Lauren
“I will love you until the sun dies. And when it does, I will love you in the darkness.”
Iron Gold picks up about a decade after the events of Morning Star (which was by far my favorite of the original trilogy). Although we were left with hope at the end of MS, it turns out war is still brewing and although it appears people have been gaining equal rights, that is far from the truth.
The book does a pretty decent job of reminding readers who the characters are (though there were a few I had to keep reminding myself of) as well as being readers back into the world. The strongest part of this book, however, was the introduction to new (or essentially new) characters and their POVs.
Lydia was by far my favorite character. She shows us the life as a Red is not as improved as the universe is leading everyone to believe. She goes through an amazing character arc, but I don’t want to say too much and risk spoiling anything. Her audiobook narrator was also fantastic and really brought her to life. If I’m honest, assuming I pick up book 5, it is for this character alone.
Lysander’s POV was also interesting. In case you forgot, he is the grandson of (former) Sovereign Octavia from Morning Star. He’s obviously grown and feels more adult. While I found him compelling enough in this book, I’m curious enough about him to look forward to seeing more of him. He is very complex, which I like in a character.
And then there is Darrow. He was already a character I struggled to like (though I liked reading from) in the original trilogy, but he’s honestly the worst in this book. Honestly, the choices he made were stupid. I forgave him a lot in the original series because he was a child, but he’s no longer a child. Instead he is a war obsessed, absent father. How he got Mustang to not only marry him and reproduce with him, I’ll never know. She deserves leagues better. And then his “woe is me” attitude toward the end? Like, dude, you made your bed. Honestly, Brown could kill him off and I wouldn’t even care.
Despite this book being fast paced, I admit I struggled to want to pick it up. I also struggled to focus on it when I was reading. That could be a me thing, or maybe a time of year thing, but I don’t think so. For the first time in this series, I really struggled to see what was happening. Everything was described okay, I guess, but I felt like I could envision a lot of what was happening, especially in fights (which I typically have no problem doing).
I’m hoping this book was a (long) set up book to really lunch the rest of the arc into action. If I can’t get into the next installment, I may DNF the series, which would be a shame. Super minor spoiler ahead . . . . . . I also didn’t love that there was no real overlap with the POVs. I understand why and I can see what it was setting up, but I think having their paths cross more significantly would have helped with my struggle to focus on this book.
“I will love you until the sun dies. And when it does, I will love you in the darkness.”
Iron Gold picks up about a decade after the events of Morning Star (which was by far my favorite of the original trilogy). Although we were left with hope at the end of MS, it turns out war is still brewing and although it appears people have been gaining equal rights, that is far from the truth.
The book does a pretty decent job of reminding readers who the characters are (though there were a few I had to keep reminding myself of) as well as being readers back into the world. The strongest part of this book, however, was the introduction to new (or essentially new) characters and their POVs.
Lydia was by far my favorite character. She shows us the life as a Red is not as improved as the universe is leading everyone to believe. She goes through an amazing character arc, but I don’t want to say too much and risk spoiling anything. Her audiobook narrator was also fantastic and really brought her to life. If I’m honest, assuming I pick up book 5, it is for this character alone.
Lysander’s POV was also interesting. In case you forgot, he is the grandson of (former) Sovereign Octavia from Morning Star. He’s obviously grown and feels more adult. While I found him compelling enough in this book, I’m curious enough about him to look forward to seeing more of him. He is very complex, which I like in a character.
And then there is Darrow. He was already a character I struggled to like (though I liked reading from) in the original trilogy, but he’s honestly the worst in this book. Honestly, the choices he made were stupid. I forgave him a lot in the original series because he was a child, but he’s no longer a child. Instead he is a war obsessed, absent father. How he got Mustang to not only marry him and reproduce with him, I’ll never know. She deserves leagues better. And then his “woe is me” attitude toward the end? Like, dude, you made your bed. Honestly, Brown could kill him off and I wouldn’t even care.
Despite this book being fast paced, I admit I struggled to want to pick it up. I also struggled to focus on it when I was reading. That could be a me thing, or maybe a time of year thing, but I don’t think so. For the first time in this series, I really struggled to see what was happening. Everything was described okay, I guess, but I felt like I could envision a lot of what was happening, especially in fights (which I typically have no problem doing).
I’m hoping this book was a (long) set up book to really lunch the rest of the arc into action. If I can’t get into the next installment, I may DNF the series, which would be a shame. Super minor spoiler ahead . . . . . . I also didn’t love that there was no real overlap with the POVs. I understand why and I can see what it was setting up, but I think having their paths cross more significantly would have helped with my struggle to focus on this book.