Red Rising Recap/Summary
I am someone with a beyond terrible memory so I am usually forced to do a complete reread before a new book drops in a series. I've now got in the habit of doing chapter by chapter recaps for myself as I go. I'll be doing this for this series, so they will drop one by one eventually. I hope they prove useful for others but be warned that these were written as I went, with speed, and so some mistakes are expected.
Red Rising Recaps:
Red Rising
Golden Son
Morning Star
Iron Gold
Dark Age
Light Bringer
Red God
Red Rising Recap/Summary
Prologue: Darrow is watching 1200 Golds listening to a man give a speech about how not all men are created equal and that Golds tower above the Colors. He tells them power must be claimed and wealth has to be won, and whilst currently scarless they soon won't be. Warns them only those fit for power will survive. Darrow notes that they believe he is a Gold but he is a Red and that the speaker is wrong because none of the Golds will survive.
Part I: Slave
Chapter 1: Helldiver - Darrow talks about when 'they' came for his father. They televised his arrest and the Golds tried him, he was then hung by Grays - Darrow did not cry once. His older brother Kieran cried. There is little gravity on Mars, so they let the loved ones pull the feet of the hanged in order to break their necks.
Darrow is on his own down a deep tunnel riding atop a clawDrill - he is what is known as a Helldiver. He has been one for three years, since he was thirteen. They are drilling for helium-3. Darrow got married 6 months ago to Eo, who waited for him instead of being married off at 14 like Reds usually are.
He is warned to stop, as they are near a gas pocket. They want him to wait for a crew to come and scan it but it could take hours - wants to do it himself but they warn him against it. His cousin, Loran, tells him to do it himself so they have a shot at the Laurel.
They are in the underground mining colony of Lykos, where they have 24 different clans. They get one Laurel per quarter, which gives them more food than they could want. Gamma clan gets the Laurel every single time. He thinks about how Eo will have to go hungry once again when they don't win, that she might even think to sell herself like others do in order for them to get by. He gives in and goes to take the reading himself.