Reviews with content warning for Child death - Golden Son

The political worldbuilding of this series is honestly stunning. I'm so glad that the second book distanced itself from the educational Hunger Games-ness of the first book because at times that was stagnant. But this was so much easier to read. So much happened in these 450ish pages that I don't even know where to begin.

Falling out of touch with friends, betrayal, plot twists which I didn't see coming but thought worked for the characters. It was all so perfectly chaotic I loved it. That ending was a stroke of genius.

Two gripes:
1. The first 6 chapters could have been a prologue just to catch us up on Darrow's life since book 1 since a couple of years have passed. It also felt a bit clunky at the start.
2. I have literally no idea what any of the things are which confuses me sometimes - like what is a ripWing, or a HC, or an anything?

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lua_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a VERY fun book to read, but you can tell this author has never suffered any kind of structural discrimination in his life.

I'll say the bad stuff first because I only see people talking about the positives in this book, but keep in mind that I did like it and I'd rate it around 3.9 / 4.0

First, more then in the first book, Golden son makes some very superficial and surface level type of commentary and criticism on the subjects it tries to discuss. Pierce Brown creates some extreme situations and then have his characters fight against its injustices, but he really doesn't recognize or address some of the more subtle violence that structural discrimination creates, which is why I say it's pretty clear Pierce Brown has never actually experienced discrimination. This book gives some strong vibes of white guy talking about what if racism was against white people.

My other criticism is that Pierce doesn't know how to write women to save his life. This DOESN'T mean I dont like some of his female characters, like Mustang and Victra, it just means he writes them pretty badly overall. Most if not all of his female characters are just plot devices to push his male characters further (could Ares backstory be more predictable? Let me guess, a woman you loved died and now you know people deserve rights?). Even though Golds are supposed to be the physica pinnacle of society every female character that isn't a love interest gets the "she's so petite, weak and delicate" treatment and either dies to make a Male character sad, or falls into the role of "traitorous bitch". The main character of this book (and most of his Male characters) is so fun to read about, and clearly meant to have several "badass" moments, it's pretty disappointing to see how disposable and surface level Pierce Brown makes his female characters be. (Also Darrow is weirdly forgiving towards a sex trafficker?? Wich to me just once again proves how distant Pierce B is from actual structural violence)

Now the good stuff, this book is one of those books you read when you want a easy "badass action movie" type of book. It's very fun, has some surprising and satisfying scenes, and honestly a very cool and likable main character. Darrow escapes a little from the traditional format of grey character by having some surprisingly "sweet" depth, showing remorse and sadness towards death that most "cool and calculist" characters tend to ignore. His love for people and speacially his friends is emphasized several times, and in ways you'd typically not see with "badass" action male characters like him, wich makes it a lot more fun to read about him (though he could back off with his internal monologues a little).

Overall it's a fun book with space battles and satisfying twists and fights (Pierce didn't right this book to be realistic, he wrote it to be the fun type of power fantasy). But you do have to keep in mind (and trust me, Pierce does not let you forget) that it is a book about structural (sci-fi) racism, written by a white male author in 2012, so it does a few points you have to ignore to read.

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haley49's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

…I’m traumatized with that ending. What

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luxxltyd's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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rubyroses's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I’m screwed… I already rated the first book in the series 5 stars… After reading Golden Son I think I’m going to need more stars. This book truly captured my heart and broke it in two.

Unlike the first novel in the series (Red Rising) which focused on a Hunger Games inspired battle arena this novel expands into a galactic civil war. If you enjoyed Enders Game but would have liked more violence this is for you. Not to mention the amount of twist and turns you will never see coming is chefs kiss.

Pierce Brown does well to make even the characters who are evil seem compassionate. In return he also makes the characters you believe to be good grotesquely dark and twisted. In this book you’ll never know who is going to stab Darrow in the back or be his saviour.

But… at least you can always put your faith in Darrow & Servo. Darrow is a man born Red & made Gold but Servo… Servo is a man of two colours. If anything bad happens to Servo in this series I will throw a fit.

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kagey's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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