Read Rising

New Season! Craig, Sam, Nick and Liz begin Dark Age by Pierce Brown with its prelude, prologue and chapters 1–9. Virginia makes a plea for aid to Mercury, where Darrow’s battered forces face mounting threats. Meanwhile, Lysander returns to Core and Rim politics, weighs his place among the Golds, and volunteers for an Orion’s Rain.

We close out our Iron Gold season with chapters 58–65. Ephraim pulls off a chaotic rescue. Lyria gets an apology and an unexpected visitor. Darrow reaches the Ash Lord too late. Romulus takes his final walk, and Sevro goes home while Darrow doesn't. The hosts then rate the part and the whole book, and look ahead to Dark Age .

We cover chapters 49–57 of Iron Gold , a stretch where four storylines go wrong at once! We recap each storyline, then dig into character, loyalty and the myriad (poor) choices that pop up.

The crew centers on Lysander, Darrow, Lyria, and Ephraim, with a mix of character analysis, plot recap, and plenty of side commentary on the series’ moral messiness.

We cover Ephraim's heist, Lysander's tense prison scenes, and Lyria's increasingly dangerous orbit around the core players. The episode focuses on betrayal, shifting loyalties, and how much damage people can do while insisting they're still the good guys. Buckle up for the suck, buttercup.

Pierce Brown! Iron Gold! These chapters split between political fallout, a dangerous prison break, and three very different POVs trying to survive a society in collapse. Nick, Sam, Liz, and Craig focus on how much of this section is setup and how much of it is quietly doing heavy lifting for the rest of the book. What say you?

This episode covers the first part of Iron Gold and tracks three major threads: Darrow’s escalating break with the Republic, Lyria’s devastating loss and decision to leave, and Lysander’s capture on the Rim. It also introduces Ephraim’s uneasy new assignment and opens up a larger conversation about loyalty, power, and who gets used as a weapon.

Iron Gold, Chapters 10 to 15! Senate blowup, Lyria’s devastation, Ephraim’s grief, and Lysander’s choices This discussion covers four POVs in Iron Gold chapters 10 to 15: Darrow, Lyria, Ephraim, and Lysander. The group focuses on the clash between war and governance, the human cost of the Red Hand attacks, grief and self-destruction in Ephraim’s arc, and what Lysander’s decisions reveal about loya...

This episode sets up the start of Iron Gold and immediately reframes the series through multiple perspectives. The group talks through the shift from Darrow-centered storytelling to a wider, messier republic, while also introducing Lyria, Ephraim, and Lysander as major new lenses on the world. A lot of the discussion centers on what war has cost the low colors, whether Darrow is still right to pus...

This episode kicks off Iron Gold and immediately makes it clear that the story is changing shape. With multiple POVs now in play, the crew covers Darrow, Lyria, Ephraim, and Lysander, while debating what the Republic has become ten years after the revolution. The conversation centers on the cost of victory, the strain on Darrow and Mustang, and the fact that freedom did not magically solve anythin...

This episode closes out the original Red Rising trilogy by zooming in on the last stretch of Morning Star and then widening out to ask what the trilogy means as a complete story. The discussion covers Mustang taking power, Lysander’s strange loyalty, the Jackal’s ending, Darrow and Mustang’s hidden plan, and the reveal that Darrow has a son. The group also reflects on the trilogy’s core themes, in...

This episode covers the final stretch of Morning Star Part 3, with the group breaking down Darrow’s Luna plan, Cassius’s reversal, and the collapse of Octavia’s rule. It matters because nearly every major betrayal, reveal, and payoff from the trilogy comes due here.

This section covers the fallout from the Battle of Ilium, the brutal tightening of the rebellion, and one of the most memorable Sevro moments in the trilogy. It matters because the book shifts from battlefield chaos into emotional turns, betrayals, and hard choices that reshape the rest of the story.

In this spoiler-heavy Red Rising discussion, the hosts dive into character motivations, moral choices, and the chaos of recording their first in-person episode. They debate Sevro’s shifting priorities, Lysander’s growing role as a catalyst for war, Darrow’s costly decisions, and whether characters like Romulus, Volsung Fa, Atlas, and Ephraim are strategic, tragic, or just plain monstrous. The conv...

The Battle of Ilium and Roque’s Sacrifice in Red Rising Part Three In this episode, we explore the intense chaos and strategic deception in the Battle of Ilium, focusing on Darrow’s daring tactics, Roque’s tragic end, and the theme of sacrifice intertwined with honor. The hosts disagree on whether Romulus is awesome, or a cartoon character.

Romulus. Moon Lords. Roque. Skip boots. Discover how covert plans and personal sacrifices set the stage for war on the moons of Jupiter, revealing the true power behind the throne.

This episode covers a brutal, high-stakes stretch of Morning Star, where Darrow, Mustang, and Ragnar head to the Obsidian homeland, get ambushed by Cassius and Aja. We dive into the huge action and world-building of Pierce, with the devastating loss of Ragnar, which gives the whole story real weight. Buckle on up!

In this episode, the crew dives into the chaos of Red Rising: Morning Star Part 2, where everything escalates fast! From a reckless heist on Phobos to shifting loyalties, brutal confrontations, and the growing realization that the rebellion needs more than force to survive. We break down Darrow and Sevro’s leadership clash, Quicksilver’s role in the larger rebellion, Mustang’s unexpectedly critica...

SPOILER EPISODE! Craig curses at Nick (he later apologizes), microphones are thrown, Lyria is brought up, and Trig is given a solid quantity of air time. Spoilers galore!

Season 3!? The final book in the first trilogy. We can't believe we've already made it this far. In Morning Star’s opening section, Darrow is rescued after months of torture and captivity, reunited with the Sons of Ares, and forced to confront how much has changed while he was gone. The episode dives into the emotional weight of his return, the devastating loss of Trig, and the shifting loyalties...

This episode wraps up the season on Golden Son with huge emotional payoffs, brutal betrayals, and a cliffhanger ending. The hosts cover Darrow’s big reveal to Dancer, Fitchner, and the Sons of Ares, unpacking Fitchner’s backstory, the rebellion’s true shape, and the plan to put Darrow in power as a way to dismantle the Society from inside. We dig into Darrow’s disastrous attempt to tell Mustang th...

Darrow begins this episode literally and metaphorically stuck in the mud. His plans have gone awry, and we'll see if he pulls through! We also some interesting new dynamics and intrigue with the Jackal. And, of course, a big reveal about Fitchner! Listen on!

"The Reaper sails for Mars, and call for an Iron Rain!" If you thought the action we covered in the last episode was good, then you're going to want to hold on to something for this one.

Darrow is brainstorming with Mustang! The plan? Steal ships from Ganymede, recruit Lorn au Arcos, the chaos at Europa, Tactus's death, and Mustang's return with the gut-punch news that Augustus and the Jackal have been captured thanks to Pliny's betrayal.

In this episode of the Red Rising Podcast, we discuss chapters 19 to 24 of "Golden Son" by Pierce Brown. The conversation dives into the aftermath of the gala, where Darrow and his allies navigate complex political and personal dynamics. We look into Darrow's charismatic leadership, the introduction of new allies like Ragnar and Orion, and the exploration of themes such as loyalty, rebellion, and...