Pierce Brown
Pierce Brown has published 10 books across 3 series. The recommended reading order starts with Red Rising (2014).
Pierce Brown is an American author who writes young adult fantasy novels, best known for the Red Rising series that made him a number one New York Times bestseller. He spent his childhood building forts and setting traps for his cousins in the woods of six states and the deserts of two, a restless early life that shaped his instinct for world-building and conflict.
After college, Brown worked his way through a string of jobs — social media manager at a tech startup, aide on a U.S. Senate campaign, NBC page, and a stint on the Disney lot — while trying to make it as a writer. He became a published author in 2014 with Red Rising, the novel that launched his Red Rising Trilogy and grew into the larger Red Rising Saga. He now lives in Los Angeles, where he writes stories of spaceships, wizards, ghouls, and most things old or bizarre.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Anthologies
- Tagsshort-storiessci-fiDescriptionYou've seen the Rebel Alliance triumph at Yavin, watched Luke fire the shot that changed the galaxy, but what about the X-wing pilot flying beside him, or the stormtrooper who let the droids slip through his fingers? This anthology pulls you into the margins of A New Hope, where more than forty authors reimagine the film's most iconic moments through the eyes of characters you barely noticed—the background players who were always there, living their own stories while the heroes took center stage. It's a celebration of the original film's fortieth anniversary, and it's also something richer: a reminder that every extra in the cantina, every technician on the Death Star, had a life, a fear, a reason for being exactly where they were when history unfolded around them. What makes this collection so compelling is the way it refracts a story you know by heart into forty new prisms, each one offering a fresh angle, a unexpected tenderness, or a darker shade you never considered. The voices here range from beloved Star Wars authors to bestselling names from beyond the galaxy far, far away, and together they transform a single film into a vast, breathing world where no moment is too small to matter. It's nostalgic and inventive all at once, a love letter to the film that started it all and to everyone who's ever wondered what else was happening just offscreen.Publication dateOctober 3, 2017Amazon rating4.5/5Print length496LanguageEnglishPublisherRandom House Worlds
Order of Red Rising Books
- Tagsyoung-adultfantasysci-filiterary-fictionDescriptionSome lies are so vast they swallow entire lives. Darrow is a Red, toiling in the mines beneath Mars, believing every aching hour that his labor will one day terraform the surface for his children, for humanity's future. He believes in the sacrifice because he has to—it's the only thing that makes the darkness bearable. Then the truth detonates everything: the surface has been livable for generations. Sprawling cities, lush parks, a thriving civilization—all of it built on the backs of people like him, kept underground and fed beautiful lies. Darrow and his people aren't pioneers. They're slaves. Fueled by rage and the memory of a love he's lost, Darrow does the unthinkable. He infiltrates the Institute, the brutal proving ground where the ruling Gold caste forges its next generation of overlords. To survive among the best and most vicious of his oppressors, he'll have to become something he despises—one of them. The competition is savage, the stakes are civilization itself, and every choice threatens to strip away what's left of who he was. This is a story about what we're willing to become when the system is rigged and revolution demands everything. It's visceral, furious, and heartbreaking—a tale of transformation that asks how much of yourself you can sacrifice before you lose sight of why you started fighting in the first place.Publication dateJanuary 28, 2014Amazon rating4.6/5Print length382LanguageEnglishPublisherDel Rey
- Tagsdystopiansci-fiDescriptionWhat does it cost to rise from the ashes of rebellion and claim power in a world built to crush you? Pierce Brown's *Golden Son* plunges readers back into the brutal hierarchy of a color-coded future where Darrow, once a lowly Red miner, now walks among the Golds as one of their own—but the masquerade is only the beginning. The atmosphere crackles with paranoia and ambition, a glittering Roman-inspired society where every alliance is a gamble and every victory might be your last. Brown doesn't let you breathe. The stakes escalate from personal survival to interplanetary war, and Darrow must navigate treacherous political games while keeping his true identity—and his revolutionary purpose—hidden. This is the middle book that refuses to coast. Darrow's infiltration deepens, his moral compromises multiply, and the cost of his double life becomes almost unbearable. Brown writes with visceral intensity, blending space opera spectacle with gladiatorial savagery, and the result is a relentless page-turner that earns its darkness. Friendships fracture. Enemies become allies. The line between hero and monster blurs until you're not sure which side you're rooting for anymore. *Golden Son* expands the scope of the series while tightening the noose around its protagonist, delivering a sequel that's bigger, bloodier, and more emotionally devastating than its predecessor.Publication dateJanuary 6, 2015Amazon rating4.7/5Print length464LanguageEnglishPublisherDel Rey
