Dark Age is finished! After what sounds like lots and lots of writing and editing, Red Rising author Pierce Brown has announced that the book is finally done. Dark Age is in the can (or wherever it is books go when they’re done being written). From what Pierce Brown says, it sounds like this book is big.

Of course, this news comes with a slight tweak to the release date, which was set for July 9 and has now been moved to July 30, 2019. So, just a few weeks later than we were expecting.

Check out his full post below…

There’s actually a lot to unpack here…

Pierce Brown’s update in a nutshell:

• The book is done.
• It’s a big book.
• Atalantia au Grimmus. Atlas au fucking Raa.
• It’s the most complex, violent, and hopefully intimate of the entire series.
• New release date is July 30, 2019.
• An excerpt of the Mustang POV.
• Dark Age tour info is coming.

Ok, I’m going to need a whole separate post for that Mustang POV. But let’s talk about everything else, like the mention of the Ash Lord’s daughter, Atalantia au Grimmus. Given the end of Iron Gold, it would be surprising if she weren’t a big part of this next installment. And then there’s the presumably formidable Atlas au (fucking) Raa. Cassius faced off against Atlas’ son Bellerephon (the Bold) in Iron Gold. What should we expect from Atlas?

Complex, Violent, and (Hopefully) Intimate

We should probably expect complex and violent from the Red Rising books at this point, but the “intimate” mention is very intriguing. What does it mean?! More emotional depth to the characters, perhaps?

It’s Large

Pierce Brown says Dark Age is the largest book he’s ever written. Assuming he’s talking about the length, it sounds like this book could surpass the 624 pages of Iron Gold. No complaints here. And it makes sense, given that he’s adding a fifth POV to the story with this book.

July 30

The release date got inched back a bit. It’s only a three-week delay. Given that the book has been pushed back previously from September 2018 to February 2019 to July 2019, three weeks is nothing! And now that we know this book is going to be pretty giant, it’s completely understandable.

Dark Age Tour Dates

Tour dates are coming! No additional information was given, but Pierce says he’ll be announcing dates soon. My guess is that those are all or mostly going to land sometime after the release date as they did with Iron Gold, however the book’s release is happening just weeks after San Diego Comic-Con, so perhaps he’ll be planning another stop there to promote Dark Age ahead of its release. We’ll see!

The Mustang POV excerpt

I need a bit more time to process that, so stay tuned for a separate post. I have thoughts! UPDATE: Here are my thoughts on the Mustang POV excerpt.

In the meantime, it sounds like we should expect some twists, some turns and a ‘worthy’ scene worth discussing. Hmmm….