(SPOILERS!!!) : I loved how the characters expressed our feelings towards Lysander : Virginia and Holliday when they see Lightbringer and how he copied the clawDrill trick from Darrow and were disgusted, Darrow's "That motherf***** gonna burn" when he sees his propaganda, Diomedes' rage at his betrayal... It felt good to have them react with us ahah
Cassius became my favorite character in Iron Gold. Getting him back and the dynamic between him, Darrow and Sevro coming back only to be torn away at the end has ruined me... And I absolutely loved it.
i absolutely loved Fa being a fraud! i was a bit tired of warlord archetypes, the reveal that he's a man of culture that likes silk kiminos and cognac was so good. he's a lil bitch but also smart. all the history of the obsidian culture is a fraud bred by the golds anyways, so Fa being aware of that cycle and being this actor was just so good imo. he's just a dude that is going to work for a good retirement lol. i relate to that
I think he was, but by sad/necessary story telling, just as with Rhonna and Alexandar, the plot demanded he go out at the moment he did. So tragic, but so fitting for his character.
That would have been awkward I feel like....I saw it more as him just liking her as a fun to be around young protégé, admiring her courage being a small little Red in a dangerous world....almost more of a father/daughter type of thing taking her under his wing sort of thing. Cassius falling in love with a young Red just doesn't fit to me. With that said, it's been a long time since I read the previous books that I still feel like Lyria is just a young little girl.
I second the opinion that dropping the Figment was a great choice by Pierce for her character. He managed to write it organically too so it didn't completely feel like a scrapped idea. Seeing how frigging monstrous and downright scary this universe is (including our heroes) through her eyes is something the series needs. Making her a super freelancer would cheapen her value as a POV.
And I think she was so crucial to this story just by being herself. The brothers opened up to her, she shared their secrets (whoopsies!), but then it helped Darrow, Servo, and Cassius to finally talk and bond again.
Actually I think Lysander has been kind of fighting for two books what Atlas is and does because he was still clinging to a childhood romantic perception of honorable knights and stuff, but that his decision in the end to kill Cassius in order to keep Edmi marks a turning point, killing the boy in him, where he eventually sheds his last boyish cozy misconceptions and then chooses to go down the Atlas path, embracing the latter's way. Atlas in the end is his the father he kept rebelling from, but ends up being just like him. I think that likeness to Atlas will grow in the next book and define his path.
Theories about Lysander realizing there was one bullet left? It was such an odd, overly detailed call out. Was it just showing he held back a little bit against Cassius or do we think it's something more?
This is really good question! I've read a few theories on Reddit and this is the one I think makes the most sense: He did clear the clip, and then had a bit of an "out-of-body" experience and loaded a bullet in a moment of suicidal ideation. Then another part of his brain took over and erased it from his memory.
@@duruffio That seems unnecessarily convoluted. I think it was probably more simple than that...partly overly detailed and odd...partly something to get you thinking that he might off himself, because it wasn't something he wanted to do but then of course doesn't really off himself because it's Lysander we are talking about.
I think he was gonna kill self if the bio weapon wasn't in the pack. He was resigned that he'd have killed Cassius for nothing and his conscious couldn't stand it
I prefer lyria’s arc and her choice to get rid of the figment. She learned to make herself useful despite her size with helping change Volga and that speaks much more to character development than a free powerup to use as a crutch It’s crazy Darrow and Virginia have been separated since iron gold Really like Diomedes. Was unexpected how he aligned with Darrow in the end. Also how he got Darrow and Lysander face to face I was thinking there was possible romance between lyria and Cassius. Would have been interesting to say the least I really like how Pierce had the docks blown up in book 2 (or 3?) and this many books later it was still relevant, still affected tons of characters, and resulted in a reckoning for Darrow Sevro and Atlas POVs would have been interesting but Atlas was almost scarier not being front and center so it’s better not to include it IMO I wonder if Lysander gets a redemption arc or Darrow spares him life or something
@@tshebeletsotjabane4979LightBringer would be Darrow too, no? Obviously that's what Lysander named his ship, but at the end Darrow was able to unite the Rim, the Volk, and the Rising against The Society; thereby giving Mars a chance.