- Tagsdystopiansci-fithrillerDescriptionHow far would you go to avenge the one you loved? How much of yourself would you sacrifice to tear down an empire built on blood and lies? Darrow was born a Red, condemned to a life of brutal labor in the mines of Mars. The Gold overlords took everything from him—his wife, his innocence, his very identity. So he became something else. Remade into a Gold, he infiltrated the ruling class, hiding among the enemy for years, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. That moment has arrived. No more subterfuge. No more playing their games. This is open revolution, and Darrow is ready to burn their world to ash. But nothing comes easy in a society built on cruelty and hierarchy. This final fight will test everything Darrow has become, everything he's sacrificed. The chains of oppression are heavy, and breaking them will require more than rage—it will demand blood, strategy, and a willingness to lose what little remains of his humanity. Pierce Brown delivers a brutal, unflinching conclusion to Darrow's war, where the cost of freedom is measured in scars and the only way forward is through fire.Publication dateFebruary 9, 2016Amazon rating4.7/5Print length544LanguageEnglishPublisherDel Rey
- Tagsbiographydystopiansci-fihorrornon-fictionDescriptionDarrow has won his war, toppled the old hierarchy, and now must govern the fractured solar system he fought to liberate. A decade after the revolution, the Republic he helped forge teeters on the edge of collapse, its ideals corroding under the weight of compromise, vengeance, and the brutal realities of holding power. The hero who once united the oppressed now finds himself trapped between those who demand justice and those who crave retribution, his legend becoming both weapon and burden as enemies old and new circle closer. Pierce Brown expands his blood-soaked universe beyond Darrow's singular perspective, weaving together four distinct voices across a civilization struggling to define itself after cataclysm. This is a story about what comes after victory, when the clarity of rebellion gives way to the murky compromises of governance, when yesterday's liberators become today's establishment. Brown writes with the same visceral intensity that marked his earlier work, but here the violence carries a different weight—not the clean fury of revolution but the messy, ambiguous brutality of a peace that refuses to hold. The stakes have shifted from overthrowing tyranny to preventing the new order from devouring itself, and the question is no longer whether freedom can be won, but whether it can survive those who fought for it.Publication dateJanuary 16, 2018Amazon rating4.5/5Print length624LanguageEnglishPublisherDel Rey
- Tagsdystopiansci-fiDescriptionWhat happens when the revolutionary becomes the outlaw, when the hero who shattered an empire finds himself cast out of the very world he built? Darrow led a revolution a decade ago and broke the chains of tyranny. Now he's a rogue waging war on Mercury with half his fleet destroyed, fighting against impossible odds. The question haunts him: is he still the liberator, or has he become the monster he once fought? Meanwhile, Lysander au Lune, heir to the fallen empire, returns to unite the Golds of Rim and Core—a union that could crush the fragile Republic entirely. On Luna, Virginia au Augustus struggles to hold her demokracy together while her husband wages his outlaw war and their son remains missing. Pax has been abducted, forced to trust a Gray thief named Ephraim for survival. Across the void, Lyria, a Red refugee branded a traitor, fights for freedom with two unlikely companions at her side. The revolution is fracturing. Power shifts like sand. Pierce Brown weaves multiple perspectives into a brutal, sprawling narrative where every character faces impossible choices and the cost of freedom keeps climbing. This is empire in collapse, hope dimming under the weight of war, and the terrible realization that breaking chains was only the beginning. The worlds spin toward darkness.Publication dateJuly 30, 2019Amazon rating4.7/5Print length800LanguageEnglishPublisherDel Rey
- Tagsdystopiansci-fiDescriptionMercury has fallen. Darrow, the Reaper—breaker of chains, leader of the Rising—finds himself marooned far from the red soil of Mars that made him, separated from his wife Virginia and the Republic he bled to build. Lysander, heir to Gold's old supremacy, hungers to raze worlds in his quest to restore the hierarchy Darrow shattered. The distance between them is measured in planets, but the stakes are absolute: the survival of Eo's dream, the fragile Republic, and everyone Darrow loves. What follows is an interplanetary voyage home, a desperate race across the solar system where legend must give way to something more human. Darrow needs Virginia, Cassius, Sevro—the people who anchor him when myth threatens to consume the man. Old alliances will be tested. New ones forged in fire. Battlefields will run red again. Pierce Brown delivers a sprawling space opera that refuses easy victories, where the cost of revolution extends beyond the initial uprising into the brutal work of preservation. This is a story about what comes after the chains break—the grinding, unglamorous labor of defending what was won. The dark age may be upon them, but Eo's dream persists: a new age of light, of hope, of a future worth the blood it demands. The Reaper rides again.Publication dateJuly 25, 2023Amazon rating4.9/5Print length686LanguageEnglishPublisherDel Rey
Order of Red Rising Graphic Novels
- Tagsgraphic-novelsromancesci-fiDescriptionWhat does it take to ignite a revolution when the world itself is built on the bones of the oppressed, and how do ordinary people become the architects of their own liberation? Pierce Brown's Sons of Ares pulls back the curtain on the Red Rising universe to reveal the brutal origins of the rebellion that would shake the foundations of the Society's color-coded hierarchy. This graphic novel prequel traces the story of Ares, the enigmatic figure who would become the architect of revolution, and the desperate miners of Mars who dared to dream of freedom in a system designed to crush them. Through visceral artwork and unflinching storytelling, we witness the transformation of broken laborers into something far more dangerous—believers willing to sacrifice everything for a chance at dignity. What sets this apart is how it humanizes the cost of resistance, showing us not just the grand gestures of defiance but the quiet moments of doubt, the personal losses that fuel rage, and the impossible choices that forge leaders from ordinary people. Brown expands his richly imagined world with the intimacy that only graphic storytelling can provide, giving faces and histories to those who would otherwise be footnotes in Darrow's legend. For fans of the series, it's essential mythology; for newcomers, it's a standalone gateway into a universe where hope is the most dangerous weapon of all.Publication dateAugust 20, 2019Amazon rating4.4/5Print length152LanguageEnglishPublisherDynamite Entertainment
