Golden Son - Peirce Brown

"As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface
of Mars, enduring backbreaking labour 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."

I find that this book is a huge improvement on Red Rising. The first book was very firmly in the realm of basic YA Sci-fi tropes with a more brutal twist. In Golden Son however, the stakes are raised, the world is further fleshed out and Darrow has to really flex his subterfuge skills. 

Darrow was a Gary Stu in every possible way in Red Rising. He's The One. The Only One who can bring down the Golds and help the Reds rise. He can overcome any situation, no matter how horrible or impossible. I can completely see why this bothers some readers even if the novel contains intense fight scenes and dramatic rescues. It certainly bothers me. It just gets to a point where you start to say, "COME ON ALREADY."

Golden Son completely crushes that. Right from the first scene in the book, we see Darrow failing at something important and no one wants anything to do with him besides Roque. I enjoyed that Darrow was humanised in this way. It also made the stakes so much higher as you knew bad things could actually happen now. 

Golden Son is focused on war and politics, plots and treason that put you on constant alert. Pierce Brown imagined and brought to life vivid, heart pounding space battles and massacres, he crafted high-tech spaceships and luscious palaces brimming with poisonous snakes. He introduced radiant new characters -let's take a moment to appreciate Victra, the glorious House Telemanus and wonderfully Stoic Ragnar - and explored old ones, giving them voices and backgrounds and motives and actions that increased your understanding of their humanity. The death toll was extremely high. The nameless lives lost unimaginable. But this battle song of deviousness and blood was injected with moments of jolly laughter and camaraderie that made the book fun and enjoyable. There were also a couple of scenes that where powerful and raw, in their simple gestures and scarce dialogues. 

All around a wonderful book. I mean, will it win any awards, no, does Darrow still speak like an inspiring Knight occasionally, yes, however it worked. The book gripped me and I desperately want to read the next book. The ending, oh goodness, that was a cliff hanger and a half. 

Age Rating 14+. If you have read the Hunger Games, you can read this.