@@RubALamp LightBringer was a book about Lysander. He defeated Mastan, took the ship back and was meant to be the saviour of the moon lords, the light bringer. Darrow didnt unite the rim, volk and the rebels, they shared a common enemy. Darrow saved no one, thats the next book
I want Darrow to come ready for battle and yell “LYSANDERRRRRRR!” as he calls him out for a final duel to the death, like Achilles calling out Hector.l before their final fight
Atlas wasn't Atlas he was a carved bone rider. He went from sacrificing himself in dark age to go with Lysander's plan to spare the city from Atlantia's chemical weapons attack, to secretly trying to get a deadly WMD to use on an entire planet, come on. Lysander had a similar abrupt change to risking everything to save the city from chemical weapons to end up wanting to use the WMD in the end of the book. When calling Faa with Lysander the first time the face appears as locust. When which ever bone rider was also carved into Rhone along with the rest of the praetorian greys first meet atlas and Lysander in Hilios' ship hanger during the escape "rhone" yells to him "Ignis" who the hell is Ignis and "atlas" yells back "Lunea". When Atlas meets with Lysander on his ship with his arms being cut off the tech is using psycho spike tech that adrius had 8 months to prefect and uses the exact same languae when the codes are confirmed as Virginia used with the duke of hands. Not only that the violet lets slip "It wont be as bad as last time" refering to the time the gold bonerider was carved into Atlas. When Atlas is explaining the vault to lysander and Faa he says "only a peerless scared Raa can open the vault." If he was really Atlas he is a peerless scared Raa. When Lysnader's shadow the female grey is around the other grey praetorian there is a moment when she reacts to something about the XIII, that the other greys don't react to. She gives them a strange look, Just a subtle reference to the carved bone riders turned greys not fitting in and she noticed something in their behavior they had that threw her off. She next doesn't show up in time to go with Lysander and Diomides. And they say she got shot by a sniper, but she is really being carved and replaced by a bone rider. She next shows up at the end with Lysander giving her tasks that he wouldn't trust anyone with, unless Lysander is actually carved Adrius at that point, and she is also a bonerider. Adrius used the medusa lament posioning in order to use the psyho spike tech on lysander to implant a trigger in his brain. From after the poisoning Lysander is never able to get into the minds eye again and eventually stops even trying to use it which doesnt make snese unless Adrius had messed with his mind and now he cant use it. When lysander kills cassius and has his out of "body experience" where he realizes there is a single bullet left in the gun he has a vision of a small boy with his feet dangling off a chair. The reader is suppose to think that is lysander was having a memeory of octavia and the pandimoniom chair, but its really adrius using the psycho skipe tech on him. Then all the lights go out. He shoots himself in the head on the "trigger" and when we next see him its actually carved Adrius who is taking his place, inorder to rule when he wins the war. Its Adrius's only path fwd to rule in public to take lysanders place. And he probably promised Lylith that she could be carved into Atlantia but he lied about that becasue hes going to get rid of her.Also Adrius defiantly did something similar to sevro implanting a trigger in his head to do something f'd up. There's no way he would have let him go if not. His last words to him beofer putting him in the box, "tell Virginia I send my regards"
aww man. I tried to catch you live, but you started 2 am here and I fell asleep reading....ah well. Another great conversation. I do not think Volsung Fa was a sissy though Mike. If Darrow would only do awesome willow way like Lorn, he would have been eviscerated, he had to go full protagonist climax mode before even making a dent into Fa. And I feel Fa's story is tragic as he was this close to getting his own houses on different planets, together with his long-lost daughter etc. And oh my god Lysander. what privileged stuck-up little B....he's horrid and immoral.While Diomedes was awesome! And yes, this was definitely one of the best entries in the series as far as I'm concerned.
