar system, the grandson of the emperor he murdered dreams of revenge.
In his hidden fortress in the oceans of Venus, the Ash Lord lies in wait, plotting to crush the newborn democracy.
And, at home, a young Red girl who’s lost everything to the Rising questions whether freedom was just another Gold lie.
In a fearsome new world where Obsidian pirates roam the Belt, famine and genocide ravage Mars, and crime lords terrorise Luna, it’s time for Darrow and a cast of new characters from across the solar system to face down the chaos that revolution has unleashed.
5. Dark Age (2019)
Red Rising Saga #5
210,496 words, 704 pages, 33 hrs and 58 mins to read.
Published by Del Ray
4.44 out of 5 on Goodreads
He broke the chains
Then broke the world….
A decade ago Darrow led a revolution, and laid the foundations for a new world. Now he’s an outlaw.
Cast out of the very Republic he founded, with half his fleet destroyed, he wages a rogue war on Mercury. Outnumbered, outgunned but not out thought. Is he still the hero who broke the chains? Or will he become the agent of the world’s destruction?
Is it time for another legend to take his place?
Lysander au Lune, the displaced heir to the old empire, has returned to the Core. First he must survive Gold backstabbing, then Darrow. Will he bring peace to mankind at the edge of his sword?
And on Luna, Mustang, the embattled sovereign of the Republic, must save both democracy and her exiled husband millions of kilometres away.
The only thing certain in the Solar System is treachery. And that the Rising is entering a new Dark Age.
6. Light Bringer (July 2023)
Red Rising Saga #6
100,000 words, 350 pages, 13 hrs and 15 mins to read.
Published by Del Ray
4.50 out of 5 on Goodreads
The Reaper is a legend, more myth than man: the savior of worlds, the leader of the Rising, the breaker of chains. But the Reaper is also Darrow, born of the red soil of Mars: a husband, a father, a friend.
Marooned far from home after a devastating defeat on the battlefields of Mercury, Darrow longs to return to his wife and sovereign, Virginia, to defend Mars from its bloodthirsty would-be conqueror – Lysander. Lysander longs to destroy the Rising and restore the supremacy of Gold, and will raze the worlds to realize his ambitions.
The worlds once needed the Reaper. But now they need Darrow, and Darrow needs the people he loves – Virginia, Cassius, Sevro – in order to defend the Republic. So begins Darrow’s long voyage home, an interplanetary adventure where old friends will reunite, new alliances will be forged, and rivals will clash on the battlefield.
Because Eo’s dream is still alive – and after the dark age will come a new age: of light, of victory, of hope.
Overall
The Red Rising series by Pierce Brown has become one of the most popular and well loved modern sci-fi stories. With a captivating lead, incredible world building and moments that will be talked about for years, it’s obvious why the Red Rising series has sold so well. We look forward to the seventh and final book and hope that Pierce Brown can deliver it by 2024!
If you have enjoyed any of Pierce Brown’s work and want to learn more about his or any other of his work, then feel free to check out his website.
Which one is your favourite or most looking forward to picking up next?
Let us know!
Happy reading!
Total Word Count for the Red Rising Series
Total Words: 816,934
Total Pages: 2697
Total Reading/Listen Time: 114 hrs 25 mins
More of the same, but different:
Things to Note:
- Word count is an approximation.
- Amount of pages may differ due to different publications, font style and/or size etc.
- Time spent reading is generally an approximation based on the word count and the average reading time. The average reader will read 250 WPM (Words Per Minute).
- This is the original publisher of the books.
- The current Goodreads score at the time of writing.
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