Review: Golden Son by Pierce Brown

Title: Golden Son
Author: Pierce Brown
Series: Red Rising Trilogy, Book 2
Genre: Dystopia / Science-Fiction
Release Date: 6 January 2014

With shades of The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Game of Thrones, debut author Pierce Brown’s genre-defying epic 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.

I rarely email publishers directly for review books, but I had no problem begging for this one. I was ecstatic when I came home from vacation to find it in my mailbox! Ever since first finishing Red Rising about a year ago, I was dying for this book - anxious to see what happened with Darrow next, with Mustang and Sevro and all the rest. I tried to caution myself, don't get your hopes too high, there's no way he can live up to the first book, but it didn't really work. I went into Golden Son fully expecting it to blow me away and be one of my favorite books of both 2014 (when I read it) and 2015 (when it's released).

For seven hundred years, my people have been enslaved without voice, without hope. Now I am their sword. And I do not forgive. I do not forget. So let him lead me onto his shuttle. Let him think he owns me. Let him welcome me into his house, so I might burn it down.

'Lo and behold - I was right. Golden Son left me feeling just as battered and emotionally compromised as its predecessor. I'm now even more invested in these characters, something I didn't really think was possible, and loved seeing the world further expanded. I'm not going to say too much specifically about plot and the overall arc of the story, because I don't want to spoil anyone. What I will say is that this book felt different than Red Rising. The former was very contained - within the Institute, for example - and we only got the barest bit of a peek at the wider world(s). I never felt a lack because there wasn't one, we knew everything we needed to then know, but when you get into Golden Son you realize just how small the picture you saw was. There's so much more going on. The politics are VERY prominent in this book, and there's a lot of chess-like moves happening from multiple directions.

Eo would say this is the hell they've built their heaven upon. And she'd be right. Gazing up, I see more than half a kilometer of tenement buildings before the polluted haze makes a ceiling for the human jungle. Clotheslines and electrical lines crisscross overhead like vines. This sight is hopeless. What is there to change here but everything?

The writing is just as evocative and gripping as it was in Red Rising - though again you can feel the difference as Darrow's world expands and the need for him to grow continues. I was utterly enthralled as I was reading, involved in the story and concerned about the characters and still I'd have to stop and admire a bit of beautiful writing - frequently. Pierce Brown's writing is brilliant, simply beautiful, captivating and gripping.

Reading back through my updates while I was reading this, I am reminded exactly how on edge this book kept me. Throughout reading I just wanted a moment to catch my breath. I couldn't stop, I couldn't believe it; I resented work and sleep for interfering with my reading. There was one amazing scene after another - whether that be emotionally, revelatory, or tension-filled suspensefully - I was shocked as hell more than once. Darrow has evolved into his role, thinking many moves beyond almost everyone else, he's quite simply brilliant. I loved seeing that he's still not perfect. He continues to learn, continues to make mistakes, and continues to learn from them (even if he's not able to do anything about it, he knows it's a mistake). Time and time again, I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, trying to avoid racing through the text to find out what happens. There are twists and turns aplenty, revelations that blew my mind, and enough building suspense to give me heart failure.

When falls the Iron Rain, be brave. Be brave.

I can't not talk about Sevro, a favorite from Red Rising and he gets plenty of showtime in Golden Son (though it felt like forever for him to actually appear the first time). He's the perfect counterpoint to Darrow. He keeps him on the level and I loved seeing their relationship develop, in some surprising new directions, too.

My OTP (one-true-pairing) is going to break me. I just know it. I resorted to nearly begging that Pierce Brown not do this to me. Already my heart is so enamoured and wrapped up in them that I...well, just read it. I still can't even talk about it. In addition to many of the characters we fell in love with in Red Rising there's quite a few new characters that showed up to pique my interest and steal my heart.

"But they ask me about you. They ask if the boy warlord is really four meters tall. Is he really followed by a wolfpack? Is he a worldbreaker?"

"And what do you say?"

"I said you are five meters tall, you're followed by a midget and a giant, and you eat glass with your eggs."

One last thing to mention - that ending. Holy.Shit. Talk about ending on a cliff-hanger. I thought I was dying for Golden Son? I didn't even begin to know what need was. I need the third book. I can't even...I just don't know....ARGH! What is going to happen???!!

Several weeks after finishing this book, I haven't stopped thinking about it. I'm getting ready to start a re-read of Red Rising and Golden Son and I know it won't be the only time in 2015 that I end up re-reading them.

Long story short: If you haven't read Red Rising, please, go buy it; if you've been waiting for Golden Son, it's a hell of a ride - I feel confident saying that you're going to love it.

Grade: A

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Release Day Giveaway: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

See my review here.