Just finished. Loved the book. Fuck Lysander. CASSIUS AU Bellona.... The end with Darrow and Severo in his room I loved it. Really liked Diomedes in this book. Aswell.
Does anyone wish pierce followed through with the Lyria and parasite story line?? I was super interested to see how she could use that to their benefit
I feel like the setup is really perfect and obvious for the Sevro sleeper agent thing, but I really hope Pierce doesn’t follow through with it. Mind control is one of my least favorite things in sci fi lol. Other than that I LOVED this whole book. Iconic.
late to the party. 100% agree on abominadrius. He wasnt in this book at all. How did servro get away? Does the master plotter w/ clones have no more plans? Will it explain more of servros change in behavior more explicitly? Either the clone was a mistake, and he will be quickly written in and out of the next book, or he was intentionally editted out more for a huge twist and major part of next book.
I have a bit of a prediction, not about the story plot, but about the structure of the book. I think Red God will be exclusively Darrow POV, at least for like 90% of the book. If they give anyone else a POV, it would be Virginia.
I was surprised he didn't turn his back on him : he's vindictive and Lysander did betray him in my opinion : he didn't sent help and he let his brother be killed !
Im gonna be pissed if Lysander tells Cassius's mother that Darrow was the cause either directly/indirectly for his death and that he did not kill the man himself!
Imagine it turns out that democracy just doesn't work and they all go back the the pyramid, but with a revived more kind and fair rule (like what i can imagine Lysander thinks it should be) Everyone would just be like 😮 😂
I have a theory that Atalantia helped Lilith to create AbominAdrius. Atalantia is the type to praise the Jackal's antics and methods. So why not create another without the daddy issues.
Am I the only one that was dissapointed by Light Bringer? This is one of my favourite series of all time, but this book had such weird dicisions and forgotten plot points... Brown didn't really know where to go with this one, I think
I don't understand big comments like this. A book most people seem to really like, then you say he dropped the ball, it had weird decisions, it had forgotten plot points, etc...but then don't elaborate on any of it? So what decisions, what plot points, what direction were you expecting, etc?
@@RhinoViper based on other comments, most people usually refer to Lydia’s arch with the parasite. And the other one is the abomination. People treat it as if Pierce forgot about it and I’m like… guys, there’s a book left
(SPOILERS!!!) : I loved how the characters expressed our feelings towards Lysander : Virginia and Holliday when they see Lightbringer and how he copied the clawDrill trick from Darrow and were disgusted, Darrow's "That motherf***** gonna burn" when he sees his propaganda, Diomedes' rage at his betrayal... It felt good to have them react with us ahah
Cassius became my favorite character in Iron Gold. Getting him back and the dynamic between him, Darrow and Sevro coming back only to be torn away at the end has ruined me... And I absolutely loved it.
i absolutely loved Fa being a fraud! i was a bit tired of warlord archetypes, the reveal that he's a man of culture that likes silk kiminos and cognac was so good. he's a lil bitch but also smart. all the history of the obsidian culture is a fraud bred by the golds anyways, so Fa being aware of that cycle and being this actor was just so good imo. he's just a dude that is going to work for a good retirement lol. i relate to that
I almost thought Pierce was setting up some sort of Cassius/Lyria romance haha.
I think he was, but by sad/necessary story telling, just as with Rhonna and Alexandar, the plot demanded he go out at the moment he did. So tragic, but so fitting for his character.
What could have been 😢
That would have been awkward I feel like....I saw it more as him just liking her as a fun to be around young protégé, admiring her courage being a small little Red in a dangerous world....almost more of a father/daughter type of thing taking her under his wing sort of thing. Cassius falling in love with a young Red just doesn't fit to me. With that said, it's been a long time since I read the previous books that I still feel like Lyria is just a young little girl.
