Early Review – Golden Son (Red Rising Trilogy, Book 2) by Pierce Brown (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopian/Science Fiction
Length: 464 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: January 6, 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0345539816
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Red Rising Trilogy
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. This is the second book in the Red Rising Trilogy. The third book will be titled, Morning Star, release date is TBD. This book was just as absolutely wonderful as the first book in this series. It was more of an epic sci-fi space battle type of book than Red Rising, but just as action packed and awesome!

Darrow has established himself as a leader among the Golds. He is leading armies and participating in much court intrigue and contests for power. Everything changes when he is thrown out of favor by one of his leader’s other favorites. However, Darrow is able to make new and unlikely alliances to continue in his mission to destroy the power of the Golds from the inside.

I am having a bit of trouble writing this review because I really really loved this book, but I am not sure how best to articulate my love for it.

This book is incredibly action packed and very fast-paced. The world building is amazing, the characters are all very well down and have lot of depth. There is a ton of intrigue and politics as well. Pretty much this book has everything I could want in a book and is very well balanced.

The pace of this book is absolutely breathtaking, the action scenes will have you on the edge of your seat and just when you think you can’t take anymore….you will finally get a chance to catch your breath and watch all of the characters try to cope with all the ordeals they have just gone through.

Darrow is a fascinating character. He has grown a lot from the first book. He still makes errors and mistakes but he has learned a lot as well. He is a force to be reckoned with, yet still takes care of those who have helped him. He is an interesting contradiction of traits. Darrow will destroy thousands of people with a breath and then go to extraordinary measures to save one friend. He is constantly struggling with what he is forced to become to topple the Gold society.

There are a lot of wonderful side characters in this book as well. Mustang was my favorite, she was a love interest for Darrow in the first book. Mustang is a very strong female lead and has plans and ambitions of her own. She is smart, tough and incredible capable. I love the working relationship her and Darrow have. They both trust and respect each others abilities and decisions.

This is much more of an epic space opera of sort and doesn’t have as many of the fantasy elements as the first book. However, this change really worked well for this book and I enjoyed the change in pace a lot. There are still a ton of politics, strategy, and battle…it just takes place in space.

The amount of mass destruction and the loss of life in this book is staggering. This book really shows the price of a revolution and drives home how huge the human population is in this world. Thousands upon thousands are slaughtered in a single thought in some parts of this book. It is both awe inspiring and disturbing.

The book ends at an excellent spot and I am eager to see how things play out in the final book in this trilogy.

Overall I have loved this science fiction series. The world building is awesome, the story incredibly fast-paced and engaging, and the characters have amazing depth. There are spectacular action scenes, complex politics, epic battles, and characters you really care about. Some of the battle scenes will take your breath away, they are just that amazing. Add to all of that characters that think and contemplate some big issues and it all adds up to an amazing read that is both thought provoking and incredibly hard to put down. I can’t wait to see what the next book holds!

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Ebook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge