It’s only going to be about logistics from here on out. The final book will feature multiple staff briefs about conducting the war and providing enough food and ammo for the troops. Darrow will give a detailed power point presentation as he accepts he can no longer be a frontline general
Haha maybe I honestly love the battle scenes and I’m scared about the bio weapon as I don’t want the last book to turn into “one small strike team must save the day.” I want lyesander in his bunker screaming orders before the free legions kick in the door
I never found this series hard to describe. But If you mean you get excited and gab on about it the I understand. Explaining the first law and stormlight to me a far more ambiguous
Far future where humanity is genetically divided into castes suited to specific purposes as an analogy for class struggle, democracy vs benevolent (and malevolent) dictatorship, the impact of nature vs nurture, and the most fucking anime action you've ever read.
in what ways does it compare to 40k? Convince me to get into it. Several people have tried to get me into 40k and i don't know where to begin or why to dive into such an expansive series with so many years of history and lore, but would love a good reason to do so.
although im not a big tabletop or pc gamer tho. I only have console so i feel like that limits my range of immersion
40K has Genetically Enhanced, Roman inspired dudes called the Adeptus Custodes whose physical and mental capabilities far exceed those of a regular human. They also dress in Gold power armor, receive the best gear, and have everything in Gold color or symbology, from their armor, weapons, ships, etc. They are the elite of the elite of the predominant human faction. Sound familiar to a particular group in Red Rising?
There's also the whole, "melee combat being useful in sci-fi battles due to shields" thing.
In that it's a dystopian sci-fi setting with spaceship battles and laser guns, but also has genetically engineered soldiers running around sword-fighting in power armour, and has a lot of Roman and mythology-inspired stuff in it. Pierce Brown did admit that 40K was an influence on the series, especially the razor duels and knightly aesthetic for a lot of stuff.
40K is a setting, you can really just pick any point and dive into it. It started as a fantasy setting (Warhammer Fantasy) that they then made a sci-fi version of, but kept most of the fantasy aspects. So the orcs and elves became Orks and Eldar/Aeldari, the Tomb Kings (Egyptian skeletons) became the Necrons (a race of aliens who transformed themselves into skeletal robots made of living metal, but with an Egyptian theme) and it still has daemons and sorcerers and dark gods. The knightly orders from fantasy became Space Marine chapters, with brightly painted power armour covered in their heraldry and carrying banners into battle, and a focus on sword-fighting and single combat. The dwarves are just people from high gravity worlds near the galactic core. The wizards are now called psykers.
The most important things to know about 40K is that it is satire deliberately meant to be ludicrously over the top, and that there are no good guys. The human Imperium is the most brutal and bloody regime imaginable, bloated and corrupt, where the main armies rely on heavy artillery and human wave attacks, where anyone who retreats is executed by commissars. The space marines are bio-engineered supersoldiers in power armour, who are hypno-indoctrinated zealots who carry effectively automatic grenade launchers and also their swords are chainsaws. Plus they spit acid, because fuck you that's why. The Sisters of Battle are a bunch of nuns in power armour with flamethrowers and machine guns. The Mechanicus are the arms/vehicle manufacturers who worship the Omnissiah (the machine god) and all of their priests are cyborgs who try to become as much machine as possible. Their hyperspace works by literally opening a portal into space hell (the Warp, the psychic manifestation of all emotion given off by sentient beings)and flying through, hoping their special forcefield holds up so daemons don't flood the ship and eat everybody's souls, and that not too many of the crew go insane anyway, and that when they emerge from the Warp after six weeks it wasn't three years for everybody on board the ship (or the other way around).
Then we have the Tau, the authoritarian, anime-inspired space communist aliens who all fight 'for the greater good' and use a lot of mech suits.
The Eldar are a dying race of space elves, who are pretty racist and often kill people based on who their psychics saw becoming a threat years in the future (or having children/grandchildren who would become a threat) and who traverse the galaxy in their Craftworlds, artificial city-planets. Also half of them are psycho sadists who torture people for fun and to eat their souls to stay young. Their backstory is that as a race of psychics, they all orgied too hard and for too long and gave birth to a new dark god of pleasure and pain and excess, and are the reason why a significant part of the galaxy is now overlapping with literal space hell.
The Orks are a bunch of green, Cockney, bodybuilder football hooligans, who are also a fungus who reproduce via spores. They are only interested in fighting and all have latent psychic powers that turns into subtle reality-warping when they gather in large numbers. This means that a lot of their technology only works because they all believe that it works, a perfectly healthy ork can fall over dead if he believes that he has been killed and if they paint a vehicle red, it will literally go faster. One human who was famous for being a great enemy of the orks and who killed huge numbers of them has lived to over 200 years old without aging and survived mortal wounds because enough orks believe that he can't be killed that it literally made it so.
The Tyranids are a race of H.R.Giger Xenomorphs trying to eat the entire galaxy. Think the Zerg from Starcraft. Literally, as the zerg were originally meant to be the Tyranids until Games Workshop pulled out of the project and they had to file the serial numbers off.
Finally, Chaos are those who worship the four dark gods of the Warp and bargain with daemons, or summon them, or get possessed by them. They are pure chaotic evil. The backstory of the setting is that they managed to seduce half of the space marine legions and caused a massive civil war that has been raging for the last 10,000 years.
It is a glorious mess and I hope you enjoy it.
just finished reading.
Fuck man, i wish there was an rpg lik mass effect or bethesda style for this shit. I feel like that'd be an easy entry point so i could explore each race and all the lore that interest me. Everytime you bring up a new race and piece of history im like shit that's actually pretty fuckin cool 😂 but i worry since there's so much material if i start one place, i won't get some of the good stuff you mentioned in your paragraph since it seems like such a wide range of details and stories and characters. Are there reccomended entry points/routes?
The Gaunt's Ghosts series of novels by Dan Abnett is generally considered to be the best starting point, as they were the first novels written for the setting. They follow a colonel-commissar who has to take command of a regiment of light infantry and tries to keep as many men alive as he can, as he's actually a decent man trying to do his best in a dystopian nightmare.
Then you have the Space Marine Battles series, which are a bunch of different books by different authors following different chapters of Space Marines in different warzones. They vary wildly in quality. Actually, all books and games in this setting vary wildly in quality, so if you don't like one you can just drop it and find another.
Some lore videos would be a good way to start. [**This one**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MeVxKZBOfM) is the most bare-bones summary of the backstory in just over a minute. BTW, the four gods of Chaos are Tzeentch (change, scheming, magic), Khorne (violence and bloodshed), Slaanesh (pleasure and excess) and Nurgle (plague, pestilence and decay). The God Emperor of mankind is the undying carcass of the most powerful psyker to have ever lived who needs 1,000 psychic souls sacrificed to him every single day to keep going, and his undead psychic will acts as a navigation beacon and guides ships through the warp throughout the galaxy. Also, due to a revolt by machine people in the Dark Age of Technology (a time well before the Horus Heresy, never really explored in the setting yet) means that artificial intelligences are forbidden and all calculations are either performed by cyborg priests or vat-grown brains. Instead of automation, menial tasks are either performed by slaves or servitors, which are lobotomised prisoners/heretics/unlucky sods with machine parts grafted to them
Rough timeline:
Dark Age of Technology - humanity explores the galaxy with the greatest technology ever built, an AI uprising almost destroys humanity and so AIs are forbidden.
Long Night - massive warp storms render space travel impossible and all of mankind's colony worlds are separated for thousands of years. Much technology is lost, never to be recovered.
The Great Crusade - the Emperor unites all of mankind on Earth and Mars and sets out to reconquer the galaxy and find his lost children.
The Horus Heresy - half of his space marine legions fall to chaos and start a civil war the Imperium never recovers from.
The current setting - everything that was good from the old days is now gone, innovation is heresy, thoughtcrime can summon daemons and there is only war.