Seemed much more of a father/daughter relationship than romantic
@@Isoquant oh I didn't get that vibe at all. They're not too far apart in age
I second the opinion that dropping the Figment was a great choice by Pierce for her character. He managed to write it organically too so it didn't completely feel like a scrapped idea. Seeing how frigging monstrous and downright scary this universe is (including our heroes) through her eyes is something the series needs. Making her a super freelancer would cheapen her value as a POV.
And I think she was so crucial to this story just by being herself. The brothers opened up to her, she shared their secrets (whoopsies!), but then it helped Darrow, Servo, and Cassius to finally talk and bond again.
Im not so sure he actually dropped. Imagine the Red God is not Darrow, but Lyria using the awakened figment powers...
Actually I think Lysander has been kind of fighting for two books what Atlas is and does because he was still clinging to a childhood romantic perception of honorable knights and stuff, but that his decision in the end to kill Cassius in order to keep Edmi marks a turning point, killing the boy in him, where he eventually sheds his last boyish cozy misconceptions and then chooses to go down the Atlas path, embracing the latter's way. Atlas in the end is his the father he kept rebelling from, but ends up being just like him. I think that likeness to Atlas will grow in the next book and define his path.
Just finished LB yesterday….. wow. Wowowwowowowwwwwww. Easily the best in the series, no debate for me, which is very surprising. HAIL REAPER.
Love how authentic y’all are. Keep it up.
Cassius was the light bringer 😢
For real my guy was bringing optimism all the time
Awesome spoiler-talk, love the discussion and love Light Bringer
Theories about Lysander realizing there was one bullet left? It was such an odd, overly detailed call out. Was it just showing he held back a little bit against Cassius or do we think it's something more?
This is really good question! I've read a few theories on Reddit and this is the one I think makes the most sense: He did clear the clip, and then had a bit of an "out-of-body" experience and loaded a bullet in a moment of suicidal ideation. Then another part of his brain took over and erased it from his memory.
@@duruffio That seems unnecessarily convoluted. I think it was probably more simple than that...partly overly detailed and odd...partly something to get you thinking that he might off himself, because it wasn't something he wanted to do but then of course doesn't really off himself because it's Lysander we are talking about.
I think he was gonna kill self if the bio weapon wasn't in the pack.
He was resigned that he'd have killed Cassius for nothing and his conscious couldn't stand it
@@caibird123I’m with this one, maybe he subconsciously left one for himself because he knows he’s making all the wrong decisions
I prefer lyria’s arc and her choice to get rid of the figment. She learned to make herself useful despite her size with helping change Volga and that speaks much more to character development than a free powerup to use as a crutch
It’s crazy Darrow and Virginia have been separated since iron gold
Really like Diomedes. Was unexpected how he aligned with Darrow in the end. Also how he got Darrow and Lysander face to face
I was thinking there was possible romance between lyria and Cassius. Would have been interesting to say the least
I really like how Pierce had the docks blown up in book 2 (or 3?) and this many books later it was still relevant, still affected tons of characters, and resulted in a reckoning for Darrow
Sevro and Atlas POVs would have been interesting but Atlas was almost scarier not being front and center so it’s better not to include it IMO
I wonder if Lysander gets a redemption arc or Darrow spares him life or something
I feel like instead of "Red God" referring to a character, it refers to Mars (a red god) since that's where the finale will probably be taking place.
Golden son = Darrow
Morning Star = Darrow
Iron Gold= Darrow
Light bringer = Lynsander
Red God likely Darrow, he becomes a god when he dies
@@tshebeletsotjabane4979LightBringer would be Darrow too, no? Obviously that's what Lysander named his ship, but at the end Darrow was able to unite the Rim, the Volk, and the Rising against The Society; thereby giving Mars a chance.
@@RubALamp LightBringer was a book about Lysander. He defeated Mastan, took the ship back and was meant to be the saviour of the moon lords, the light bringer.
Darrow didnt unite the rim, volk and the rebels, they shared a common enemy.
