Golden Son
Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2)
By: Pierce Brown
[Fulfilled ‘Book with an element in the title’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2024 Reading Challenge]
“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.”
“Home isn’t where you’re from, it’s where you find light when all grows dark. Find your home, Darrow, and you’ll never be lost again.”
The first book, Red Rising, ripped my heart out within the first 40 pages, Golden Son waited until the last two to do it.
[I’ll write this review with the assumption you’ve read the first one, so if you haven’t, at least read that review first or this may confuse you.]
This was a great second book in the series— I may have even liked it better than Red Rising because though there is violence, it feels slightly less depraved. I also liked the character development we see in Darrow as he struggles with the questions ‘Can people change? Can someone bad become good?’
His mission is greater than himself— to free a whole Society— and so he is constantly checking himself and evaluating if the means justify the end. His own revenge may need to take a backseat to what is best for all. And that just may mean forgiveness.
The writing and plot of this book is pretty intense. Lots of battles and war, friendship and betrayal, hard choices and bravery. I liked how Brown gave the readers some suspense when it came to Darrow’s plans and tactics. We get hints that he might be up to something or has contingencies in place, but we still get surprises where we realize- ‘Oh that’s why he said that or did that.’
I felt like I was holding my breath the whole way through the book with all the ups and downs and when I got to the end I felt relief. Though we had some sad deaths along the way, Darrow had made it through the next phase of the mission. One step closer to revolution. And then Brown thought we all needed a good shock. I admit I knew it was coming but I didn’t know the extent to which Brown would take that shock. And now I must read the third book!
Golden Son continues two years where Red Rising left off. Darrow is in the last ‘test’ of the Academy where a surprise loss to the Bellona family puts his future in jeopardy.
Augustus is ready to auction Darrow off to the highest bidder which would likely be some sort of deal with Bellona-friendlies who would love to kill him.
Having not been contacted by the Sons of Ares in all this time and having been separated from Mustang, Darrow is feeling the ache of isolation and loneliness.
“Mustang chose politics, governance— peace, which is what she thinks her people need. I chose the blade, because it is what my people need.”
Darrow uses the summit of the elites in the house of the Sovereign to change the paradigm. His actions begin a war between the Sovereign and the ArchGovernor of Mars, the House of Augustus.
Darrow and Jackal broker an unlikely alliance of sorts. Though their end goal differs.
Darrow faces a complex tactical challenge to accomplish the plan of the Sons of Ares and navigate the volatile world of politics and the ruthless Golds who want nothing more than power. The complexity only deepens when he must decide who he can trust with his true identity as a Red.
Darrow has seen a lot in the last few years, but he hasn’t completely lost sense of where he came from. In fact he makes a detour back to his mine at some point to reorient who he is and why he’s doing what he’s doing.
“Trust is why Red will have a chance. We are a people bound by song and dance and families and kinship. These people are allies only because they think they must be… it has to be from the bottom up. Red is about family. More than any other Color, it is about love amid all the horror of our world.”
We still get the characters of Roque, Quinn, Tactus, Finchtner, Victra, Cassius, Lorn, and Harmony, but I think my favorite character was Sevro. His boyish humor and wit brings some levity in an otherwise dark situation and his loyalty to Darrow gives you confidence that they can overcome anything.
I like stories with happy endings, and I still hope for that in the next book, but I do respect an author who is willing to lose some people along the way to create depth in the characters and reiterate how high the stakes really are.
I think there’s an interesting discussion that could be had around the idea of people ‘changing.’
After a particular betrayal by Tactus Darrow still sees the good in him, sees his desire to ‘come home.’
“If Tactus can change, Gold can change. They must be broken, but then they must be given a chance. I think it’s what Eo would have wanted in the end.”
This diverges from the attitude Darrow has in Red Rising. I like the heart behind it and I think second chances are possible, but at the same time, in a world where back-stabbing is the norm, it’s hard to imagine that kind of decision would end well on a large scale.
Lorn takes the opposite stance from Darrow- “You will fall to ruin because you believe that exceptions to the rule makes new rules… Men do not change.”
From a biblical perspective— because what else do I do around here— we are enslaved to our sin and the desires of the flesh. They are too powerful to overcome. But people can change through the work of the Holy Spirit. And that’s what speaks to the existence of God. We see his work in people who we couldn’t imagine changing and he renews their hearts and gives them the freedom to choose good.
And then there is always the discussion of what means justify the ends. Especially in terms of war. Harmony says, “To free them, to protect them, we must be savages. So give me evil. Give me darkness. Make me the devil if we can bring even the faintest ray of light.”
It’s easy to be sucked into a world like this and begin to agree with those sentiments because things seem so evil that no other path seems possible. How do you win with kindness when kindness is taken advantage of?
I’m glad we don’t live in a world where we feel like our only option is violence and death. We live in a world where a sovereign and powerful God exists. It’s not up to us to overcome such evil, we can trust the Lord is working and will bring about what is best. And nothing can stand against his power— no amount of money, armies, nuclear weapons, manipulations, or backstabbing.
He never asks us to become savages in the name of peace. Evil never overcomes darkness. And the devil masquerades as light, but he can never bring the real thing.
The Reds have a shadow of heaven in this series:
“They fall and their friends weep and sweep their bodies aside. But we have the Vale to look forward to: what have the Golds? When they perish, their flesh withers and their name and deeds linger till time sweeps them away.”
What a difference it makes in our view of the world when we understand that there is something more to life than this broken earth. Readers should be inspired by this hope and to consider what God has offered them in the real world. A Vale one could never fully grasp.
One thing I thought was really cool was when they were talking about the different ‘rebels’ from different times that stood against the rules set forth by the Society. One couple in particular were from different Colors and thus were forbidden to marry and have children. They rejected that and in secret had surgeries done to allow for them to be together. They were found out and punished in quiet so as not to start a revolution.
“The human spirit tries to break free, again and again, not in hate, but for love. Each is willing to take the leap, thinking they are the first. That’s bravery. And that means it’s a part of who we are as people.”
No dictator or oppressor can take away the human spirit. We see that time and time again— in this series, but also in our own world and history. There is something innate in us that knows what is right and true.
In Darrow’s world they see that truth because why else would people rise up in such dangerous circumstances with no prospect of success, no one who had gone before and accomplished what they desired? They thought they were pioneering a way, but there had been others. All over the place. It had to be something innate.
In our world, we know that God created each of us with eternity in our hearts, with a knowledge of truth and rightness so that we are without excuse. Even in the worst circumstances when the body is broken, when evil seems to prevail, the human spirit shines through. Not in hate. But in love. A transcendent love. A love innate in us through the loving Creator who put it there.
Recommendation
This has been an intense and complex series to read and again, if you can handle the violence, I would definitely recommend.
I do have a caveat, though. This series was originally a trilogy. Then Brown decided to go back and add more books. From what I’ve heard and read, there are a lot of mixed reviews on those books and many who think he should have stopped after book three. There might be even more unnecessary violence and the books are a good deal longer.
Personally, I have decided to read book three and not complete the rest of the series. Unless someone can really convince me it’s worth it, as long as book three resolves well enough, I don’t have a desire to have my view of characters ruined or to spend hundreds of pages in more depravity for no reason.
I will let you know for sure once I finish the next one, but at this point I am just recommending to you the trilogy as well.
[Content Advisory: 64 s-words, 7+ b-words; many uses of their version of the f-word and the British use of the word ‘bloody’; violence and gore]
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