My rating: 5 of 5 stars
6 Stars!!
(5 stars for the book and an extra star because the author is a cutie ;-)…hehe the romance junkie in me comes out…okay, okay I’ll spare you anymore foreplay…onto the review.
**Golden son is book 2 of the Red Rising trilogy. You must read Red Rising before you read this book. If you haven’t already, read my review of Red Rising. This trilogy will blow you away.**
Et tu, Brute?
Yes…this is the phrase I think of when I think of Golden Son. Golden Son continues Darrow’s journey in his endeavor for freedom. The plot thickens, secrets are revealed, and the story just gets better and better. Darrow’s journey is a long and arduous one where friends betray one another and the cost of lives is innumerable. I was on edge the entire time I was reading. I was second guessing everyone’s motive and wondering who would betray Darrow. I kept waiting for the twists and praying for some of my favorite characters to stay strong and true to Darrow. I don’t want to give spoilers so let’s just say Darrow learns that true loyalty is hard to come by. He grows a great deal in this second book. He begins to understand how he must learn to trust and open up to his friends to gain true loyalty. Unfortunately, this leaves him vulnerable.
Darrow has quickly become one of my favorite protagonists. I’ve read reviews where some think he is too perfect. On the contrary, I find Darrow flawed in many ways. From Red Rising to Golden son, his growth is apparent. He starts out a naive boy who cannot see his full potential. He is driven by rage and anger at times, and acts on impulse. He loses his innocence so early on and he is often lost. At times, it is very apparent that he is just a scared boy in need of guidance and reassurance.
“Home isn’t where you’re from, its where you find light when all grows dark.
Find your home Darrow . It may not be in the past. But find it, and you’ll never be lost again.”
He struggles with guilt over everything. He struggles with moving on from his past and that often stifles his success.
“And there they found each other again, as they were always destined to return home and find, instead of the past, their future.”
Many attempt to manipulate him, but Darrow has strong intuition and he begins to learn to trust himself and his ideals of how to achieve this dream of freedom. He has a beautiful heart. He loves greatly, but he also knows there is a beast that exists within and he has the potential to succumb to the hate and vengeance. He is a very real character and I love that about him.
As previously said, this book has a great deal of action in it. It is constant war and it is an intense read. I have become so attached to some of the characters and I found my self so sad at times. My heart was breaking from losing some of my beloved characters.
“Death begets death begets death.”
I think Pierce Brown does a wonderful job reminding us that violence and hate breed more violence and hate. It’s a vicious cycle only broken by love. It may sound trite, but love is a powerful force that has the ability to build and heal.
On a last note, damn the cliffhanger!!! I wonder when it went out of style to just write one long novel. My husband always says my worst trait is my impatience. It’s true…it’s torturing me to wait for book 3. So pre-order your copy now of Morning Star!!! I know I am =) Happy reading.
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