Golden Son

Pierce Brown, you are a bastard!!!! Don't get me wrong, you are a bonafide genius and I love you, except I have to hate you a little bit right now. Just finished Golden Son at 12:30 a.m. and I'm reeling from that gut punch you landed at the end. Are you seriously going to make me wait a whole year to find out what the hell happens to Darrow? Argh! Okay, I will calmly say that the second book, ye old sophomore effort, was fantastic! I loved it! You have a fan for life in me, sir. But, damn son! There was no time to prepare for that ending. So, EAGERLY awaiting the conclusion does not begin to describe my feelings right now. Please, type faster, you brilliant bastard! ;)

The second book of the Red Rising trilogy kicks off a couple of years after events of the first concluded. Darrow, under the auspices of Augustus, has been training at the academy and learning the arts of war in space and we join him about to become victorious in the final battle. Karnus, his opponent still has a trick up his sleeve though so we're not totally assured of the outcome. Darrow must win to remain in Agustus' good graces and he mustn't lose to a Bellona of all people. Although he's not heard from them in two years Darrow still continues his mission from the Sons of Ares and must advance as far within the Gold society as he can so that he can cause as much disruption as possible in order to overthrow the current system of show more rule for mankind. When he loses he is about to be cast aside by his benefactor and due to the blood feud for killing Julian at the Institute will lose the protection Augustus provides. Bets on how long he will live afterwards are counted in days so Darrow knows he'll have to do something to change his fortunes.

The stakes have been ramped up and the world view has been expanded considerably within this sequel. It's now not just about Darrow's rise to prominence so he can achieve his revenge but now encompasses the inadequacies of the system as a whole. While Darrow is still the primary focus he has more interaction with people from other colours so it's not just about the Reds and Golds this time around. Will this alter his views and affect his overall mission or just reinforce his notion for change and how will the fact he now considers some of the Golds as true friends affect his resolve to see it through? As in the previous book most of the plot twists are telegraphed but the character development, world-building and pacing of the story more than make up for this.. Another excellent read but a shame it ends on a cliff-hanger. show less

Every time I start to wonder if this book/series is poorly written, I turn the page and another batshit crazy twist happens and I forget entirely any qualms I have. I don't think I've ever read a series with a more breakneck pace. There is almost no time to let events sink in - there's always some new twist, or betrayal, or battle, or fascinating world building set-piece that I was always invested and interested, if not a little exhausted by the end. As my brother in law said, "I'm not sure if it's good, but it sure is fun."

I have no words. This book was masterful in painting a picture of chaos, ruthlessness, war and betrayal. It was action packed and there was never a dull moment. My mouth was on the floor several times throughout this novel and I’m still in shock as I write this review. I laughed, I cried, I had anxiety over the characters and events…. and for me, that’s the makings for a fantastic book.

While reading Red Rising (book 1) I kept thinking to myself, this doesn’t feel like the sci-fi book I was expecting.

Golden Son, however, changes that and dives completely into the Sci-fi military genre. The pacing is fast and never lets up. It’s filled with fighting (in space and on ground), gore, brutality, strategic military coups, political show more maneuvering. There’s even a hint of love throughout the story but don’t get it twisted, this is not a romance book.

I love our little found family and really enjoy seeing how Darrow has slowly opened up to each of them. I hope most of them will stick around once they know the truth but I won’t hold my breath. We’ve gained some fantastic members to the family but Sevro continues to be my favorite. He’s quirky, a little (maybe a lot) unhinged and has the best sense of humor.

Halfway through the book I thought “there’s no way this is lower than 5 stars” and this was definitely one of the easiest 5 stars I’ve ever given.

I also need to give a shoutout to the Graphic Audio narrators. They’re absolutely fantastic. The cast does such an incredible job conveying the character’s emotions, urgency, heartbreak. It’s remarkable. The directors picked a truly talented set of people to play these characters and I think they’ve all done a great job. show less

Sometimes I don't know when to quit a series. There's really a lot of things I could like about Pierce Brown's work-- the epic space opera of it all, the political drama and social intrigue, but it's all spoiled by the characters, the crummy romance, and the pacing.

I can't express the antipathy I feel towards the protagonist, who engages in stunningly callous acts of both implicit disrespect and outright betrayal, then has the gall to act surprised when he, ahem, reaps what he sows.