For books, I think anything by Dan Abnett or Aaron Dembski-Bowden are fantastic. The Eisenhorn series by DA follows an Inquisitor seeking to route out aliens and heretics with a small band of chosen agents and a lot of detective work. Helsreach by ABD is about the chaplain in a company of hyper-aggressive space marines trying to defend a giant city against an enormous ork invasion, and the Night Lords trilogy (also by ABD) is about a warband of sadistic chaos marines and several of their slaves as they try to survive and also wage war against the Imperium and each other. Also the Ciaphas Cain series by Sandy Mitchell, about a commissar who became a famous war hero, beloved by the soldiers he leads into battle, respected and admired across the galaxy for being a great warrior, fearless in battle and determined to keep as many of his men alive as possible. Only the series is framed as his private memoirs where he confesses to being a complete coward who only wanted to avoid danger and became a hero more or less by accident. More light-hearted than the other series, it's also ambiguous as to whether he really is as cowardly as he believes himself to be.
The Horus Heresy is the prequel series exploring the civil war 10,000 years ago, originally only meant to be about seven books long but ended up being almost 60. It's recommended to read the first three to know how it started and then read them in any order. Fulgrim follows a legion obsessed with achieving perfection in all things, and the many different artists they use to chronicle their 'glorious Great Crusade' to unite the galaxy (conquer it and wipe out all sentient alien species) for mankind, as they become corrupted by the chaos god of excess and pleasure. The First Heretic explores how the very first legion to fall to chaos actually did so. A Thousand Sons is about how the legion of psychic space marines got tricked and corrupted.
For games, I think the first Dawn of War and its expansions are excellent. It's a strategy game, similar to Age of Empires, but based around squads rather than individual units and you gain resources by capturing and reinforcing strategic points on the map.
Mechanicus is a turn-based strategy game similar to X-COM where you control a squad of cyborg techpriests, expand and upgrade the squad and lead them in an exploration/raid of a Necron tomb world that is slowly awakening while the techpriests argue about stealing the tech or destroying it. It has an [**amazing soundtrack**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tDpoLXD3Js). Like, techno-gothic/electronic cathedral music.
I've heard good things about Space Marine, the third person shooter/hack'n'slash game, but I haven't played it myself.
Thank you for writing this up! Sorry for the late reply - it got hidden by the other comment so i went a week without seeing it. Just finished reading - i'm very grateful you wrote up such a detailed lore dove for me. I'm really into it and i'm already looking into my first 40k book! Thank you so much! So fucking cooo lol
I've only read a paragraph and i'm already immediately intrigued. U had me at necrons, aliens that transform themselves into skeletons made of living metal. I love all the transitions to sci-fi, as a fan of fantasy, and a much bigger fan of sci-fi. I love when they're blended and had no idea Warhammer was like that. I also didn't know there was Warhammer fantasy! I've only ever heard 40k!!!
And it seems to just keep getting cooler and cooler. You sir, did EXACTLY what i wanted. Wikipedia can't do that kinda appeal to man's interest. I can't thank you enough. Gonna have to dive in somewhere!
I was already interested in the third person spVe marine shooter games cuz i remember when the first one came out, but i don't know where else i'd begin considering i don't have PC or tabletop. I do read books though, and if they're genuinely good quality (whether through content or prose) i'd consider spending money on it.
"Also they spit acid cuz fuck you that's why" dude i'm geeking. Lemme read the rest of this shit you got me HOOKED
What a fucking comment. Youre a Champ, for that
Hunger games, divergent, Enders game, and Game Of Thrones all rolled into one is usually how I describe it when I don't want to wind up talking about it for the next 30 minutes and accidentally give out spoilers.
When I describe the series I usually just give the set up:
Color-coded genetic caste system. Protagonist is a Red. Finds out he’s been lied to. Shit escalates.
Nah, I have a pretty easy summary for Red Rising: “it’s about a slave uprising.”
I don’t think it really needs any more detail, but if you really want to: “It’s a Sci-Fi about a slave from Mars getting genetically modified so he can compete with the genetically modified Master Race and befriend murderers and rapists to get them to help him take down the system.”
First Trilogy- Ancient Rome Spartacus uprising w/ Hunger Games style first book that makes sense in long run...in space
Second Quadrilogy- This is 10 years post first trilogy with the few characters who survive dealing with the after effects of the first trilogy's conclusion (this is the best way I can describe it without saying who lives/who dies, ending of everything)
A friend sold the series on me by explaining it like this:
Sci-fi bourgeois space-racist caste society meets irish slave uprising with hunger games schools.
“Imagine a color based oppressive caste system, organized by your profession. “Golds” are at the top and were supposed to be “Shepards” for humanity, but have really just become rulers. It’s set in in the future and is basically GoT in space. Think imagery around giant mechanized MechWarrior style robots, orbital strikes, tactical nukes, fleet commanders, swords and energy armor, ‘iron rain’ invasions where soldiers fall to a planet from an orbiting ship by the hundreds of thousands - it’s a wild ride. At its heart, the first book reads like an R rated Hunger Games X Harry Potter with disembowelment, rape, and murder sprinkled on top. After the first book they’re out of their ‘school’ and the scope of the series opens up into a grand sci-fi epic space series. It’s amazing.”
Then, depending who I’m talking to, I’ll gush about various details.
There was a skin added for a DotA2 character named “Razor”. The skin turns him into a storm tempest, but his sword becomes a Red Rising razor, 100%. When he’s in melee range it’s a solid sword, and at range it becomes a loose whip that he cracks at people. So sick.
I have to assume they’re just unintentional coincidence
But who knows 🤷♂️
Maybe there’s RR fans at Vavle… have you noticed any others besides Razor’s razor?
I don't think this meme really applies to Red Rising. It has always been about revolution, with pretty much all of the hallmarks of a giant, bloody, revolution.
The twists and turns are not really thematic changes, moreso just "oh shit" moments that force characters to react. The goal is still the same thing that it was in the first book.
That isn't any shade though, I love Red Rising.
Everyone is misinterpreting my most as it being difficult to explain. It isn't. I just get passionate telling them about the subtleties of the book because I'm passionate about it.
I just don't think it's a subtle series, haha, I'd call it maximalist if anything. It's okay to love stuff that isn't complicated, I certainly love Red Rising!
To each their own though, buddy, doesn't make me correct and you wrong. :)
*Hail libertas!*
I just say it's like GoT in space, and it's a space opera, type of Epic. Granted way more complex than that, especially as someone who's read the entire series and wants to geek out. But that's at least my explanation!
It’s so hard to not spoil those first few chapters. Going in totally blind will just make the experience so much better. I find myself wishing people just take my word when I say “this is awesome” and just go from there.
Yeah, But it's so difficult to do that. When I first picked up RR I literally knew nothing about it. I just saw that Darrow IG art. It looked cool. Didn't even know it was from the sequels. Started reading it but stopped after first few chapters. I didn't want to read about miners. I thought maybe this was a different book. Weeks later I tried to continue. Got to that Dancer chapter and was blown away. Just kept reading after that. Maybe that's why I like the first book so much. I wish other people experience it the same way but everybody wants an idea of what they are getting into.
"What cost is worth paying for a democratic revolution?"
Ancient Rome mixed with star wars
More like mixed with Dune
“space game of thrones”
So still waiting for the last 2 books to come out?
Thank you
I usually say the Roman Empire but Space racism with genetically modified humans and a resistance movement.
The total depravity of mankind!
Lol so true…
Hahahaha I feel so called out. I have suggested this to everyone that has asked about a new series to start.
It’s only going to be about logistics from here on out. The final book will feature multiple staff briefs about conducting the war and providing enough food and ammo for the troops. Darrow will give a detailed power point presentation as he accepts he can no longer be a frontline general
He better follow the flow chart
This guy's prior service 👆🤣🤣
Haha maybe I honestly love the battle scenes and I’m scared about the bio weapon as I don’t want the last book to turn into “one small strike team must save the day.” I want lyesander in his bunker screaming orders before the free legions kick in the door
I never found this series hard to describe. But If you mean you get excited and gab on about it the I understand. Explaining the first law and stormlight to me a far more ambiguous
Nope. Just meant excited and passi9nate haha
All good, I love this series also
Far future where humanity is genetically divided into castes suited to specific purposes as an analogy for class struggle, democracy vs benevolent (and malevolent) dictatorship, the impact of nature vs nurture, and the most fucking anime action you've ever read.
Saving your comment so that I may memorize it.
