Latin Moment: Red Rising Book Series

     I have been reading a great series by the author Pierce Brown called Red Rising. The synopsis is that there is boy named Darrow who believes he is one of the first colonists of Mars. He lives with other miners below the surface, and mines a chemical that is supposed to terraform the surface of Mars to be habitable. Darrow then discovers something that changes his world about why they are really mining under the surface of Mars.

     In this book there is an uncanny amount of Latin references and phrases that made me want to talk about them here. For instance, some of the names of the characters in the book have direct meanings in Latin. Pax AU Telemanus means "Peace (gold) Bull", which is ironic in the book because Pax is actually very battle hungry. Nero AU Augustus is another character in the book characterized as being a power-hungry tyrant (just like the real Nero). Octavia AU Lune is the sovereign of the whole solar system, and her seat of power is on the moon (hence the name). There are also positions that date back to the days of Rome in the book. An Imperator commands an armada of star ships, and a Praetor commands one star ship. The main action in the first book also involves a war between the houses of Roman gods (not the actual gods but people who displayed traits) including Proctors for those houses: Jupiter, Dianna, Mars, Ceres, Mercury, Apollo, Minerva, and Pluto. As you can see, there is a huge amount of Latin in this book that I have only scratched the surface of. If you want a really good read, I would suggest this book.

House of Mars Sign:

Red Rising Cover: