Dark Age

Fine. Predictable, depressing, and (for the most part) to long. None of those big aha moments or sitting at the edge of my seat with this one. No catharsis or relief from all the action. "...Any good song, any good dance, is a game of tension leading to a climax of sound and movement." All sound and movement and tension at all times. Not in an exciting way. More like whiplash. An extraordinary amount of character deaths for no particular purpose. No real surprises. Any time an offhand remark was made for "world building" it was always followed up with a narrative twist. After twist one, the remarks become easy to see and the plot simple to predict. Will probably just read Darrows chapters and skip everyone else next time. I love the series, I will definitely read the next book in its entirety. I will continue to recommend everyone I meet to read Red Rising. But this one was a tough read and I don't feel very good for having gotten through it.

Feels rushed and inconsistent. This may be petty, but Darrow describes Ajax's weight in pounds in the beginning, when in every instance of this series and every time afterwards Brown uses metric units. Also, in Golden Son when Darrow and Sevro storm the "Pax" he describes how lower colors were dying from collapsed lungs due to pressure difference. But two other characters go through a similar situation in this book and are perfectly fine. The flow of this newest trilogy is always "and then, and then" instead of "this event happened so this took place because of it." And sardines...what the hell.

An exciting ride. Not the best in the series. Numerous narratives makes it a bit different from the other books. Yet doesn't cutback on the thrills. The stakes have never been higher. Can't wait for the next one.