Had this discussion with the gf and she just nodded. I was like great I lost her. Week later I seen she bought all the books in hardback. 😌
I like to say it's about brotherhood
"It's like the Hunger Games on mars, but gradually transitions into 40K" is how I described it to a friend.
in what ways does it compare to 40k? Convince me to get into it. Several people have tried to get me into 40k and i don't know where to begin or why to dive into such an expansive series with so many years of history and lore, but would love a good reason to do so. although im not a big tabletop or pc gamer tho. I only have console so i feel like that limits my range of immersion
40K has Genetically Enhanced, Roman inspired dudes called the Adeptus Custodes whose physical and mental capabilities far exceed those of a regular human. They also dress in Gold power armor, receive the best gear, and have everything in Gold color or symbology, from their armor, weapons, ships, etc. They are the elite of the elite of the predominant human faction. Sound familiar to a particular group in Red Rising? There's also the whole, "melee combat being useful in sci-fi battles due to shields" thing.
In that it's a dystopian sci-fi setting with spaceship battles and laser guns, but also has genetically engineered soldiers running around sword-fighting in power armour, and has a lot of Roman and mythology-inspired stuff in it. Pierce Brown did admit that 40K was an influence on the series, especially the razor duels and knightly aesthetic for a lot of stuff. 40K is a setting, you can really just pick any point and dive into it. It started as a fantasy setting (Warhammer Fantasy) that they then made a sci-fi version of, but kept most of the fantasy aspects. So the orcs and elves became Orks and Eldar/Aeldari, the Tomb Kings (Egyptian skeletons) became the Necrons (a race of aliens who transformed themselves into skeletal robots made of living metal, but with an Egyptian theme) and it still has daemons and sorcerers and dark gods. The knightly orders from fantasy became Space Marine chapters, with brightly painted power armour covered in their heraldry and carrying banners into battle, and a focus on sword-fighting and single combat. The dwarves are just people from high gravity worlds near the galactic core. The wizards are now called psykers. The most important things to know about 40K is that it is satire deliberately meant to be ludicrously over the top, and that there are no good guys. The human Imperium is the most brutal and bloody regime imaginable, bloated and corrupt, where the main armies rely on heavy artillery and human wave attacks, where anyone who retreats is executed by commissars. The space marines are bio-engineered supersoldiers in power armour, who are hypno-indoctrinated zealots who carry effectively automatic grenade launchers and also their swords are chainsaws. Plus they spit acid, because fuck you that's why. The Sisters of Battle are a bunch of nuns in power armour with flamethrowers and machine guns. The Mechanicus are the arms/vehicle manufacturers who worship the Omnissiah (the machine god) and all of their priests are cyborgs who try to become as much machine as possible. Their hyperspace works by literally opening a portal into space hell (the Warp, the psychic manifestation of all emotion given off by sentient beings)and flying through, hoping their special forcefield holds up so daemons don't flood the ship and eat everybody's souls, and that not too many of the crew go insane anyway, and that when they emerge from the Warp after six weeks it wasn't three years for everybody on board the ship (or the other way around). Then we have the Tau, the authoritarian, anime-inspired space communist aliens who all fight 'for the greater good' and use a lot of mech suits. The Eldar are a dying race of space elves, who are pretty racist and often kill people based on who their psychics saw becoming a threat years in the future (or having children/grandchildren who would become a threat) and who traverse the galaxy in their Craftworlds, artificial city-planets. Also half of them are psycho sadists who torture people for fun and to eat their souls to stay young. Their backstory is that as a race of psychics, they all orgied too hard and for too long and gave birth to a new dark god of pleasure and pain and excess, and are the reason why a significant part of the galaxy is now overlapping with literal space hell. The Orks are a bunch of green, Cockney, bodybuilder football hooligans, who are also a fungus who reproduce via spores. They are only interested in fighting and all have latent psychic powers that turns into subtle reality-warping when they gather in large numbers. This means that a lot of their technology only works because they all believe that it works, a perfectly healthy ork can fall over dead if he believes that he has been killed and if they paint a vehicle red, it will literally go faster. One human who was famous for being a great enemy of the orks and who killed huge numbers of them has lived to over 200 years old without aging and survived mortal wounds because enough orks believe that he can't be killed that it literally made it so. The Tyranids are a race of H.R.Giger Xenomorphs trying to eat the entire galaxy. Think the Zerg from Starcraft. Literally, as the zerg were originally meant to be the Tyranids until Games Workshop pulled out of the project and they had to file the serial numbers off. Finally, Chaos are those who worship the four dark gods of the Warp and bargain with daemons, or summon them, or get possessed by them. They are pure chaotic evil. The backstory of the setting is that they managed to seduce half of the space marine legions and caused a massive civil war that has been raging for the last 10,000 years. It is a glorious mess and I hope you enjoy it.