- Tagsgraphic-novelsDescriptionThis is Pierce Brown's Red Rising universe stripped down to its brutal core. The graphic novel format doesn't soften the edges—it sharpens them. Every panel drips with the violence and ambition that made the series a phenomenon, now rendered in stark visual terms that hit harder than prose ever could. Darrow's rage becomes something you can see, not just read about. The color-coded caste system that defines this dystopian solar system translates perfectly to the page, each hue a reminder of who holds power and who bleeds for it. The rebellion isn't theoretical here. It's visceral. The stakes are bodies piled high and alliances forged in blood. Brown knows his world inside out, and this adaptation trusts readers to keep pace. If you're new to Red Rising, prepare for a steep drop into a society built on oppression and maintained through cruelty. If you're already a fan, this is your chance to see the wrath you've imagined made manifest. The artwork doesn't just illustrate the story—it amplifies the fury at its heart. This is what happens when science fiction stops asking polite questions and starts demanding answers with a blade in hand.Publication dateMarch 3, 2020Amazon rating4.5/5Print length132LanguageEnglishPublisherDynamite Entertainment
- Tagsgraphic-novelsDescriptionPierce Brown's Red Rising universe expands into graphic novel territory with Forbidden Song, a visual entry in the Order of Red Rising series that brings the brutal, color-coded hierarchy of his dystopian solar system to vivid illustrated life. For those already immersed in Brown's world of Golds, Reds, and the revolutionary forces tearing through a rigid caste system, this graphic novel offers a new vantage point on the rebellion that has captivated readers across multiple bestselling novels—now rendered in stark, kinetic panels that capture both the visceral combat and the simmering class rage that define this universe. What makes Forbidden Song essential is how it leverages the graphic medium to deepen the mythology Brown has built, allowing readers to experience the oppression and defiance of his characters through a visual language that matches the intensity of his prose. The format amplifies the spectacle—the gladiatorial violence, the color-coded subjugation, the moments of quiet resistance—while maintaining the political urgency that has always driven this saga. Whether you're a longtime follower of Darrow's revolution or a newcomer curious about why this series has commanded such fierce devotion, this graphic novel serves as both companion and gateway, proving that Brown's vision of a fractured future loses none of its power when translated from page to panel.Publication dateApril 11, 2023Amazon rating4.6/5Print length120LanguageEnglishPublisherDynamite Entertainment
Frequently Asked Questions about Pierce Brown
Pierce Brown writes science fiction novels. The Red Rising series is his primary work, a sequence of fast-paced space operas. He has also contributed to the Star Wars universe with a short story. His writing focuses on political intrigue, rebellion, and the human condition under extreme circumstances.
The best place to start with Pierce Brown is with the first book in the Red Rising series, titled Red Rising, published in 2014. This novel introduces the reader to the world of Darrow, a young miner on Mars who becomes embroiled in a revolution against a color-coded caste system. It sets the stage for the epic saga that follows.
It is strongly recommended to read the Red Rising series in publication order to fully appreciate the character development and the unfolding narrative. The story is deeply interconnected, with events and character arcs carrying over from one book to the next. Reading them out of order would likely diminish the impact of the plot twists and the overall experience.
Pierce Brown primarily writes series. His most well-known work is the Red Rising saga, which is a multi-book series. He has also written a standalone short story that appears in the anthology Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View. The Red Rising graphic novels also form a connected series.
Pierce Brown has written at least eleven books. This includes the six main novels in the Red Rising series (Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, Iron Gold, Dark Age, and its upcoming sequel), one short story in the Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View anthology, and three Red Rising graphic novels (Sons of Ares, Wrath, and Forbidden Song).
The first book Pierce Brown wrote and published was Red Rising, released in 2014. This novel launched his career and the science fiction series that has become his signature work. Prior to Red Rising, he had been developing ideas and writing, but this was his debut novel.
The most recent book by Pierce Brown is the Red Rising graphic novel, Forbidden Song, published in 2023. His latest novel in the main Red Rising series is Dark Age, published in 2019, with a seventh book expected to conclude the series.
Pierce Brown writes science fiction. His works, particularly the Red Rising series, are often described as space operas. They explore themes of social hierarchy, revolution, war, and survival within complex, futuristic societies. The graphic novels delve into the backstory of characters within this universe.
Tom Tomorrow
Coming soon
Liz Jensen
Coming soon
We verified the reading order for Pierce Brown's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: April 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “Pierce Brown Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/pierce-brown