Golden Son by Pierce Brown

I loved Red Rising but Golden Son is on another level of awesomeness and catapults Pierce Brown into the very highest ranks of science fiction and fantasy writers.

Take all your theories about how this one gets going and just kick them to the curb. Rather than giving us ‘Red Rising – In Space’ and just making it a shinier, more technological version of the original success, Pierce has crafted a whole new thrill ride, an amazing ball busting journey if you will. A couple of years have passed since the events of Red Rising and this skip forward in time quickly appealed to me. Though I’d have loved to see Darrow take on the challenges he faced at the end of the first book, Rising already had comparisons to Enders game so to redo the space college story would have been unnecessary and Pierce has already shown he likes to do things his own way.

He has created an exceptional new cast of characters and developed those that have carried over from Red Rising in ways you cannot even imagine. It is bigger and grander and there is growth at simply every level. The aggression and sense of competition is more intense, the mobile treachery and plotting that Darrow undertakes to achieve his long term goals are more complicated and with higher stakes and underneath all of this is the constant questioning of what the shit is he doing.

In Darrow, Pierce has created a fantastically unique and enthralling character and I felt myself being utterly invested in the stakes he’s fighting for. Part philosophiser, part kamikaze, part toasty goodness he seems to be highly empathetic and constantly questioning his own decisions but also completely motivated and driven by raw emotion or literally what is placed in front of him, making him immensely likeable and as human and basic as you or I. While this high level of emotion can make him a force to be reckoned with and drives some, if not all, of the craziest things he has done, it also leaves him vulnerable to manipulation. I am pretty sure I could get Darrow to go to the shops and get me some milk if I told him that Eo would have wanted him to and there are others, both friend and foe, that use this against him. I personally enjoyed those moments as it was it always a bit of a welcome ‘forget everything that’s happened, we started this because these pieces of crap killed the woman I love to maintain a system, I’ve been given a chance to destroy it and that is what matters”, though whether that attitude will serve him well in the long term remains to be seen.

Another benefit of these emotion driven instances is they emphasis the humanity of Darrow despite his God like visage, which is important, as one of the questions PB poses constantly is “are all Golds pricks?” It’s so tempting to yell ‘YES’ but in characters like Sevro, Mustang and Roque we are forced the take reconsider that opinion and herein lies part of the tragedy. We see Darrow developing deep and personal relationships with those he must destroy and at the same time doing whatever he can to spare those he really cares about, those that he believes are different from the rest. We see him consider and dismiss warning after warning regarding his chosen allies and maddeningly at the same time, betray those that he holds dearest in an effort to hold onto his original vision. As with all of histories greatest heroes, a great rise is often followed inevitably by a great fall and I for one was holding my breath for half the book as success was tempered by personal loss or outright failure.

There is something quite musical in the way Pierce writes, and not in a Patrick Rothfuss ‘oh his prose is so dreamy’ way but more in the tempo and emotion surrounding the words. There is a steady beat that seems to drive Darrow’s inner monologue. I once or twice found myself in a Rocky montage sort of “Here we go….HERE WE F*#$ING GO” mood, as our protagonist and his crew prepared for the next step of his plan. Loved this.

I only have one complaint about this book and that was a highly convenient/dubious scene in which someone happens to run into someone for the first time in years, purely by chance, and that simple run in stops what would have been certain death for that first someone and completely screwed up everything. I know it is a device and moved the plot along but I did find myself thinking “Well that could have been over pretty quick”.

The ending…Christ the ending. I’d be worried Pierce had written something he could not possibly top but seeing as Golden Son is such a ripping success and has lived up to all my impossibly high expectations I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

There is so much to enjoy in this book and I envy anyone settling in for his or her first read. Say hi to Pax’s dad for me, I can’t wait to meet the ladies. 5 stars.