Golden Son

Following Red Rising in much the same vein, Darrow is now out of school, has sworn himself to a new master, and is progressing his plan to gain power within the highest circles of the Golds. As we follow his attempts to command space fleets and redeem himself for some serious errors, it's fairly hard to like anything about the society or most of the people we meet in it, but there are a few exceptions and Darrow tries to surround himself with those.

Not to say too much about the plot because of spoilers, but it's pretty much more of the same from book 1 and I imagine will continue in the same vein throughout the series, ending with a terrible cliffhanger that will send you looking for book 3 right away.

I loved the complex characters (Darrow and Mustang especially my girlie deserves even more pages) and complex world building, the writing was efficient and poetic at times, though I really had to focus, and some action scenes lost my attention a little. I knew what would happen in the end, being a reread, but the enjoyment was still there and I recommend this Sci Fi saga to whomever this appeals, even a bit, to.

probably an entertaining read for it's intended audience; not great, but at least i didn't get bored.

My notes: anaulin.org/blog/book-notes-golden-son/

I have to say that this tale was good, right up to the last 50 pages or so. The end was uninspiring. I may read others in this series, but the end of this work left me much less enthusiastic than I was when I began this second novel.

A very satisfying follow up to Red Rising, avoiding shallow waters and heading directly into the riptides of politics Darrow can't just stab to conquer (he still stabs lots of things, don't worry). The lessons of book 1 provide interesting set ups for book 2, both where Darrow learned from his mistakes, and where the conflict between his friendships and his origins means he repeats them.
Warning: the ending is a real kick in the teeth.

It keeps uo the frantic rhythm of the first book and if anything ups the stakes. It is again, like a young adult fiction that's aware of politics. Good fun summer reads, good twists, good action... but I am not spoiling it for you.
Go read it!

I didn't like this one quite a much as the first because it got a bit... disjointed i guess, from the protagonist characters origin, also they got a bit superheroish.

This book was gorydamn, no, BLOODYDAMN fantastic! Nonstop action, tension, and quite a few laughs and tears to be had. I don't know where the finale can take Darrow that could be more riveting than this.

J’avais déjà beaucoup aimé le premier tome de cette trilogie, la mise en place des personnages et de l’univers proposé par Pierce Brown m’avait conquise. Et pourtant, cette introduction me paraît à présent bien en dessous des volumes suivants, Golden Son et Morning Star.

[Vous pouvez lire la suite sur mon blog, merci :)]

Great read! Pierce Brown has grown in his writing. Once again a very predictable plot, even the "twists". There was only one bit I didn't see coming: the identy of Ares. I had some suspicions in the right direction, but not entirely right. The plot near the end is quite mature and the characters are not all black and white.

The narrator was excellent, as in the first book.

Wow. This book has a lot of flow. Of momentum. The author references the idea quite a bit from the protagonist's life as a Helldiver. I found myself often swimming with this flow and enjoying so very much of it.

Psychologically, there is a bit too much strife going on in Darrow's head. I have a hard time struggling with the 20-something-year-old at this points point of view but I get it more often than not; again it's a novel for the youthful struggle and within a construct of some very delicate political maneuvering which is executed very well.

The alliances, the stress within the moments, the inevitable--and sometimes surprising betrayals. Especially the betrayals. Did we have a red wedding moment here? I think we did. Goodness. My heart rate monitor spiked 20bps and made my blood go cold.

I await the next book, wtf is transpiring here. ;)

Audiobook
I had this book in my queue for a while but didn't rush to listen to it because while I did like Red Rising, I didn't feel the rush to go back to that world.

What a mistake. This book is better than the first, faster pacing, much more intrigue etc. I usually only listen to a book one maybe two hours at a time, this time I raced through it because I just had to see what comes next. The upside to waiting so long to read this is that I finished it days before the release of the third book, which is at the top of my queue now.