5 out of 5 stars | Goodreads
I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.
When I mark a book as ‘read’ on Goodreads and I’m planning on eventually posting a review, I often like to leave a reaction GIF as a placeholder. This was said GIF for Golden Son:
Thank you, Emma Stone, for so accurately portraying my feelings at the end of this book. That GIF will remain alongside my review, because as they say, a picture (or GIF, in this case) paints a thousand words.
Golden Son was pretty much everything I wanted and expected from Pierce Brown, after the absolute wonder that was Red Rising. However, it was so, so much more brutal than the first book, but that’s what it needed. As the stakes rose, as Darrow’s task grew more and more dangerous and he grew more determined, there needed to be an element to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. Brown pulls it off for sure, with this violent and shocking addition to the series that kept me reading and gasping at each twist and turn.
Occasionally, I felt a little bit lost by the (seemingly) endless names, so thank goodness for the character list at the beginning of the book! Whilst I would have enjoyed a bit more about Darrow’s time at the Academy – the book skips a year or so, to move things forward, and I would have liked that element of development, there is really not much else I can fault about Golden Son. The events suddenly felt so much more ‘real’; Darrow was no longer in the confines of his education and training, but out in the ‘real world’. This time, it felt personal.
With a lot more politics this time round, Golden Son had less of the action than Red Rising, but it certainly wasn’t lacking in it. There were so many reveals and surprises, so much going on. And that cliffhanger. Oh… help. I mean, I’m frustrated about having to wait the couple of months between reading Golden Son and the release of the next book, Morning Star, so I feel very sorry for the people who read Golden Son as soon as it came out, and have had that horrendous wait in between (not long to go now!).
Whatever happens in Morning Star, I feel it is going to be even more brutal, even more heartbreaking, and even more astounding than the events of Golden Son. And that is definitely something I do not want to miss.
This review is part of the #ReadGoldenSon readalong hosted by Hodder, in preparation for the release of Morning Star.
Rinn Reads 
I was a bit meh about Red Rising, but this definitely inspires me to give the sequel a try. 🙂 So glad you liked it so much and, as always, fabulous review! ♥
Aww, that’s a shame! This is very different, much more political yet somehow even more brutal. And thank you, Zoe. 😀
Noooo…I could not read this review because I’m too scared of spoilers 😛 Red Rising was so awesome~I’ve got to get going with Golden Son.
Don’t worry, the review is spoiler free! 😀 My reviews pretty much always are – and if they’re not, it’s clearly marked. 🙂
I have heard only good things about this series! I think I need to bump it to the top of my tbr stack! Right now I am engrossed in Robert Gryn’s Suns of the End series, finished book one almost and I don’t want it to be over! I love when I come across books like that!
Me too, I don’t think I’ve really seen many negative opinions at all. It’s so perfect when you find a series like that, especially if it’s unexpected.