Golden Son by Pierce Brown

Blurb:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom.

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

Review:

Gobsmacked. Pure and utterly gobsmacked by that climax. I have so many thoughts and not enough words left in my head to convey them properly at this time. I knew it was going to be an epic finish, but even I couldn't predict it was going to be this mind-blowing. It immediately put me in mind of a very dramatic scene in another series, but if I reference that it'll be total spoiler territory. And there's noway I want to spoil this for anyone. Because wowsers. But oh how desperately I need to shout at someone about this ending!! 

At the time of writing this, and finishing the book, it's the wee hours of the morning and I. Can't. Sleep. Because. of this book. Because of that ending that has my mind whirling in a torrent of absolute chaos. How am I to refrain from immediately jumping into Morning Star because I need some bloodydamn answers?! But I have other books I need to get to…but…but I don't know if I have the strength to resist…Resistance is futile, or so the Emperor in Star Wars says. Maybe I should just listen to the Emperor…yes, the Dark Side is calling and telling me to pick up Morning Star asap. 

Pierce Brown just may be taking some blood soaked pages out of George RR Martin’s playbook, like seriously dripping red pages, because there is sooo much action and bloodshed happening between the covers of Golden Son. Like it should be renamed Blood-Soaked Son or something. Blood-Drenched? There are just so many wow moments that happen between even just a couple of pages. As with the first book, I was constantly updating my StoryGraph progress with my thoughts, suspicions, and predictions, my poor little fingers were getting tired. But how can you not read one of these books without these frequent, and very necessary updates? Not me. I must spill my brain out as I progress or I'll implode. And nobody wants that. Too messy. 

Anyway, there's so much going on, like a crazy amount of stuff. So much action, but not even just that. There's plenty of politics, scheming and conniving, betraying and blackmailing going on that it's basically a smorgasbord to appeal to all. Plenty of goodies to satisfy everyone (well, maybe not the romance readers. There's a lot more dying than loving going on 🤭). 

“We are the arbiters of life and death”

And Pierce Brown’s writing?? Lordie, the battle scenes, particularly this one space scene practically gave me goosebumps to read as I was imagining the scene he was painting on the page. Such evocative writing, I was wowed by this opener to the battle. Ship battles, be they at sea or in the deep black of space, are always amazing reading (or viewing in the movies). And then you somehow build upon that and make it more epic? I didn't know that was actually possible, but Brown just proved me wrong. Again, I don't want to say anything, because that's another scene that just needs to be lived/experienced fresh in the reader's mind. It was truly a perfect scene. *Chef's kiss*

Now can we talk about plot twists? Or pacing? Or just the whip lash it was all giving me because I'll say it again, there's so much going on? You practically need to put the book down periodically just to catch a breather. The pacing is breakneck, full throttle, leaving your stomach a lightyear behind wherever this book deposits you for the next reveal, the next unexpected twist. You really just don't know what direction to expect next from these books. 

It's not like any other dystopian series I've read, which are the typical “overthrow the big baddies” yadda yadda, freedom for all. But that is not this series. That blitzing of genres in the good ole book blender means this one doesn't follow that stereotypical dystopian playbook, how we expect it to play out at all because it's not just a dystopian story. And that is constantly throwing my brain for a loop as I try to predict what Brown's next move/play will be. But I can never guess it! He's always ten plays ahead. Don’t play strategy games against this dude, you won’t stand a chance.

And because this book/series is so unpredictable, I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about so many things. Like do I root for the overthrow of the Golds?? I want to say no because what will happen to Darrow's friends?! And I love them so, so much and don't want anything to happen to them. Especially Sevro. If anything happens to that boy, I'm so done with this series. You hear me, Pierce Brown??? Don't hurt my feral little Sevro or I'll never forgive you! Kind of like how I felt about Arya’s and Tyrion’s characters in Game of Thrones. Basically, if anything happens to my favorites the series will get expelled from my life into the void.

Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to chase that tangent, BUT it needed to be stated that nothing bad is allowed to happen to Sevro. Period.

Back on topic…what are we as the reader meant to root for? What outcome is the end goal? Originally in Red Rising Darrow joins the rebellion with the goal to overthrow Gold rulership. As that book went along, we were shown the other side. The side of the Golds, and we, as well as Darrow, got to see that not all Golds are bad and deserve to be stamped out. That theme continues into Golden Son, as Darrow progresses through the Academy, as he serves House Augustus as a lancer amongst friends, new and old. So naturally we can no longer wish for a full overthrow of the Gold, a clean sweep of the chess board and set the table for a new game, because what does that mean for his Gold friends? His allies? 

“We have languished in the darkness. But there will come a day when we walk in the light. It will not come from their mercy.”

But then you think, well there's no other way to free the Reds or the other lowColors if you don't overthrow the Golds, because when would they ever willingly give up their uncontested power to those they see as beneath them? It all seems inconceivable a notion that there's any peaceable way to go about that other than a full on civil war. But even then, even with a civil war, how does one reshuffle that deck into a more equal dispersion of power and freedom? Without the Gold there'd be a power vacuum as the lowColors haven't had a chance to choose things for themselves in so, so long it could just end up in a complete collapse of society. 

Suffice it to say, this series really makes you ask the hard questions. It makes you think how can such a monumental task be accomplished without an astronomical loss of life? What does that future look like and what are the steps to get it there? And for much of this book, Darrow doesn't have a clear picture of what the plan was that the rebellion wished to implement. He just kinda wings it like the bold, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of people usually do. And he just happens to have a reasonably good plan. Like maybe better than reasonable, especially considering he's literally flying blind with no guidance from the rebellion who've been radio silent for quite some time. 

But yes, this book/series is so thought provoking in so many ways. It makes you reflect on history more, about wars fought before to overthrow tyranny and slavery, and how brave those initial rebellions/resistance movements had to be to even conceive of the idea, much less act upon it. And there is usually a huge death toll attached to these significant points in history. So this fictional world really does paint the picture of the past, so many events of it, and not even just the Roman Empire, which is the huge influence on the world building of this series. For instance, America has celebrated her 250th birthday this year. Now imagine the steely nerves & spine of the colonists who decided they wanted to be free to decide their own future? To rise up against the English Crown, one of the dominant superpowers of the time. In this example you could say the colonists were the Reds and they wanted to break the shackles of the English Golds. As you can see by that example, this series is highly reflective of true history peeking out from a fictional world, which is something I always appreciate as a bit of a history nerd. 

This book also really makes you think about the human condition, because it's drawn with a heavy hand among these pages. To say one group is inherently bad or another is inherently good is a biased way of thinking. Every human has the potential for greatness, be it good or bad. It’s listed as one of the core definitions of “the human condition.” The duality of human nature. It all comes down to a matter of the heart. The heart determines which direction that potential will lead. And it's not limited to one Color or another. It's all of humanity. Maybe I'm just rambling at this point (I most likely am as it's going on 7am now and I haven't slept a wink!), but I loved how you could see this philosophical undercurrent in the story. This line of thought also brings to mind a scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone where the wand seller, Olivander, is telling Harry about Voldemort “[he] did great things – terrible things, yes, but great”

Now judging from this visceral reaction of mine you'd think I absolutely loved this book to within an inch of its life. But that's a slightly misleading assumption. That ending has wrapped my brain around this book like the most persistent weed, or maybe it's more like this book has my brain in a chokehold? Anyway, I do have some quibbles we'll need to unpack. It's not all Gold and glory reading this book, but it's close. That phenomenal ending really did bump this one up in my mind after some of my issues with some characters brought it down for me. 

You may be thinking, this gal loved the first book so much and gave it such a glowing review, how could she possibly not love this one just as much, if not more? It really boils down to a couple things, and more specifically a couple of characters.

