Title: Golden Son (Red Rising #2)
by Pierce BrownPublishing Info: January 6, 2015 by Random House Publishing Group
Source: Audible
Genres: Young Adult, Adult, Science Fiction
Date Completed: January 20, 2018
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // Goodreads
Related Posts: Red Rising (Red Rising #1), Morning Star (Red Rising #3), Iron Gold (Red Rising #4)
As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.
A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.
He must live for more.
It’s been quite a bit since I read this book and I had a hard time putting my feelings into words because Pierce Brown kind of took all my words away on this one. GOLDEN SON is definitely my favorite book out of the whole series so far (having read through all of the published works at the moment) and it really did blow my mind!
I had the same sort of issue starting GOLDEN SON as I had with RED RISING where I was enjoying it but didn’t quite love it, and then almost halfway through, everything snapped into place and I was in love! GOLDEN SON, unlike many other sophomore novels, really started getting everything into place for the trilogy’s conclusion while still connecting to everything in the first book. The whole cast of characters really started to shine, outside of just the main cast, and I finally felt like I had a hold on all of the character connections and the different houses.
The plot also really takes off and the reader really gets a sense of the direction of the whole series. RED RISING was great but it was also a lot of world-building and set-up that had to take place before we really got to some of the good stuff in GOLDEN SON. I also think GOLDEN SON had the most twists which of course is something I treasure in books because I always love being surprised and Pierce Brown sure dropped a few bombs in here (no pun intended).
I think GOLDEN SON was the strongest Red Rising novel and Pierce Brown about killed me in the end! There was so much going on, new and wonderful characters, familiar faces, and a whole lot of action! Definitely my favorite out of all of them.
Kept Me Hooked On: Insane twists. Pierce Brown packed some punches in here that I just did not see coming! It was so exciting and I never knew what was going to happen next.
Left Me Wanting More: Connection in the beginning. I still had that sort of distance in the beginning but it did come around quickly!
Addiction Rating
Read it!
If you hated RED RISING, well, you probably won’t like the rest of the books BUT if you liked it or thought it was okay, things definitely get better in GOLDEN SON so I highly recommend it!
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1 thought on “Golden Son (Red Rising #2) – Pierce Brown”
The first time I read the series, I remember liking Red Rising quite a bit but it was Golden Son that blew my mind and that’s the book that made me fall in LOVE with the series! It’s very close between GS and MS which one is my fave of the series!