Darrow saved no one, thats the next book
I want Darrow to come ready for battle and yell “LYSANDERRRRRRR!” as he calls him out for a final duel to the death, like Achilles calling out Hector.l before their final fight
Cass mom will kill Lysander…. She’s cold blooded
Plot Twist: Lyria is Red God
That would be lame AF.
Atlas wasn't Atlas he was a carved bone rider. He went from sacrificing himself in dark age to go with Lysander's plan to spare the city from Atlantia's chemical weapons attack, to secretly trying to get a deadly WMD to use on an entire planet, come on. Lysander had a similar abrupt change to risking everything to save the city from chemical weapons to end up wanting to use the WMD in the end of the book. When calling Faa with Lysander the first time the face appears as locust. When which ever bone rider was also carved into Rhone along with the rest of the praetorian greys first meet atlas and Lysander in Hilios' ship hanger during the escape "rhone" yells to him "Ignis" who the hell is Ignis and "atlas" yells back "Lunea". When Atlas meets with Lysander on his ship with his arms being cut off the tech is using psycho spike tech that adrius had 8 months to prefect and uses the exact same languae when the codes are confirmed as Virginia used with the duke of hands. Not only that the violet lets slip "It wont be as bad as last time" refering to the time the gold bonerider was carved into Atlas. When Atlas is explaining the vault to lysander and Faa he says "only a peerless scared Raa can open the vault." If he was really Atlas he is a peerless scared Raa.
When Lysnader's shadow the female grey is around the other grey praetorian there is a moment when she reacts to something about the XIII, that the other greys don't react to. She gives them a strange look, Just a subtle reference to the carved bone riders turned greys not fitting in and she noticed something in their behavior they had that threw her off. She next doesn't show up in time to go with Lysander and Diomides. And they say she got shot by a sniper, but she is really being carved and replaced by a bone rider. She next shows up at the end with Lysander giving her tasks that he wouldn't trust anyone with, unless Lysander is actually carved Adrius at that point, and she is also a bonerider.
Adrius used the medusa lament posioning in order to use the psyho spike tech on lysander to implant a trigger in his brain. From after the poisoning Lysander is never able to get into the minds eye again and eventually stops even trying to use it which doesnt make snese unless Adrius had messed with his mind and now he cant use it. When lysander kills cassius and has his out of "body experience" where he realizes there is a single bullet left in the gun he has a vision of a small boy with his feet dangling off a chair. The reader is suppose to think that is lysander was having a memeory of octavia and the pandimoniom chair, but its really adrius using the psycho skipe tech on him. Then all the lights go out. He shoots himself in the head on the "trigger" and when we next see him its actually carved Adrius who is taking his place, inorder to rule when he wins the war. Its Adrius's only path fwd to rule in public to take lysanders place. And he probably promised Lylith that she could be carved into Atlantia but he lied about that becasue hes going to get rid of her.Also Adrius defiantly did something similar to sevro implanting a trigger in his head to do something f'd up. There's no way he would have let him go if not. His last words to him beofer putting him in the box, "tell Virginia I send my regards"
This is kinda fascinating
I really hope we are not setting up clown wars :/
SPOILERS/THEORIES
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.....
....
With Darrow writting his book for Pax I sadly believe he's gonna die in Red God :(
I have a theory
I think they're right, AbominAdrius is a turncoat. But even bigger... I think he's gonna be the new POV for Red God
Oh the ham!
aww man. I tried to catch you live, but you started 2 am here and I fell asleep reading....ah well. Another great conversation. I do not think Volsung Fa was a sissy though Mike. If Darrow would only do awesome willow way like Lorn, he would have been eviscerated, he had to go full protagonist climax mode before even making a dent into Fa. And I feel Fa's story is tragic as he was this close to getting his own houses on different planets, together with his long-lost daughter etc.
And oh my god Lysander. what privileged stuck-up little B....he's horrid and immoral.While Diomedes was awesome!
And yes, this was definitely one of the best entries in the series as far as I'm concerned.
Clank clank clank
Confess!!!