RED RISING by Pierce Brown

Published by Del Rey – Random House

Hardcover: 978-0-345-53978-6

Ebook: 978-0-345-53979-3

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“Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow.”—Scott Sigler

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power.  He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

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About Pierce Brown

Pierce Brown spent his childhood building forts and setting traps for cousins in the woods of six states and the deserts of two. Graduating from college in 2010, he fancied the idea of continuing his studies at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a magical bone in his body. So while trying to make it as a writer, he worked as a manager of social media at a startup tech company, toiled as a peon on the Disney lot at ABC Studios, did his time as an NBC page, and gave sleep deprivation a new meaning during his stint as an aide on a U.S. Senate campaign. Now he lives Los Angeles, where he scribbles tales of spaceships, wizards, ghouls, and most things old or bizarre.

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Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Title: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Series: Red Rising Trilogy, Book 1
Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction
Release Date: 28 January 2014

Darrow is a miner and a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he digs all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of the planet livable for future generations. Darrow has never seen the sky.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better future for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow and Reds like him are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow joins a resistance group in order to infiltrate the ruling class and destroy society from within. He will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

That blurb up there, it doesn't even begin to do justice to the mastery that lies in these pages.

I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war.

That, right there, is how it starts. Instantly hooking me and not letting me go for nearly 400 pages. I wasn't expecting this. I expected another standard-fare dystopia - we've all read them. They are everywhere now, aren't they? The underdog hero fighting against a corrupt system for a brighter purpose. It seems like it shouldn't be so much more than that. I'm not a huge reader of science-fiction, and when I found out this takes place on Mars far in the future, I had my doubts.

But there enters Darrow, a protagonist unlike any other I've read. He's the best Helldiver there is, able to quickly and nimbly gather the precious Helium3 that's so needed. He spends his life happily doing all he's known. He's a pawn, gullibly believing the lies that have been told him his entire life. Not even considering another possibility than the 'truth' he's always known. Until tragedy strikes, and his wife, Eo, is killed by the ruling Golds.

Eo was with us such a short time in the novel. We heard about her, and then only saw her for a couple of chapters, then she's gone. And still it felt like the still-beating heart of me was ripped out. She's such a dynamic character. A dreamer. The catalyst for change - no matter the cost. And the cost is high, not just to her, but to Darrow. And she's never forgotten. I was nearly 90% into the book when Eo was mentioned (one of many, many times) and I started crying again.

Thus starts Darrows first transformation - from ignorant, accepting youth to rage-filled, betrayed husband. His need for vengeance is deep, and he gets his chance. All he has to do is give up everything about himself, everything Eo loved, to become one of his enemy. He'll be reshaped into a Gold, a Trojan Horse slipped in their midst to bring down the corrupt regime. He's to become the knife between the ribs they never saw coming.

I mentioned Darrow's first transformation, but it's not his last. He learns and grows, adjusts and readjusts. He knows he's not the strongest, or the smartest. He doesn't have the strategy perfected. He can't win this on his own. Darrow's fallible. God, how I loved that. He makes mistakes, mis-judges things, hell, he does things that made me cringe. And yet, I was always right there with him. From beginning to end I couldn't help but root him on, willing him to find a way.

It's not just Darrow that's great here, either. He's surrounded by such complex characters, with diverse motivations - sometimes I wasn't even sure where loyalties lay, who was going to betray whom and for what. We learn, right along with Darrow, that the Golds aren't all cut from the same cloth. This changes the way Darrow, and I, saw things. Obviously, some stick out more in my mind than others - and I hope we haven't seen the last of them. But still, I wasn't sure who to trust, and even when I gave trust it was wary and worrisome. What if they were biding their time? I spent most of the book on the edge of my seat....needing to know.

"You do not follow me because I am the strongest. [Redacted 1] is. You do not follow me because I am the brightest. [Redacted 2] is. You follow me because you do not know where you are going. I do."

I read for characters, you might know that by now, that's what will always intrigue me and pull me through the story. But I love worlds, too. Pierce Brown has created such a diverse, complex, intriguing world that I'm in awe of it. The color system he's devised, the way and reason it's implemented, how each group is kept under the thumbs of Golds - blew.me.away. It was logical - imagine that. How it came to be made sense and it was absolutely heart-breaking. I think this world devastated me so much because I can imagine it happening. It scares the ever-living-hell out of me.

On top of all this awesomeness you have the writing that immerses me so deeply into the world, the story that I couldn't let go of it. I can't do this novel justice, I could ramble for ages on how it made me feel, how I laughed out loud, cried and pleaded, and at times it even made me squeal in delight. Red Rising is, hands down, the best science-fiction novel I've ever read. Pierce Brown is brilliant, and I can't wait for the second novel in this trilogy - already I'm anticipating having all my expectations shattered.

Grade: A

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