Of the few characters I liked, they almost without exception either become monstrous or die. If that's intended as a statement by the author about their society, well, I would counter that they become uninteresting, unlikeable monsters, and that's a show more failure.

Further, the female characters are only seen in relation to Darrow, and while I like best the character of Virginia, it seems she suffers the problem of existing solely for the main character to woo. Sure, she probably gets a Big Damn Heroes moment in the next book, but it's just not enough. Worse still is the fact that she is referred to almost exclusively by her nickname, "Mustang", whereas other nicknamed characters receive a more even mix of name and sobriquet. It treads rather near to some kind of subconscious dehumanization.

But I still read this sequel, and I might eventually give the finale a shot, just to see where it goes. More likely, though, I'll read the plot summary on Wikipedia and call that enough. show less

Après deux tomes, cette saga se hisse directement dans mon top de lecture de tous les temps. Pour moi, elle n'a rien a envier à Hunger Games, Divergente et compagnie.

On retrouve tous les ingrédients d'une très bonne dystopie qui marque et qui instruit.

L'univers est original, bien fouillé, bien détaillé avec son système de caste par couleur, d'opprimés et d'oppresseurs. Si j'ai été moins attirée par les scènes dans l'espace dans celui-ci, on reste sur un monde où chaque scène est tellement bien décrite qu'on a aucune peine à s'imaginer l'action en cours.

Les personnages sont pour moi le gros point fort de l'auteur. Personne n'est mis de côté et pour mon plus grand plaisir, on retrouve des personnalités toutes en show more nuance, grises, torturées et qui trouvent une évolution logique au fil des chapitres.

L'écriture est toujours agréable et très fluide. Pierce Brown n'a aucune peine à dérouler les scènes d'action faisant monter l'adrénaline et renforce notre empathie ou notre dédain pour certains personnages.

L'intrigue s'étoffe encore dans ce tome-ci avec des révélations et des rebondissements qui n'étaient pas toujours attendus et j'ai trouvé ça très rafraîchissant.

Les thèmes sont toujours aussi sombres et bien exploités avec la figure du père contestée, la vengeance, la mort d'un être cher et tout ce combat des couleurs inférieures pour se libérer des mensonges qui ont maçonné leur prison.

Bref un excellent tome qui n'est pas passé loin du coup de coeur que j'avais eu pour le premier et il me tarde de conclure ce premier arc avec le troisième. show less

One of my favourite reads of 2014 was Red Rising by author Pierce Brown. I looked forward to its sequel with anticipation but, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting anything anywhere near as exciting as Red Rising. It would be, after all, the middle book in a trilogy and middle books tend to be bridges between the first and the third books, mostly filler with some hints to keep the reader’s interest while waiting for the really good stuff. Not to say that a second book can’t be a compelling read but, at least in my case, my expectations tend to be lower than for the other books.

But gorydamn if Golden Son isn’t at least as nail-bitingly exciting and unputdownable as the first. Darrow and most of his Howlers have survived the deadly show more games of the Institute but he still has one more test to pass if he is to be accepted by the Governor, the man who killed Darrow’s wife. And just when he thinks he has proven his worth, he is defeated and it seems like his chance to bring down the colour caste system is over even before it has started.

Instead, he finds a way to turn his defeat into an even bigger opportunity to aid the Sons of Ares. But while their plan is to bring down the system seemingly one Gold at a time, Darrow has other ideas; he will foment a Civil War that will bring it all down around them quickly – that is, if he can survive the arrogance and betrayals of both his enemies and his friends among the Golds.

In Golden Son, Brown expands the world-building and we get a glimpse of just how big this world is. And, while this is most definitely Darrow’s story, he also gives us a more three-dimensional picture of many of the other characters including Roque, Mustang, and Cassius. Golden Son is not a standalone so if you haven’t read Red Rising, you should do that first – trust me, you won’t be sorry. No surprise that this ends on a cliffhanger but, wow, what a cliffhanger – normally I hate them but this was just so…so…never mind, just read the book. But make sure you have lots of time and no interruptions because you are not going to want to put this one down for anything trivial like eating. I do have one question, though, how in all the hells of Mars will Brown top Golden Son in the last book of the trilogy? show less