Welcome back blog readers! Towards the end of last week I read Golden Son, the sequel to Pierce Brown’s Red Rising. I loved the first book, and this one took it to whole other level. I started it on Wednesday of last week and I was done by Friday night. I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything that generated this level of anxiety/rooting interest within me, I was stomping around my living room like a lowland gorilla while reading this, I was fired up and felt like I needed to rip a cig after finishing. Anyways, let’s dive in below.
The book starts with our boy Darrow training in the Academy and learning how to command starship fleets. He is about to win, matched against Cassius au Bellona’s brother Karnus while being joined by his friends Roque, Tactus, and Antonia au Julii’s older sister Victra. In the final moments of battle, he is ambushed by an unaccounted ship and loses. This brings shame to ArchGovernor Nero Augustus, his prize pupil losing to his blood enemy. Darrow’s relationship with his daughter, Mustang, has also soured while he goes to train dueling with the legendary Lorn Au Arcos. The Archgovernor informs Darrow that he will be auctioned off to another house as he no longer has any use for him. Just brutal, once again our boy will be sent back to the slums.
Darrow knows once he is outside of the ArchGovernor’s protection, the Bellona family will make sure he dies for killing Julien during Red Rising. Victra tells him she has someone who can protect him, Darrow is wary given his history with Antonia but accepts with no other option. The savior is the Jackal. Mustang’s brother, the cannibal of the Institute, who caused them so much harm in the first book. The Jackal wants to take control of the world’s media and needs Darrow as muscle. He wants to amplify the Sons of Ares’s message to destabilize the government. However, Darrow notice a Pink there is Evey, one of the Sons who worked with Mickey.
Darrow tells her who he is, but she quickly gets him out as she tells him they’ve planted a bomb to kill the Jackal. Darrow rushes to save the Jackal and then goes to meet with the Sons. Harmony, the new leader, tells Darrow that Dancer is dead, and she’s taken Mickey as a slave to build a gold army. Harmony is very dangerous and believes in violence as a means to an end. She wants Darrow to bring a bomb into the upcoming Gala and kill all the powerbrokers in attendance. Darrow refuses, until Harmony reveals that Eo was pregnant when she was hung. Darrow agrees to bomb the Gala. This all sucks, allying with someone you know is going to stab you in the back while being overcome with grief.
Darrow is ready to carry out the attack when he finds his friend Roque. Roque informs him that he will be buying his contract and will protect him with his family’s influence and resources. Darrow then drugs Roque, knocking him unconscious and moving him safely away from the Gala. A brutal scene here, one of the only people who care about Darrow, and he still can’t get close to him. Darrow is at the Gala when he sees Cassius walks in with Mustang on his arm as his date. Darrow is livid, he abandons the bombing plan and shifts focus. This was the scene where I started stomping, I was so mad.
Darrow storms over, he gets up on the House Bellona table and begins challenging Cassius. They agree to duel to the death; the Sovereign is in attendance and sanctions this with all the eyes of the high society watching. The duel begins with Darrow getting worked like he did when Cassius beat him at the Institute. However, this time Darrow is trained by Lorn Au Arcos and starts demolishing Cassius. Slowly mutilating him, taunting the Sovereign and the Bellona family. He even cuts off Cassius’s Arm and takes his sword. In fairness, Cassius was just bragging about banging Mustang so you can’t fault Darrow’s bloodlust. This was legitimately one of the best scenes of any book that I’ve read. Just raw carnage and vengeance. The Sovereign stops the massacre, announcing that Cassius can yield and that the duel is over. Darrow is about to execute Cassius when Mustang runs out and pleads with him to stop.
In the pause, members of House Bellona storm Darrow which creates a massive Augusts/Bellona brawl where blades start flying and people start dying. The key part of the brawl is that the Jackal kills Leto, the new pawn in Pliny’s (Augustus’s advisor) plot to take control. They flee the Gala as a massacre unfolds, the government is hunting down Augustus loyalists. Eventually, they hide while Darrow goes and gets a meeting with the Sovereign
The Sovereign is an evil woman who took power when she beheaded her father. She is ruthless, and grills Darrow about what’s going on. They play a game of truth, a scorpion will sting either who lies. Mustang is in attendance as she is studying under the Sovereign, and Darrow passes all questions. At the end, it is revealed that the Sovereign planned on assassinating all members of House Augustus at the Gala.
Darrow is later saved by Mustang and Sevro, who returns with his Howlers to free Darrow while Mustang is revealed to be a double agent still working for Augustus. They go free the rest of the Augustus captives, including the ArchGovernor and the Jackal, but are stopped by Aja au Grimmus. Aja is the prize pupil of Lorn au Arcos and kills Quinn in the escape. This devastates Roque and Sevro who each had feelings for her.
Lots of reconciliation goes on, Mustang and Darrow aren’t good yet but are slowly getting there. Roque is upset with Darrow for drugging him before the Gala and stays at arm’s reach. Sevro corners Darrow and gets him to admit that he is a Red from Mars who is working with the sons. Sevro then reveals that his father, Fitcher, is Ares and Sevro was sent by him. Dancer is also revealed to still be alive.
They are able to commandeer a warship as well. They named their new ship The Pax after their fallen friend from the first book. Darrow gives a rousing speech about lowColors uprising and gets an Obsidian Titan Ragnar on his team. Ragnar is an incredible warrior and was given to the ship, so his loyalty shifts to Darrow. Darrow frees him, telling him he will fight with him not for him while disclosing his true identity. He meets with Fitchner as well and starts to launch his plan. He reconciles with Mustang, and they finally consummate their union. The stage is set, they are going to hit back against the Sovereign.
Augustus sends Darrow to Europa to recruit Lorn au Arcos to join their army. Darrow fails to get Lorn to join, and it’s revealed there is an ambush planned before offering him a griffin to escape on. However, Darrow was the one who set the trap. His plan is to force Lorn on his side, and it works when Aja and Tactus arrive to kill them. Darrow’s fleet above ambushes Aja’s army, killing all be Aja and Tactus. Aja flees, while Tactus takes Lorn’s children hostage. Darrow is able to talk him down and the hostages are released. Lorn then kills Tactus, Darrow is devastated as he knows his friend turned because he didn’t’ trust him enough or let him in his inner circle.
I have no clue what an Iron Rain is, but God damn was it awesome. With the fleets from the Arcos, Augustus and the Telamanus houses (Pax’s family), they launch an assault to take back Mars. They are launched via space pods to the planet and immediately begin their assault. Darrow leads the Howlers and Ragnar to find the Sovereign, a plan Darrow didn’t tell anyone else.
The plan is going well, they sneak into the capital but it’s a trap. They are crushed under water, and a fraction of the army survives once Darrow and Ragnar can free everyone. They dispatch the guards but now have no weapons or armor. Darrow makes the decision to arm Ragnar’s army with Razors, weapons that only Golds can wield. This decision enrages Howler Thistle, who accepts it while Ragnar heads off to fight Cassius at the wall.
Darrow finds the Sovereign as she’s escaping and barely boards the aircraft. He has no plan, but thankfully Fitchner is there. A battle ensues, with them killing Karnus au Bellona before escaping the aircraft. They did not get the Sovereign, but they have retaken Mars. Ragnar informs Darrow that Cassius fled as well, which I appreciate because it must be Darrow or Mustang who kills him. He’s proven to be a worthy opp, we can’t have him die off-screen. Ragnar and his squad broke the gates and the city is reclaimed.
The only people in the picture who know Darrow’s identity and intentions are Ragnar, Sevro and Fitchner. Darrow decides he can’t risk any more betrayals like with Tactus, and tells them he wants to come clean with Mustang. Sevro and Ragnar will go as protection in case she doesn’t like what she hears.
Darrow takes Mustang to Lykos, where he brings her to his home and shares the video of him being carved into a Gold. While she watches, he goes in and speaks with his mother and fills them in on what’s happened over the last few years. It was a great closure scene, broken up by Mustang fleeing to her ship.
Darrow chases off for her, but finds she finds the tracker and holds him at gunpoint while demanding answers. She does not handle it well; the scene ends with Darrow and Ragnar on their knees begging her to join them. We don’t get an answer, chapter ends, and we flash forward. This was so heartbreaking, Mustang begged Darrow for two books to be open with her. When he finally does, she doesn’t want him. Brutal.
Augustus informs Darrow he plans on adopting him and making him the successor to his empire. He scolds Darrow for arming the Obsidians with razors and stresses the importance of the hierarchy. Darrow “accepts’ and the ceremony begins. Lorn is there, all the allies are there, and it seems like the triumphant story will end on a high note.
But then it all hit the fucking fan. Roque is to present him with his crown but goes into a weird diatribe about loyalty. Before Darrow can flee, he is pricked with a poison by Roque, and he is paralyzed. He sees one of Jackal’s assassins cut Lorn’s throat which kills the legendary warrior. He watches as Jackal taunts him that he knows he’s a red, and Roque announces his “superiority” and that he could never follow a Red. Jackal walks up and shoots Augustus in the head and takes Darrow captive. They open the box that was supposed to hold Darrow’s crown, and he finds Fitchner’s severed head (WHAT’S IN THE BOX!?!?!?!) The book ends there.
Summary
Full disclosure I’m halfway through the third book in the trilogy, so predictions here won’t mean much. In the spirit of this blog, I’ll go back into my mindset on Friday night before I found out what happened nexr. What a fucking book. I loved Red Rising, but this takes it to a different level. We go from a great YA novel to a full-blown Space Game of Thrones.
The action, the drama, the suspense, all just top tier. This was incredibly fast-paced and made it almost impossible to put down. I want so badly for Mustang and Darrow to end up together. I want Cassius to die a brutal death. I want the Jackal’s head on a stick. And I want the worst fate possible for Roque. It is insane that a fictional sci-fi story makes me feel that way.
We’re in a tough spot for the rising. With Augustus, Fitchner and Lorn dead, we don’t have the power or legitimacy to take down the Sovereign. Who is the traitor to Darrow (I know the answer and will blog later this week)? What fucking pussies Roque and Cassius are. Mocking a paralyzed Darrow with how much better they are when both have had numerous chances to prove they were? Great job mocking someone when they can’t hit you back. Especially Roque. He’s a trust fund kid cosplaying as a poet; he is quite literally the softest dude in this universe. Cassius, a Red stole your girl and embarrassed your family. Roque, a Red won your Academy and you pledged fealty to him like a bitch. Know your place. Can’t even be mad about the Jackal, he was always going to betray Darrow.
Mustang, Sevro, and Ragnar were all absent from the Triumph. If they are still on Darrow’s team, we have a chance. But the devastation of the ending here was something I haven’t felt in a long time. The seeds of insurrection have been sewn, there’s one book left in the trilogy to get us to the finish line.
I loved this book so much. Just top tier writing and storytelling that I would recommend to everyone who is a fan of this genre. I’m halfway done with the third book, can’t wait to blog it once I’m done. My score for Golden Son is 5.0/5.0 but this was excellent, and I would give it a higher score if possible. Thanks for reading, see you next time!