Just finished. Loved the book. Fuck Lysander. CASSIUS AU Bellona.... The end with Darrow and Severo in his room I loved it. Really liked Diomedes in this book.
Aswell.
Does anyone wish pierce followed through with the Lyria and parasite story line?? I was super interested to see how she could use that to their benefit
Hello Michael. I'm still not over game 1 ALDS when Alvarez hit a walkoff dinger off Robbie Ray. Go Mariners
I feel like the setup is really perfect and obvious for the Sevro sleeper agent thing, but I really hope Pierce doesn’t follow through with it. Mind control is one of my least favorite things in sci fi lol. Other than that I LOVED this whole book. Iconic.
Lysander returning the Archimedes and the helm of Ares HAS to be a biological trap right? He said he kept out red and gold...
late to the party. 100% agree on abominadrius. He wasnt in this book at all. How did servro get away? Does the master plotter w/ clones have no more plans? Will it explain more of servros change in behavior more explicitly? Either the clone was a mistake, and he will be quickly written in and out of the next book, or he was intentionally editted out more for a huge twist and major part of next book.
I have a bit of a prediction, not about the story plot, but about the structure of the book. I think Red God will be exclusively Darrow POV, at least for like 90% of the book. If they give anyone else a POV, it would be Virginia.
I want to see Apollonius to be like... Fuck Lysander, he's not cool.
I was surprised he didn't turn his back on him : he's vindictive and Lysander did betray him in my opinion : he didn't sent help and he let his brother be killed !
Mike where did you get the shirt?
The Red God is war
Definitely think Figment should not have been destroyed but rather presented to Darrow, Sevro, and Cassius, and one of them should have taken it.
Im gonna be pissed if Lysander tells Cassius's mother that Darrow was the cause either directly/indirectly for his death and that he did not kill the man himself!
I totally see that happening.
I think you got Fa wrong there, but hey maybe a reread will sort that out eventually :-)
Was she high lol 😂😂😂
Atlas is not dead!
My prediction: Darrow release the weapon to destroy all the golds.
Have a hard time believing that after all this PB is going to end the series with the genocide of an entire colour
Could all colors get wiped and quicksilvers humans start fresh?
You forgot about Kavax
Imagine it turns out that democracy just doesn't work and they all go back the the pyramid, but with a revived more kind and fair rule (like what i can imagine Lysander thinks it should be) Everyone would just be like 😮 😂
Lysander dying at the hands of a Red (Lyria), that would be sweet. Think they are your slaves huh? HUH!
Darow is getting wacked in the next book foe sho
I think Darrow will die and a sort of Kelsier from mistborn
Unpopular opinion: I don’t hate Lysander any more than in Dark Age
He was great through 90 percent of the book. Then suddenly became a genocidal maniac
@@rainmaker6261True
The series is going to end with Lysander exterminating all golds.
I just hope that Lysander dies slowly for Cassius
I have a theory that Atalantia helped Lilith to create AbominAdrius. Atalantia is the type to praise the Jackal's antics and methods. So why not create another without the daddy issues.
Lysander will live and end up in charge of mercury , the republic mars earth and luna , then the rim
Who gets Venus?
@@Rancor9000 🤔chaos🤷♂
Am I the only one that was dissapointed by Light Bringer? This is one of my favourite series of all time, but this book had such weird dicisions and forgotten plot points... Brown didn't really know where to go with this one, I think
What forgiven plot points do you think???
@@LeonC0704I love this book but Figment, Quicksilver, Faa, Volga until the end of the book.
I don't understand big comments like this. A book most people seem to really like, then you say he dropped the ball, it had weird decisions, it had forgotten plot points, etc...but then don't elaborate on any of it? So what decisions, what plot points, what direction were you expecting, etc?
@@RhinoViper based on other comments, most people usually refer to Lydia’s arch with the parasite. And the other one is the abomination. People treat it as if Pierce forgot about it and I’m like… guys, there’s a book left