Red Rising: The Sons of Ares book #2 review

Red Rising: The Sons of Ares is a prequel series to Pierce Brown’s NYTBS Red Rising Series. It will cover the birth of a rebellion and provide backstory of some integral characters from the original trilogy.

Comic: Red Rising: The Sons of Ares 

Story by: Pierce Brown

Script by: Rik Hoskin

Art by: Eli Powell

Color by: Jordan Boyd

Summary

The Sons of Ares book 2 takes off exactly where the previous chapter left us. Varus, a Gold, is held in what appears to be an abandoned warehouse by a ragtag group of masked low-colors, led by a Gold named Fitchner. The group is surrounded by an army of Grays and Obsidians, the soldier colors in the world of Red Rising. 

While the group argues over what to do next, one accidentally reveals Fitchner’s name and Varus pays for his captors’ mistake with his life.

Image Courtesy Dynamite Comics for Red Rising: The Sons of Ares Book 2

The group runs away from the warehouse to make their escape and we are greeted with another flashback to Fitchner’s time at the institute.

Image Courtesy Dynamite Comics for Red Rising: The Sons of Ares Book #2

Arturuis is revealed to be the kind stranger who had saved Fitchner in the previous chapter and together the two of them run from a mob, paralleling the situation our heroes find themselves facing in the present.

Fitchner and Arturuis formed an unbreakable bond, that seems to have gone beyond normal friendship, at the Institute and together they conquered the other Houses.

Both received a Scar upon their graduation, marking them as one of the Peerless Scarred, one of the highest honors in The Society.

Although both promised that their bond would last forever, Arturuis’ mother Irena did not approve of their friendship and after she pressured it, Fitchner was forced to leave his friend’s side.

This forced him to confront the terrible reality that despite all of his achievements and merit, he’d never truly belong amongst his Golden peers.

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Back in the present we see the power Fitchner can bring to bear as he singlehandedly defeats a fearsome Obsidian death squad.

This chapter ends with Fitchner and his group continuing their mad dash for freedom and their lives.

Fitchner reminisces about Irena’s disdain for him and how she called him a monster.

“Perhaps I am one…” he says “… even monsters can fall in love”.

Surely foreshadowing what is to come in chapter 3.

Artwork

Just like the first book, book 2 of The Sons of Ares is brutal and the artwork captures it in a delightfully visceral style.

An interesting aspect which is also present in the first book is that even those faces not covered by a mask are mask-like in appearance. I’m not sure if this is a result of the basic nature of the art, or whether it’s designed to mimic the two-faced nature of life in The Society, but either way I appreciated it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I liked this edition of The Sons of Ares, perhaps even a little bit more than the first one. They are rather short for my liking, and I think I would have enjoyed them even more if I were able to read the entire narrative from start to finish in one go.

The story overall captures the heart and ideas behind the original Red Rising trilogy very well. Irena isn’t concerned with merits or deeds of men, but simply with their names and bloodlines.

This idea is a big part of the problems that come to a head during the events of the original trilogy.

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Just like last time, I think that those already enthralled by Pierce Brown’s epic world will enjoy getting a visual glimpse into it themselves, even if it doesn’t quite match the way they saw it in their head.