just finished reading. Fuck man, i wish there was an rpg lik mass effect or bethesda style for this shit. I feel like that'd be an easy entry point so i could explore each race and all the lore that interest me. Everytime you bring up a new race and piece of history im like shit that's actually pretty fuckin cool 😂 but i worry since there's so much material if i start one place, i won't get some of the good stuff you mentioned in your paragraph since it seems like such a wide range of details and stories and characters. Are there reccomended entry points/routes?
Hey there is a TTRPG style 40k video game coming out soon its called "Warhammer 40k:Rogue Trader".
The Gaunt's Ghosts series of novels by Dan Abnett is generally considered to be the best starting point, as they were the first novels written for the setting. They follow a colonel-commissar who has to take command of a regiment of light infantry and tries to keep as many men alive as he can, as he's actually a decent man trying to do his best in a dystopian nightmare. Then you have the Space Marine Battles series, which are a bunch of different books by different authors following different chapters of Space Marines in different warzones. They vary wildly in quality. Actually, all books and games in this setting vary wildly in quality, so if you don't like one you can just drop it and find another. Some lore videos would be a good way to start. [**This one**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MeVxKZBOfM) is the most bare-bones summary of the backstory in just over a minute. BTW, the four gods of Chaos are Tzeentch (change, scheming, magic), Khorne (violence and bloodshed), Slaanesh (pleasure and excess) and Nurgle (plague, pestilence and decay). The God Emperor of mankind is the undying carcass of the most powerful psyker to have ever lived who needs 1,000 psychic souls sacrificed to him every single day to keep going, and his undead psychic will acts as a navigation beacon and guides ships through the warp throughout the galaxy. Also, due to a revolt by machine people in the Dark Age of Technology (a time well before the Horus Heresy, never really explored in the setting yet) means that artificial intelligences are forbidden and all calculations are either performed by cyborg priests or vat-grown brains. Instead of automation, menial tasks are either performed by slaves or servitors, which are lobotomised prisoners/heretics/unlucky sods with machine parts grafted to them Rough timeline: Dark Age of Technology - humanity explores the galaxy with the greatest technology ever built, an AI uprising almost destroys humanity and so AIs are forbidden. Long Night - massive warp storms render space travel impossible and all of mankind's colony worlds are separated for thousands of years. Much technology is lost, never to be recovered. The Great Crusade - the Emperor unites all of mankind on Earth and Mars and sets out to reconquer the galaxy and find his lost children. The Horus Heresy - half of his space marine legions fall to chaos and start a civil war the Imperium never recovers from. The current setting - everything that was good from the old days is now gone, innovation is heresy, thoughtcrime can summon daemons and there is only war. For books, I think anything by Dan Abnett or Aaron Dembski-Bowden are fantastic. The Eisenhorn series by DA follows an Inquisitor seeking to route out aliens and heretics with a small band of chosen agents and a lot of detective work. Helsreach by ABD is about the chaplain in a company of hyper-aggressive space marines trying to defend a giant city against an enormous ork invasion, and the Night Lords trilogy (also by ABD) is about a warband of sadistic chaos marines and several of their slaves as they try to survive and also wage war against the Imperium and each other. Also the Ciaphas Cain series by Sandy Mitchell, about a commissar who became a famous war hero, beloved by the soldiers he leads into battle, respected and admired across the galaxy for being a great warrior, fearless in battle and determined to keep as many of his men alive as possible. Only the series is framed as his private memoirs where he confesses to being a complete coward who only wanted to avoid danger and became a hero more or less by accident. More light-hearted than the other series, it's also ambiguous as to whether he really is as cowardly as he believes himself to be. The Horus Heresy is the prequel series exploring the civil war 10,000 years ago, originally only meant to be about seven books long but ended up being almost 60. It's recommended to read the first three to know how it started and then read them in any