Review: Red Rising: Sons of Ares - Pierce Brown, Rik Hoskin & Eli Powell

From the world of the best-selling YA series Red Rising comes a story of love and loss and rage!
In the future, when mankind has spread across the stars, the hierarchy of man is dictated by the color of one's caste. The Golds rule all, but what will happen when one falls for a lowly Red? See how a forbidden love will set the course of events for the future and lead to the formation of the formidable Sons of Ares!

Written by author Pierce Brown (The Red Rising Trilogy) and Rik Hoskin (Heroes of Skyrealm, Brandon Sanderson's White Sand), with art by Eli Powell (Yakuza Demon Killers, The 13th Artifact), comes the in-continuity story of revolution and Red Rising!

Red Rising Series:
Red Rising: Sons of Ares (Graphic Novel, originally published as 6 comics)
Red Rising
Golden Son
Morning Star
Iron Gold
Dark Age (September 2018)

Visit Pierce Brown's website for more information

Review:
Red Rising: Sons of Ares is a prequel to the Red Rising series that was originally released as 6 comics (which of course being a superfan I've already purchased!), I believe the comics are now out of print and only available as ebooks so I think it's fantastic for fans that we're now getting this hardback bind-up of the whole series. The hardback is available in two versions signed or unsigned which is slightly cheaper. I've preordered the signed copy and I can't wait to see it on my shelves.

Now you've got more of an idea what you're actually getting let's get to the interesting stuff like the artwork and the story. This is a prequel so it's set before Red Rising but I definitely wouldn't recommend starting here - you'll end up giving yourself spoilers for the main books if you do. I think fans of the series will love getting to see a younger Fitchner and learning how he met his wife (although this story is slightly different to how it's told in the books) and we also get to see baby Sevro which is pretty cool. It's very easy to see where Sevro gets his attitude from that's for sure! This also shows the reasons that the Sons of Ares was originally founded so it gives us a chance to see the very beginning of the revolution that changes everything for Darrow in Red Rising.

The artwork is wonderful, quite dark in colour but that fits the gory and violent tone of the story perfectly. I love the added touch that each conversation bubble is coloured to match the birth colour of the character speaking. I really enjoying being back in this world but via a more visual format and it left me wanting to reread the rest of the series again. This is one of my all time favourite series so I'll jump at any chance for more from this world and this was a lovely addition.

A Covers for comic issues 1-6

B Covers for comic issues 1-6

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
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Kindle Volumes 1-6:



Bind up of all 6 issues Hardback (Signed / Unsigned) / Kindle:

Review: Hopcross Jilly - Patricia Briggs, Rik Hoskin & Tom Garcia

Mercy is a shapeshifting coyote and honorary member of the Tri-Cities werewolf pack. When the pack stumbles upon the buried bones of numerous dead children, she shapeshifts into a mystery of the legendary fae - a mystery that draws Mercy's stepdaughter Jesse into the fray!

The supernatural romance series Mercy Thompson continues in this all-new, original story by New York Times bestselling author, Patricia Briggs, exclusively created for the comic book medium!

Collects the six-issue Mercy Thompson comic book series from 2014-2015, a story set in official continuity.

Mercy Thompson Series:
Homecoming (Graphic Novel)
Moon Called
Blood Bound
Iron Kissed
Bone Crossed
Silver Borne
River Marked
Frost Burned
Hopcross Jilly (Graphic Novel)
Night Broken
Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson
Fire Touched
Silence Fallen

Alpha and Omega Series:
(This is a spin off to the Mercy Thompson series)
Alpha and Omega (novella found in the On the Prowl anthology)
Cry Wolf
Hunting Ground
Fair Game
Dead Heat
Burn Bright

Visit Patricia Briggs' website for more information

Review:
Hopcross Jilly is the second Mercy Thompson graphic novel I've read and I have to say I think I liked it more than the first one. The characters still aren't exactly how I pictured them but I don't think any artist would be able to get this perfectly right for every fan out there so that's not a real issue. The main thing is that the characters are easily recognisable and the artwork is much more consistent here than it was in Homecoming. If you're wondering where this story fits into the series time line it's between Frost Burned and Night Broken (and just after events in Dead Heat if you're reading the world order including the Alpha & Omega books - which I'd HIGHLY recommend you do!) so it may contain spoilers if you're not at least that far into the series.

Just in case you'd like to get an idea of what the main characters look like in Hopcross Jilly here are Mercy, Adam and Jesse.

This is a story about missing children and it gives us a chance to spend some time with Adam's daughter Jesse which I really enjoyed. I really hate that she is treated so badly at school just because her dad is a werewolf but considering how ruthless teenagers (and humans in general if we're honest!) can be towards anyone different I didn't find that at all surprising. When Adam's pack finds a bunch of very old skeletons and then children start to go missing they immediately become suspects in the eyes of the public and Jesse becomes a convenient target for the missing teenager's friends. Fear and ignorance is never a good combination and we see that in spades here.

Things have definitely got interesting in the series since the fae decided to stop hiding how dangerous they are, especially since they seem to be deliberately letting the worst of their kind out of the reservations with the sole purpose of reminding humanity that they are a force to be reckoned with. I hope that means we're going to see lots more interesting fae creatures from here onwards.

I think the graphic novel format worked really well to tell this story, it doesn't give the same depth of characterisation as a normal book but now we're at a point where we know the main players so well it was fun to see them in a more visual manner. I absolutely love this series though and will happily devour as many stories as Patricia Briggs can write no matter what format they come in!

Source: Received from publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
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Hardback / Kindle: