Book Review: Golden Son by Pierce Brown

The second book in the series is more challenging for me to review. As you may have read from the Red Rising review, it has been a long time since I have read a series. For a long time, I have found standalone books more appealing. I was happy to continue to Golden Son, and I found it highly entertaining, yet there seems to be a yet.

Golden Son follows Darrow’s journey to take the Golds down and free his people, the Reds, while acting and being a gold himself. He is surrounded by his friends from the first book, those who are still alive, still hated by Cassius and his family.

I first feared the book wouldn’t take off, but Pierce Brown didn’t stall the story too much and took bold plot twists to further along the Red Rising. But I’m still not satisfied with the book. I got weary with all the dying and the backstabbing. I feel like that’s all there is. It suits the storyline and motive of the book, but one can only take so much. Every chapter comes with a huge twist that pivots Darrow’s situation darker and complicated. There’s no one he can trust, and no one trusts him. I feel foolish complaining about this as it is the way the book is constructed, and I’m a sucker for reading it. But the thing is, I got bored and annoyed by the twist. I wanted to see something other than the same old trick used both in the first and the second book. I wanted the book to evolve. Darrow seems to want more out of his actions. He states so, yet the writer doesn’t let the situation mature. The reason given is that Darrow’s opposites make it impossible. I fear that is a very shallow and selfish view of the actions of others, both in real life and in the book.

So here I am, not knowing what to think of the book. One thing is sure. I need a break from the series. I don’t want to read more backstabbing and hatred towards others. We humans can be all that. Sometimes, I wonder if it’s because we have been told so or if we don’t expect more from each other. We are born altruistic, and most of us remain so. Cooperation seems to be the key. I just read about a study proposing that plants don’t actually cooperate. They eavesdrop on each other to survive. All proven by mathematical calculations based on the premise that competition is best for survival. But what if that assumption taken for granted is wrong?

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a magical day!