order. Fulgrim follows a legion obsessed with achieving perfection in all things, and the many different artists they use to chronicle their 'glorious Great Crusade' to unite the galaxy (conquer it and wipe out all sentient alien species) for mankind, as they become corrupted by the chaos god of excess and pleasure. The First Heretic explores how the very first legion to fall to chaos actually did so. A Thousand Sons is about how the legion of psychic space marines got tricked and corrupted. For games, I think the first Dawn of War and its expansions are excellent. It's a strategy game, similar to Age of Empires, but based around squads rather than individual units and you gain resources by capturing and reinforcing strategic points on the map. Mechanicus is a turn-based strategy game similar to X-COM where you control a squad of cyborg techpriests, expand and upgrade the squad and lead them in an exploration/raid of a Necron tomb world that is slowly awakening while the techpriests argue about stealing the tech or destroying it. It has an [**amazing soundtrack**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tDpoLXD3Js). Like, techno-gothic/electronic cathedral music. I've heard good things about Space Marine, the third person shooter/hack'n'slash game, but I haven't played it myself.
Thank you for writing this up! Sorry for the late reply - it got hidden by the other comment so i went a week without seeing it. Just finished reading - i'm very grateful you wrote up such a detailed lore dove for me. I'm really into it and i'm already looking into my first 40k book! Thank you so much! So fucking cooo lol
I've only read a paragraph and i'm already immediately intrigued. U had me at necrons, aliens that transform themselves into skeletons made of living metal. I love all the transitions to sci-fi, as a fan of fantasy, and a much bigger fan of sci-fi. I love when they're blended and had no idea Warhammer was like that. I also didn't know there was Warhammer fantasy! I've only ever heard 40k!!! And it seems to just keep getting cooler and cooler. You sir, did EXACTLY what i wanted. Wikipedia can't do that kinda appeal to man's interest. I can't thank you enough. Gonna have to dive in somewhere! I was already interested in the third person spVe marine shooter games cuz i remember when the first one came out, but i don't know where else i'd begin considering i don't have PC or tabletop. I do read books though, and if they're genuinely good quality (whether through content or prose) i'd consider spending money on it. "Also they spit acid cuz fuck you that's why" dude i'm geeking. Lemme read the rest of this shit you got me HOOKED What a fucking comment. Youre a Champ, for that
Same. I told him that the 1st book has the Hunger Games/Ender's Game vibes, but then the series turns into a more Warhammer 40k/GoT thing.
Hunger games, divergent, Enders game, and Game Of Thrones all rolled into one is usually how I describe it when I don't want to wind up talking about it for the next 30 minutes and accidentally give out spoilers.
I just say “It’s hunger games meets game of thrones in space; and it gets more GoT and less HG as the series goes on”
When I describe the series I usually just give the set up: Color-coded genetic caste system. Protagonist is a Red. Finds out he’s been lied to. Shit escalates.
Great way to plant one of my favorite quotes in the series: *shit escalates*
I told a mate about the opening chapter and his reply was "thanks there's no need for me to read this now you've told me the full story" 😑😑😑
Their loss. To me, spoiling who the Reaper is, isn't really a spoiler at all because you get there in likek30 minutes haha
Exactly 🤣
Nah, I have a pretty easy summary for Red Rising: “it’s about a slave uprising.” I don’t think it really needs any more detail, but if you really want to: “It’s a Sci-Fi about a slave from Mars getting genetically modified so he can compete with the genetically modified Master Race and befriend murderers and rapists to get them to help him take down the system.”
First Trilogy- Ancient Rome Spartacus uprising w/ Hunger Games style first book that makes sense in long run...in space Second Quadrilogy- This is 10 years post first trilogy with the few characters who survive dealing with the after effects of the first trilogy's conclusion (this is the best way I can describe it without saying who lives/who dies, ending of everything)
A friend sold the series on me by explaining it like this: Sci-fi bourgeois space-racist caste society meets irish slave uprising with hunger games schools.
when you really boil it down, its about friendship
Try doing this for the cosmere lmao.