Characters matter. I know I don’t need to state the obvious, but they really do make all the difference. They will literally make or break a book for the reader. If you don't love or relate to the characters, it doesn't really matter how good the story is, you won't end up enjoying it nearly as much as you would if you loved the characters you’re following. 

Now don't get me wrong, I do indeed love Darrow as a character…for the most part. But he does have some tendencies that get on my nerves from time to time. He has this kind of “holier than thou” complex as he inwardly judges the Golds for this thing or that thing, etc. He frequently acts like, since he's not a born Gold that he's above certain things that they are drawn to or obsessed with. And more often than not the things he's being judgemental about are things that anyone could be drawn to/obsessed with regardless of their Color. Even Reds. So that mindset of his often got on my nerves with his condescending inner monologues, and I had to keep reminding myself he's still so young, he's still got plenty of growing to do, some maturing. A lot of his judgmental takes were focused on the faults/issues of different facets of human nature. He's not exempt from those things, because despite changing his Color, he is still very much in fact human, and just as capable of these flaws as a Gold or Silver, a Pink or a Gray, etc. 

Additionally, to this issue with Darrow, it frustrated me to no end how fickle he was in doing things. By this I mean how he'd be close with his friends, and then he'd keep them held at a distance, shutting them out. He would be swooning for Mustang and then just push her away, etc. Now obviously I get that he's really a Red so he's reminding himself that his friends could truly turn into his enemies if they found out what he is, so it's more a self-preservation reflex. But still, I couldn't stop myself from thinking of the Katy Perry song “Hot N Cold” every time he'd do this reflexive thing. So from now on, that's Darrow's theme song in my head. Sorry, not sorry. 

But now, my one true and most passionate quibble with this book. It feels a bit bigger than a quibble though, honestly, because it tainted my enjoyment for a majority of this book in one way or another. That's not to say I didn't still really enjoy this book, because I sure as hell did. But this one aspect ruined/undermined a lot of the emotional driving force of the story for me personally. What is it, you might wonder? Or honestly, maybe you don't and just wish I'd shut up (don't worry, I'm almost done!) It all comes down to two little letters: Eo.

I'm just going to be straight with you. I don't like her. I didn't like her in the first book, and luckily she's not the focus of it for long. That may be an unpopular opinion, but I honestly don't care. I forgot about her as soon as she was off the page and Darrow was immersed in surviving the Institute. But in this book, she unfortunately rears her obnoxious head again, reminding me again of how much I didn't like her, and actually making me feel even more strongly opposed to her as a character or even as this factor that drives Darrow to do the things he does.

It boils down to this. Darrow is constantly blaming the Golds for what happened to Eo. But that isn't really how things went down in Red Rising. The Golds didn't just randomly pick her to get offed, that was her doing. She manipulated Darrow into doing what she wanted him to do, and she was going to make him do it whether he wanted to or not by making herself the catalyst that would force his hand. That was my beef with her in the first book. A loving spouse wouldn't try to force you to do something against your will. And certainly not in such an irrevocable and permanent way. She was selfish and manipulative, in my opinion. It never sat right with me. Darrow deserved so much better than that.

Then we get a reveal about her in Golden Son that was just so horrible I had to set the book down. I'd been loving it up untilthatreveal and then it just flushed my motivation to read. How could someone who supposedly loves you do something so horrible and unforgivable?? I already didn't like this girl, but now I feel much stronger feelings… And because of these things she did, I feel she's so undeserving of the love, the devotion, and borderline reverence that Darrow holds her in, in his mind and heart. He just keeps blaming the Golds for taking things from him, when it was her taking those things away. Her choice. 

Those quibbles aside though, this was a highly engaging read that demands I jump into Morning Star asap now that I’ve gotten this review out of my system. Having stayed up all night to finish this, and then immediately trying to write up some semblance of logical thoughts on it has been like herding cats high on catnip. My brain is absolute mush at this point. But here we are, finally, at the end of this rambling review. Maybe the next one will be more succinct!