Iron Gold (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]

Red Rising Saga Dramatic Adaptations #4, part 1

by Pierce Brown, Stewart Crank (Narrator), Alex Hill-Knight (Narrator)

They call him father, liberator, warlord, Slave King, Reaper. But he feels a boy as he falls toward the war-torn planet, his armor red, his army vast, his heart heavy. It is the tenth year of war and the thirty-third of his life.

A decade ago Darrow was the hero of the revolution he believed would break the chains of the Society. But the Rising has shattered everything: Instead of peace and freedom, it has brought endless war. Now he must risk all he has fought for on one last desperate mission. Darrow still believes he can save everyone, but can he save himself?

And throughout the worlds, other destinies entwine with Darrow’s to change his fate forever:

A young Red girl flees tragedy in her refugee camp, and achieves for herself a new life she could never have imagined.

An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life.

And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the Sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.

Red Rising was the story of the end of one universe. Iron Gold is the story of the creation of a new one. Witness the beginning of a stunning new saga of tragedy and triumph from masterly New York Times bestselling author Pierce Brown.

Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!

Genres: Audiobook, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction

Audiobook

Published November 21, 2024

About the author

Hello. I'm Pierce Brown, the author of the Red Rising Saga, a NYT #1 bestseller.
I figured I'd write you myself than have corporate copy pasted below my totally natural author photo.

In my books you'll find stories of men and women finding their inner strength when all seems lost. You'll also find me exploring themes of love, violence, hope, and power--what it means, why people seek it, and how they hold onto it.




IG @piercebrownofficial
Twitter @pierce_brown

Reviews

[GCR | Book Realm]

The GraphicAudio versions of the Red Rising series are beyond amazing. I’ve read the book and listened to the regular audiobook for Iron Gold, which is also great, but the GraphicAudio experience is on a completely different level. Everything about it feels bigger, more immersive, and honestly just phenomenal.

[Loreli Cruz]

REAPERRRRR RAHHHH 🦅 book was amazing but didn’t have the same addicting quality the original trilogy had so i gave it 4 instead of 5 like the first three 🙊

[Selija Gangani]

3.5⭐️

[Madeline]

First time listening to a graphic audio book

[Rebecca Bakels]

4 stars in comparison to other novels in this series, 5 stars in comparison to all other novels

[Tobias]

Del 1 har en njudelig start, en fin overgang fra bok 3, buildupen er litt treg, men etterhvert som du kommer inn i storyen er det flere intense øyeblikk. Det er mange godt integrerte karakterer fra tidligere bøker, og her blir du presentert for mange nye. Det jeg syntes er litt problematisk med denne, er at det er en overgang fra å følge en person, til multiple POV´s, noe som gjør at det til tider kan oppleves som vanskelig å henge med på hvem vi følger, sure jeg kjenner igjen mange av stemmene ettersom at det er mange forskjellige narrator´s, og jeg har blitt vant med karakterene, men flere av de nye husker jeg ikke engang navnet på…. Absolutt vært å fortsette serien, men jeg ville nok anbefalt boka kombinert med lydbok på nr 4.

[Claire]

So I am confused right now 😕

I understand that this book is really a set up book for the next 2 in the trilogy and so it won't be as exciting as the others but I didn't get the same feelings as I did from the first 3 at all unfortunately, I am hoping however, that things will improve as we get into the story again.

At the moment we have 3 new POVs as well as Darrows and we are jumping between them all, and that is how it feels right now, literally just jumping about, now I'm pretty sure that that is how it is meant to feel and I'm sure as the books go on these point of views will mix together and our characters will cross and so the story will make more sense 🤞🏻

Loving Sevro and Victra still and they have little Sevros too!!! ❤️

The graphic audio itself is fantastic as usual, I'm just a little confused with all the new info

[Ziva McD]

I read/listen to this book, mostly because of Sevro and the beautiful work of Jon Vertullo! If the boon was 100% Sevro POV, I would have rated it 6 star.

The book deserved a 3 star, but dramatized audio version was the only reason was I could finish passed 40%… so I am giving this version a five star.

[Rachel Griffiths]

This didn’t have the same addictive quality of the first three books, but was still really well written and narrated. It took me about 2/3 of the book to really get into it, i think it was mostly because of the split POV. All we really needed was a Sevro POV.

That being said, I can tell it’s leading somewhere and based on the previous books I have high hopes!

[Courtney Cook]

Graphic Audio is always 10/10. But this is the first time I have been sooooo frustrated with Darrow??? To be fair, I’m only half way through so maybe he will redeem himself, but i’m mad. Love the different POVs

[Sophia Hilliard]

So much slower than the other books. Almost dnf

[Hannah Pollack]

struggled my way through this one. the first trilogy has become my favorite of all time. but this one didn't have the same pacing or action. there's loads of new characters and multiple perspectives which also didn't excite me. we'll see if I continue on.

[David Naroznowski]

This is my 3rd time listening/reading this book. Compared to the other GA versions of the Red Rising, this is slower paced. But that’s likely due to the new characters and the plots that need to be set up in the beginning of the novel. Voice actors are amazing though and I am blown away by their performances, adding so much emotion to Brown’s words. Excited for Part 2’s release!

[CHIP]

The phenomenal casting and performances continue. I honestly don't know if I need a show after this.

[Caitlin]

“Sevro…are you going to be civil?”

He shrugs.

“Good enough.”

excuse me while I put this on repeat until part 2* releases and try not to let the wait kill me

reread: *until the whole series releases (and then we’ll simply cycle through again)

[Simira]

The voice actors are superb! Still my favorite Graphic Audio book series.

Now, onto the drama of this book: takes place 10 years after the last book. The new senate is trying to rule this new way but is balancing on a tight rope. Doesn’t help that Darrow doesn’t want to follow the laws and is married to the head of the Senate…tons of tension in the government.
I ADORED seeing Sevro with his kids and Victra! He is a hardcore family man.
I can’t get a read on Pax yet. He is only 10 but seems to have Darrow’s looks and maybe more of Virginia’s personality.
The new characters:
Lyria: a “rescued Red” from the mines promised a safe and fulfilling life but was given nothing like that. Lots of resentment towards the new government. She does meet Kavax, which made me happy.
Ephraim: Trigg’s heartbroken fiancé, who now freelances as a thief. He kinda gets sucked into a mafia-like situation and man, you really feel for him. He seems a bit lost.
Lysander: all grown up heir to the former empire, alive thanks to Cassius’s protection. I feel like he’s going to annoy me to death. But I do enjoy Cassius so maybe he can break him to be more manly.

[Adrian Jumelet]

Malheureusement le moins bon de la série jusqu’à la, dommage de le séparer en deux parties, je ne vois pas de raison de le faire à part la possibilité de vendre plus de livre.
Je dois dire que malheureusement le fait d’avoir d’autres personnages qui raconte le récit à la place de Darrow m’a moins plus, certes leurs points de vue ont un impact sur l’histoire et le pov de Lysandre donne vraiment envie d’en savoir plus.
Mais à ne plus avoir que le pov de Darrow ont perd le côté haletant d’une histoire qui ne s’arrête pas des trois premiers tomes.
Et très honnêtement quand on a suivi un héros qu’on a adoré, si on a lu la série jusque là, c’est franchement moins intéressant de basculer sur les autres pov.

Cette idée de pov multiple aurait pu apporter de la fraîcheur à ce nouvel arc, c’est malheureusement l’inverse pour l’instant.
J’ai quand même espoir que dans le tome 2, lorsque logiquement toute les storylines se rejoindront l’effet sera sympa.
Mais si on juge le livre sans sa potentielle suite c’est une déception, voilà le problème de l’avoir divisé.

[KEW]

I read the original trilogy ages and ages ago, and loved it. I still reread (and re-listen) to them frequently. I read the trilogy when it was still only supposed to be a trilogy, and I dragged my feet on reading beyond it because the first three books felt so perfect and complete, and I knew to open that door again would mean having to see a happy ending spoil, and more suffering to follow.

Curiosity finally got me to start, and I'm afraid my fears were valid. Seeing what Darrow has become is frankly heartbreaking and disappointing. I hope that's just a set up for growth, but wow... How the mighty have fallen...

It took me a minute to get used to new POVs. Ultimately, I do find myself interested by Ephraim and Lysander's (moreso because of Cassius) stories, but I really find no draw to Lyria.

The design of the audiobook itself is stunning, just like those made for the trilogy. And I'm hooked enough to continue, but I'm definitely nervous and wonder if I should have trusted my gut on this one...

[Josiah Michaelson]

Definitely not as incredible as the first three books. But I am only halfway through.

