Iron Gold is a 2018 science fiction novel by American author Pierce Brown, the first of a tetralogy which continues the story of his Red Rising trilogy (2014–2016). Iron Gold takes place ten years after the events of Morning Star (2016), with Darrow "The Reaper" of Lykos and Virginia "Mustang" au Augustus leading the new Solar Republic. It is followed by Dark Age (2019).
Plot summary
Ten years after their victory over the Golds of the Core Worlds, a new Solar Republic has replaced the tyrannical Society. Darrow of Lykos serves as ArchImperator of the Republic's forces, which are still at war with the Ash Lord, Magnus au Grimmus, and his allies. Darrow's wife Virginia au Augustus governs as the elected Sovereign, but a faction called Vox Populi, led by Dancer, has risen to power in the Senate. Ignoring the Senate's orders, Darrow launches a massive assault on Mercury, wresting the planet from the Ash Lord but with great casualties. When the Senate learns from Darrow's enemy, Julia au Bellona, that he rejected an overture of peace from the Ash Lord, they issue a warrant for Darrow's arrest. Darrow, knowing that the potential truce is a ploy by the Ash Lord that will never come to fruition, escapes with his closest allies on a dangerous mission to assassinate Magnus. Darrow and the Howlers set off to Earth, where they free Apollonius au Valii-Rath after a stealth assault on Deepgrave Prison and set off to Venus to kill the Ash Lord. They invade his fortress, but find him bedridden. He reveals that his daughter Atalantia is heading to retake Mercury, which is not fully protected, and that Darrow and Sevro's children have been captured. Enraged, Sevro and Apollonius then burn the Ash Lord to death. Stricken by grief and his failure as a father, Darrow sets course to Mercury to reinforce his army while Sevro heads back to Luna.
Meanwhile, Cassius au Bellona and his ward Lysander au Lune rescue a female Gold from a drifting ship in the asteroid belt. After making a narrow escape from Obsidian pirates, they are rescued by Golds from House Raa of the Rim, learning that the Gold they rescued was Seraphina au Raa, daughter of the Rim Sovereign. Cassius and Lysander, initially disguising themselves as merchants, become embroiled in the political upheaval happening in the Outer Rim, as Dido au Raa deposes her husband, Romulus, the Sovereign of the Rim Dominion. When his identity is revealed, Cassius is challenged by multiple Golds for his past "crimes" against the Raa; he kills one after the other but is gravely wounded, and ultimately dies. Dido shows the Moon Lords evidence that their Ganymede shipyards were destroyed by Darrow and not by Roque au Fabii as they had been led to believe. While initially prosecuted for negligence, Romulus admits to charges of treason, as he knew about Darrow's destruction of the shipyards but covered up the evidence to avoid war. Before he dies, Romulus warns Lysander to keep the peace lest the numerically fewer Golds of the Rim are destroyed by Darrow. Nevertheless, the Rim Lords decide to go to war against the Republic, and Lysander joins them.
Lyria is a Red who lives in Camp 121 on Mars after her people are freed from the mines. The terrorist organization known as the Red Hand attacks the camp, killing nearly everyone, and Lyria and her nephew Liam are the only members of her family to survive. Republic forces eventually arrive to intervene, and Lyria saves Kavax au Telemanus from drowning. He takes her into his household. On Luna, Lyria befriends a veteran named Philippe, who is actually the criminal Ephraim ti Horn in disguise. He uses her in his plan to bring down a Telemanus transport ship and kidnap Pax, the son of Darrow and Virginia, and Electra, the daughter of Sevro and Victra, at the request of the crime lord known as the Duke of Hands. Caught after the fact, Ephraim agrees to help his former sister-in-law, Darrow's deputy Holiday ti Nakamura, retrieve the children. Ephraim flees the Duke's compound with Pax and Electra, but the Duke's boss, the Syndicate Queen, remotely seizes control of his stolen ship when they are 20 minutes from Republic ships. Ephraim destroys the ship's engines to prevent recapture, crashing himself and the two children to the surface.