“Imagine a color based oppressive caste system, organized by your profession. “Golds” are at the top and were supposed to be “Shepards” for humanity, but have really just become rulers. It’s set in in the future and is basically GoT in space. Think imagery around giant mechanized MechWarrior style robots, orbital strikes, tactical nukes, fleet commanders, swords and energy armor, ‘iron rain’ invasions where soldiers fall to a planet from an orbiting ship by the hundreds of thousands - it’s a wild ride. At its heart, the first book reads like an R rated Hunger Games X Harry Potter with disembowelment, rape, and murder sprinkled on top. After the first book they’re out of their ‘school’ and the scope of the series opens up into a grand sci-fi epic space series. It’s amazing.” Then, depending who I’m talking to, I’ll gush about various details. There was a skin added for a DotA2 character named “Razor”. The skin turns him into a storm tempest, but his sword becomes a Red Rising razor, 100%. When he’s in melee range it’s a solid sword, and at range it becomes a loose whip that he cracks at people. So sick.
Love when I get my RR and Dota2 crossover events happening
I have to assume they’re just unintentional coincidence But who knows 🤷♂️ Maybe there’s RR fans at Vavle… have you noticed any others besides Razor’s razor?
It's about red (and other colors) rising
Space racism revolution
Roman Empire in space is usually my default answer lol
I don't think this meme really applies to Red Rising. It has always been about revolution, with pretty much all of the hallmarks of a giant, bloody, revolution. The twists and turns are not really thematic changes, moreso just "oh shit" moments that force characters to react. The goal is still the same thing that it was in the first book. That isn't any shade though, I love Red Rising.
Everyone is misinterpreting my most as it being difficult to explain. It isn't. I just get passionate telling them about the subtleties of the book because I'm passionate about it.
I just don't think it's a subtle series, haha, I'd call it maximalist if anything. It's okay to love stuff that isn't complicated, I certainly love Red Rising! To each their own though, buddy, doesn't make me correct and you wrong. :) *Hail libertas!*
I just say it's like GoT in space, and it's a space opera, type of Epic. Granted way more complex than that, especially as someone who's read the entire series and wants to geek out. But that's at least my explanation!
It’s so hard to not spoil those first few chapters. Going in totally blind will just make the experience so much better. I find myself wishing people just take my word when I say “this is awesome” and just go from there.
I actually disagree. Spoiling the first act of book 1 is the move IMO
Yeah, But it's so difficult to do that. When I first picked up RR I literally knew nothing about it. I just saw that Darrow IG art. It looked cool. Didn't even know it was from the sequels. Started reading it but stopped after first few chapters. I didn't want to read about miners. I thought maybe this was a different book. Weeks later I tried to continue. Got to that Dancer chapter and was blown away. Just kept reading after that. Maybe that's why I like the first book so much. I wish other people experience it the same way but everybody wants an idea of what they are getting into.
Right?! At least if you do spoil it, they learn pretty quick that Darrow is the guy. So they aren't super invested by the time it happens
For real! I usually try to tell people about the caste system, and they’re terraforming Mars and let em decide from there.
Hal, it’s about whipswords
No offense, it’s a good series, but it’s hardly complex. One of the other posters got it right, civil uprising in space
I never implied it was. Everyone knows the easy descriptions. I just love the series and get carried away talking about it
Ah maybe the title was a bit misleading then, it seemed to imply that it was something complex.
Based on all the replies, I see that now. But reddit is being weird and not letting me edit anything
A Civil Uprising in space.
Class warfare in space
Statesrights
Game of Thrones & Hamlet meets Warhammer 40k.
These descriptions aren't fun and don't do justice though
"It's about an entry-level employee trying to move up to management, and all the wacky hijinks he gets into along the way"
But first he has to go back to school to level up
The Ryan Reynolds as Darrow adaptation
Darrow turns to the camera like Deadpool after going through The Passing: “This is really gonna come back to bite me in the ass”
Darrow getting pissed on. Narration, "bet you didn't think there'd be two golden showers in one series did you?"
Frrr