From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

This is the second book of a trilogy, but it is in no way a bridge book. Authors take note: THIS is how you write a trilogy! At first I was a little miffed that apparently Darrow did all of this training with Lorn, and went to, like, Golden College or whatever, all off-page. But we don’t need to see all of that, because there’s so much else happening. Instead of picking up where Red Rising ended (with Darrow agreeing to work for Augustus), we jump two years into the future, with Darrow at the Academy (which seems like college, if we think The Institute is like high school), fighting in space. It’s all still ostensibly a game, but as we saw at The Institute, these games have few rules. And by the end of the book, it’s pretty clear that, to the Golds, everything is a game. When you don’t have a conscience, it really doesn’t matter what happens to the faceless masses.

Anyway, the houses Augustus and Bellona are still at war. It all plays out during the opening Academy battle, which Darrow and co. lose, resulting in the Augustus family essentially releasing him from his contract as lancer. Given that he’s supposed to infiltrate the Society from within, getting kicked out of one of the most powerful ruling families puts quite a kink in those plans. But before Darrow’s contract can be offered up, the Howlers return (Sevro and company), courtesy of the Sons of Ares, to help Darrow take down the Bellonas. Because while Darrow was fighting and training and whatnot, Cassius was becoming one of the Olympic Knights. And also sleeping with Mustang. I have to admit, at first I kind of forgot that Antonia and Mustang were different people and I couldn't figure out how she was somehow in two places at once. Fortunately, there’s a Dramatis Personae at the beginning of the book, which reminded me that Mustang’s real name is Virginia, not Antonia. Characters whose names I can neither remember nor keep straight? That’s one check in the A Song of Ice and Fire box!

A second check in said box comes with all of Darrow’s various battle plans and subsequent battles. He’s sort of uneasily allied with the Jackal (Mustang’s brother, Augustus’s son, whose real name is Adrias), but everyone keeps reminding him not to trust the dude. Meanwhile, the Sons of Ares are still trying to give him orders, but Darrow is increasingly frustrated with the secrecy of the whole operation. If Ares wants Darrow to carry out his mission, then he should show his face. Basically, Darrow decides that the best way to upend the Society’s structure is to start a civil war -- the Bellonas are allied with the Sovereign (Octavia de Lune, whose home base is the moon, and who I kept mixing up with the characters from Marissa Meyers’s Lunar Chronicles. Sadly we are without androids), but if the Augustus can overthrow them, they can place the seat of solar system power on Mars instead of the moon.

What results is pretty much the Battle of Blackwater in space. And while that grand battle played out amazingly on my TV screen, it didn’t do a whole lot for me in book form. And there’s sort of a similar problem here -- lots of fire and explosions and shooting oneself into space and swordfighting and taking over ships and blowing up other ships... It all happens pretty fast. Brown just burns through the plot here. There’s precious little time for reflection (or whining about our feelings). What’s great about it, though, is that it isn’t merely action and explosions for the sake of having an action scene. To me, a bridge book is one that either doesn’t advance the plot because nothing happens, or one that takes the characters in a big circle. Take bridge book extraordinaire The Infinite Sea. Yes, lots of shit blows up, but by the end of the book, the characters are in the same location, with only a tiny bit more information than when they started, and there’s been no appreciable momentum on ANY of the plot points. Here, we are just powering through one plot after another. There were a few times I wished shit would slow down and stop blowing up, but I appreciate that Brown pulls exactly no punches here.

And then just as I was rolling my eyes and crying Mockingjay, Brown drove a dagger into my heart. (view spoiler)[ So, Darrow calls for an Iron Rain, and although I’m still not clear on what that means, exactly, he and the others shoot themselves into space, land on Mars, almost die, but eventually take over the planet in the name of Augustus. The Sovereign escapes, but most of the Bellonas are dead (save Cassius, of course, because there has to be a final showdown between him and Darrow in the finale). So Darrow is supposed to have a Triumph...some ceremony celebrating his victory. But it’s bittersweet, because he’s revealed his true self to Mustang and she abandoned him and there’s a good chance she could tell someone his secret. And also when he betrayed Roque to try to keep him safe a million battles ago? (the first one, at the party on the moon, when Roque offered to buy out his lancer contract) Well, Roque ain’t over it. Also, the Jackal did have his own plan all along, and Roque is in on it. We found out about halfway through that Fitchner is Ares, which I really should have seen coming but didn’t, and that Sevro is half red, on his mother’s side (also, if we’re keeping with the Game of Thrones comparisons, Sevro is Tyrion, and Fitchner is totally Baelish). Anyway, Darrow is having his triumph and I’m rolling my eyes, because he’s acting like Katniss being turned into the Mockingjay, and just as I’m steeling myself for this boring, typical revolution plot, Brown just upends EVERYTHING in the last two pages. Now it’s the Red Wedding on Mars (fitting, right?). Roque betrays Darrow, drugs him as payback, and the Jackal murders everyone. The last thing we see? Fitchner’s head in a box. (hide spoiler)] Boom. Expectations shattered.

I have absolutely no idea where we will go from here, but I am beyond excited to find out. So much of this book reads more like a finale than a second book, and by the end I was glad we didn’t waste time seeing Darrow train with Lorn, or on his two years at the Academy. In fact, by the end of the book another two years have passed (so it’s been 4 years since his transformation). Although there were a few times I wanted things to slow down a bit, I like that we didn’t dwell on minutiae. I think that’s what separates this from similar-themed YA series. If this were a YA trilogy, we’d probably spend all of the second book on Darrow at the Academy, and save all of the battles for book three, and we’d end with victory for the rebels, like all dystopian books do. In this case, I’m not even convinced Darrow will survive to the end (although he is the narrator, and if I have to suffer through chapters from Mustang’s perspective in book 3, I will take back every good thing I’ve said here!). Speaking of, I was less annoyed with him in this outing. He’s less perfect and amazing, far more human, this time around. In Red Rising, Darrow is great at everything, but here we see him do stupid shit and make some pretty terrible judgment calls. Yes, he’s still the benevolent leader, kind to all colors, which raises suspicions amongst Golds, but he felt like less of a Mary Sue this time. He’s a bit like a less boring Jon Snow (or a less boring, not dead, Robb Stark). Mustang, sadly, has more in common with Cersei by the end than anyone (I so badly wanted her to turn out like Dany. I would even settle for Arya).

I feel like I have done a terrible job of explaining this, but trust me, it is awesome. I am so glad I decided to give this series a chance. Don’t be turned off by the constant comparisons to The Hunger Games. It’s so much more than a rehash of a popular trope. And since I took a chance on the series, I’m filing it in the Sci-Fi square on my #ReadHarder Bingo card. (My goal with that challenge is to try to read more books outside my wheelhouse, or at least books I might have passed up) If you’re a Game of Thrones fan (books or show, it seriously doesn’t matter), pick up this series. Trust me, you will not be sorry. And you will not have to wait another seven years to find out how it ends.