I’m finding that the graphic audiobook is not my favorite way to listen to it. One of the new characters they introduced has a terrible monotone voice. One other thing I have neglected to mention is the normalization of homosexuality throughout the book. It does make sense though if this is thousands of years into our future, that homosexuality would be throughout the culture. So it’s not shoved down your throat. But it’s subtly implanted throughout these books. Really well done implementation wise. But I still don’t like it being done at all.
Halfway through the book and I still don’t care about any of the side character perspectives Brown has written. I understand wanting to have different viewpoints of how this war is affecting others in the culture. There has just been nothing to make me care for these characters. Even the young grandson, pretty bland and boring so far.

[Teagan Wasserman]

In comparison to the first 3 I have to give this 4 stars, but that’s not to say it wasn’t also a fantastic book. It takes a second to get into the plot given there’s a time jump and new characters and early on it’s obviously difficult to care about people you don’t yet feel invested into. This book left me with the feeling of deep despair and sadness for the reaper. It feels like a major set up book for the next two books and I fear for what’s to come ahead. I love the characters inner thoughts and consideration of themselves and this war and the impact it has and continues to have. Love this series overall!

[Heather Baxendale]

This was my second read of Iron Gold, and I enjoyed it so much more this time. Not because I did the graphic audio (though WOW... it really, truly enhances both Ephraim, Lysander, and Lyria), but because I was ready for the new characters and POVs. It was an adjustment from the first time around, when we saw the world only through Darrow's POV. Also, Apollonius is one of my favorite villains in anything ever. The voice actor who did him absolutely NAILED it. Chefs kiss all day. In fact, in all of these graphic audio depictions, the casting has been incredible. I'm not ready to suffer Dark Age yet. I wonder if it will be more or less devastating now that I know what's coming.

[Saiber]

The Red Rising trilogy was amazing. I wanted to see where Pierce Brown will take this. I often see books like these end after the re volution etc. So I think taking on the after effects of a society crumbled by force and remade again is a brave decision and so far it's been done very well! I like that it's divided into multiple POV so we hear what's happening all over the galaxy. I am unsure about some POV so we will see where that goes.

The dramatized edition is done well. I am only listening and not reading and I don't think I'm missing out on anything!

[Whitney Reid Drebot]

4 ⭐️ | 🫑

So excited to get back into Red Rising. It is the best series to listen to on runs. 🙌🏻 I put off starting book 4 for a little bit because everything was wrapped up so well at the end of book 3 that I almost wanted to just keep my characters there and imagine they had a happily ever after. But alas, we’re back for more trauma.

This book was a little slower to get into and I think that a lot of it was the introduction of multi POVs and lots of new people to meet. But so far I really like these new characters.

I’ll give a more complete review of this book on part 2!

[Alex]

Oh Pierce 😞

I wish I didn’t have to be in a very particular mood to read your books. I don’t know why it’s this way between us. Your writing, characters, and plot are all interesting. Once again I will have to put this book down and try again another time.


If I were more honest with myself I’d probably say I’m not actually as into this series as I THINK I should be. Meaning I should probably DNF it for real and call it a day. But I really REALLY want to read Dark Age to see how dark it gets. I could read spoilers, but that doesn’t seem as fun.

[Jillian]

This is only my review halfway through the book but- am I supposed to care about any of these people??? Cause I don’t. This was really hard to get through, and I’m gonna push on to finish the second half of the graphic audio but this was not it.

This is not a dig at the vocal cast of graphic audio, they all did a great job. But the pacing of this, multi POVs, etc just doesn’t have the same addictive factor as the previous trilogy.

[Lucas]

Was really excited for these, and was not disappointed. Mostly good choices for the VAs, but having a full cinematic experience for these books makes it unbeatable compared to regular audiobooks which are still superb in their own rights. (Ephraim's voice is obnoxious, but fitting I guess. Lysander as monotonous and dead inside as ever. Still hate him.)

[Emerson]

Slower paced, feels like a different type of story. Not bad at all, we still feel for Darrow and Sevro, but my god Darrow makes some stupid decisions.

I quite like the added characters, I feel like seeing the effects of Darrow and Virginia’s decisions have somewhat changed my view on them.

[Rita Jackson]

Really enjoyed the introduction of some different POVs in this one! Darrow is kind of annoying me a little bit at the moment, but Lyria’s story is keeping me going. I feel like I empathize with her POV of the Reaper and the “new” sovereign.

[Ciarra]

4.5 ⭐️ I didn’t find this as addicting as the original 3 books but these graphic audios are so so good I think they’ll all be 5 stars for me.

[Tara Blankenship]

Didn't disappoint. I thought I wouldn't care about the new characters, but I do!!! Please dont let my favorites die!!😭On to the NEXT!!