Copyright © 2016 by Pierce Brown
Illustration copyright © 2016 by Joel Daniel Phillips
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
DEL REY and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
ISBN 9780345539847
eBook ISBN 9780345539854
randomhousebooks.com
Book design by Caroline Cunningham, adapted for ebook
Cover design: David G. Stevenson and Faceout Studio
Cover illustration: David G. Stevenson
v4.1
ep
Contents
Prologue
Part I: Thorns
Chapter 1: Only the Dark
Chapter 2: Prisoner L17L6363
Chapter 3: Snakebite
Chapter 4: Cell 2187
Chapter 5: Plan C
Chapter 6: Victims
Chapter 7: Bumblebees
Chapter 8: Home
Chapter 9: The City of Ares
Chapter 10: The War
Chapter 11: My People
Chapter 12: The Julii
Part II: Rage
Chapter 13: Howlers
Chapter 14: The Vampire Moon
Chapter 15: The Hunt
Chapter 16: Paramour
Chapter 17: Killing Golds
Chapter 18: Abyss
Chapter 19: Pressure
Chapter 20: Dissent
Chapter 21: Quicksilver
Chapter 22: The Weight of Ares
Chapter 23: The Tide
Chapter 24: Hic Sunt Leones
Chapter 25: Exodus
Chapter 26: The Ice
Chapter 27: Bay of Laughter
Chapter 28: Feast
Chapter 29: Hunters
Chapter 30: The Quiet
Chapter 31: The Pale Queen
Chapter 32: No Man’s Land
Chapter 33: Gods and Men
Chapter 34: Godkillers
Part III: Glory
Chapter 35: The Light
Chapter 36: Swill
Chapter 37: The Last Eagle
Chapter 38: The Bill
Chapter 39: The Heart
Chapter 40: Yellow Sea
Chapter 41: The Moon Lord
Chapter 42: The Poet
Chapter 43: Here Again
Chapter 44: The Lucky Ones
Chapter 45: The Battle of Ilium
Chapter 46: Helldiver
Chapter 47: Hell
Chapter 48: Imperator
Chapter 49: Colossus
Part IV: Stars
Chapter 50: Thunder and Lightning
Chapter 51: Pandora
Chapter 52: Teeth
Chapter 53: Silence
Chapter 54: The Goblin and the Gold
Chapter 55: The Ignoble House Barca
Chapter 56: In Time
Chapter 57: Luna
Chapter 58: Fading Light
Chapter 59: The Lion of Mars
Chapter 60: Dragon’s Maw
Chapter 61: The Red
Chapter 62: Omnis Vir Lupus
Chapter 63: Silence
Chapter 64: Hail
Chapter 65: The Vale
Epilogue
Detail left
Detail right
THE STORY SO FAR…
Darrow is a Red, a lowly miner slaving away below the surface of Mars. He toils to make the surface of his planet habitable for future generations, but he and his kind have been betrayed: the surface is livable and ruled by the unscrupulous Golds. When they hang his wife for voicing rebellious ideas, Darrow joins a revolutionary group known as the Sons of Ares. With the help of the Sons, Darrow is physically transformed into a Gold and sent to take the Society down from the inside.
He enters the Institute, a training school for the Gold elite that turns spoiled teenagers into the best warriors in Society. There Darrow learns the ways of warfare and how to navigate through the often treacherous—but sometimes genuine—friendships and complex political climate of the Golds. Only by changing the paradigm and relying on his new friends is Darrow able to best the Institute and all of its dangers.
From his victory at the Institute Darrow wins prestige and a position in the employ of the ArchGovernor of Mars, Nero au Augustus. However, he finds that it is difficult to live up to his own legend, as Darrow is unsuccessful at the Academy, where Golds train in ship-to-ship combat. Bested by a familial rival of his employer, Darrow’s worth quickly declines in the eyes of the ArchGovernor, until that is, Darrow gives the power-hungry Gold what he wants: civil war.
Playing the Augustus clan against the Bellonas, Darrow throws Society into disarray, sowing the seeds of chaos everywhere he goes. After amassing an impressive army and some dubious allies, Darrow leads a successful assault on Mars, ousting the Bellonas from control of the planet. But at the Triumph held to honor his military victory, betrayal once again rears its ugly head and all that he has worked for is undone. His friends and allies killed or missing, Darrow is captured and his secret identity is discovered; the fate of the rebellion balances on a razor’s edge…
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
OCTAVIA AU LUNE Reigning Sovereign of the Society
LYSANDER AU LUNE Grandson of Octavia, heir to House Lune
ADRIUS AU AUGUSTUS/JACKAL ArchGovernor of Mars, twin brother to Virginia
VIRGINIA AU AUGUSTUS/MUSTANG Twin sister to Adrius
MAGNUS AU GRIMMUS/THE ASH LORD The Sovereign’s Arch Imperator, father to Aja
AJA AU GRIMMUS The Protean Knight, chief bodyguard to the Sovereign
