/lit/ - Literature

>>21392381
>>21392391
Unfortunately, what the editors did to Red Rising is a huge filter for the series. Golden Son and Dark Age are some of the most riveting, edge of your seat fiction I've read, and it sustains it for the entire book each time. Brown is very good at introducing lots of threads and places a story can go and then surprising you. It does not feel on rails at all.

The premise of the story is kind of silly. It was made even more silly by the editing of Book I, and while it is neat how you keep thinking you're reading one kind of book, and then it totally "shifts the paradigm," the suspension of belief is a little hard. This goes away significantly in Golden Son and on, as he fleshes out the world and culture way more, and you realize the color scheme is just a way to get to classical Greece/Rome worshiping genetically engineered, honor obsessed super humans fighting for control of the solar system.

The third book isn't quite as good as the second because the end comes in a bit of a rush, and there is a somewhat hackneyed part near the end that you'll know when you see it, but book five is potentially even better than Golden Son and holds it for all 800 pages.

Great series. We're getting two new books over 800 pages in 2023. There is apparently a show coming out. I don't know how they will handle that decently, but it will at least blow up the spotlight on a very good series and make it more likely we get a game out of it. The world could make for a great RPG/adventure or RTS that has a space combat fleet mode, tactical squad mode, and big battle mode for Iron Rains.

Any other good military sci-fi or fantasy like this?

Only thing I've found that compares is book 2 and 3 of ASOIAF, but those aren't quite as propulsive (I found myself wanting to skip Bran chapters). A Storm of Swords does have a lot of good stuff though.

I also liked The Black Company, but thought it declined pretty bad after the second book and got hackneyed.

Meanwhile, Red Rising gets progressively better after a fun, but not super memorable first book. Better to have the second problem.

Looking for something else since Lightbringer isn't out for half a year. Rereading Dark Age now, the siege of Mercury is amazing. Peak of the series right there.