From the Bookshelf of Challenge Corner…

Golden Son (Red Rising Saga, #2)

Pierce Brown

Start date: October 14, 2015

Finish date: November 7, 2015

Discussion: Book of the Month

Why we're reading this: Our second book of the month for October.
[close] Our second book of the month for October.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 7 topics — 757 comments total

Book of the Month

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* Previous BOTMs
By Felicia · 11 posts · 732 views

last updated Dec 27, 2024 06:25AM

* BOTM Polls!
By Alaina · 24 posts · 220 views

last updated Sep 19, 2025 07:58AM

showing 10 of 41 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jul 03, 2016 C.P. Cabaniss rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, young-adult, dystopian

While this still wasn't fantastic, I did really enjoy this book. I started to like a lot of the characters toward the end of Red Rising and continued to be interested in their stories here.

This wasn't perfect, I'm still not a huge fan of the writing, but it has some powerful moments and left things very open for the final book. I really like the addition of Ragnar. And I actually really like the Darrow/Mustang pairing.

More thoughtful review will be up on my blog soon. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2016 Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dark, 4-and-a-half-stars, from-my-shelf, adult, fantastic-hero, completed-series, dystopian, sci-fi, 2016

"We will all die and the universe will carry on without care. All that we have is that shout into the wind - how we live. How we go. And how we stand before we fall.”

4 stars. Much better than the first book, where that one started slow, the sequel jumps right into the action. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. I think my main gripe is that there was a large chunk of the middle that was really slow and dragged the story down a bit. Other than that, I really didn't have any problems "We will all die and the universe will carry on without care. All that we have is that shout into the wind - how we live. How we go. And how we stand before we fall.”

4 stars. Much better than the first book, where that one started slow, the sequel jumps right into the action. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. I think my main gripe is that there was a large chunk of the middle that was really slow and dragged the story down a bit. Other than that, I really didn't have any problems with this book. It's a fantastic follow-up. There were plenty of intense moments and the ending was really great and out of nowhere.

I really enjoy Pierce Brown's writing style and the voice he gives to our main character, Darrow. All of the side characters as well are really well done and feel like individuals. I also really like his dialogue and how it's really snarky. It just feeds into the smartass in me.

Darrow, I feel is going to go down as one of my favorite male protagonists ever. Such a complex and fascinating guy he is. I thought his character development in the first book was good, but it doesn't even compare to this one. We get to watch how the society and people around him are shaping him into the person that he is and I'm so excited for even more development in the final book. I'm sure I'll be even more impressed with his growth in that one.

Sevro is one of the side characters that I really like. I like his loyalty to Darrow and his personality is great and their friendship was a lot of fun. I also liked the little background we got on him towards the end.

Mustang is another plus in this series for me. I like her relationship with Darrow and their whole intense conflict they've got going on. On her own, she's a great character as well. I like that she's very smart and can be conniving if she has to. She wears heart on her sleeve but she's not weak. She can stand on her own and fend for herself and I love that. Besides Darrow, I feel like she also has gone through some really great character development thus far.

Even though the ending has me scared (in a good way) to read the last book I am really excited to see how this series wraps up. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2021 Aly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, audiobook, romance, 2021, ya, favorite-reads

If you thought the first book was intense, you are not ready for this one. It's almost nonstop battle, carnage, and revenge plots. I feel so bad for Darrow, he just keeps losing people he cares about and every time it seems like things might be going well, he gets slammed back down. I just want him to succeed for once and help the Reds, is that so much to ask?!

Every chapter had my chomping at the bit for more and I couldn't get enough. I love the world Brown has created, it's so in depth and ha ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 04, 2015 Michelle Hauck rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I admit that I didn't care for Red Rising. I thought it was too callously violent for my tastes. Violence for the sake of violence without much conscious about it. It seemed small in that it was set in a "school" environment like so many other science fiction edged dystopians lately. Golden Son was a big turn around.

I really enjoyed the huge scope of this story line. The plot got bigger. There were numerous surprises and twists. The ending was a total shock. I enjoyed how the main character Darr ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 05, 2019 kia rated it really liked it

4.5!!

I'm honestly still recovering from the ending. The ending is crazy omg I think I'm dying because of it.

I like the fact that this trilogy didn't neglet the 'human' aspect of the book. There's a hell lot of rollercoaster plot going on, but there's also the rolleroaster of emotion accompany those scenes in the book. And I really like that because in a lot of books with premise like this, the author often forget that their character is just a human. They forget the emotion of human. But I don't ...more

Like · see review

Nov 09, 2017 Sibil rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I think it's 4.5 stars but I am not sure.
Anyway I loved this one! I loved the first book, and it was unexpected for me, because sci-fi and dystopian are not my cup of tea, and I am not a big fan of war and battles, too (even if sometimes I love them) but Red Rising was an amazing surprise. And this second book didn't disappoint me at all. And I had great expectations, so... yay!
It took me a lot of time to finish Golden Son, but it wasn't his fault. I was in the biggest reading slump ever (and I ...more

Like · see review

Jul 26, 2018 Unabridged Bibliophile rated it really liked it

That ending! I'm crying. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 08, 2023 Angie B rated it it was amazing

Loved it the second time even more. The world created is intricate, complicated, stunning. Ethical questions are also timelessly relevant. Love love.

*re-reading the first 3 so I can be caught up to read the second three. There’s too much to the story not to.

Like · see review

Dec 01, 2016 Iman the Bookwitch rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fantasy, scifi-fantasy, 2023-tbr

2023 reread and I must say Brown really knows how to get my heart pumping ! Only downside to the series that I was already expecting is how he boxes his female characters into singular tropes. But it’s easily overlooked with how action packed, fast paced, distressing and at times uplifting this story is. A true underdog tale by the by

Like · see review

Jun 18, 2020 Brittany Kollenberg rated it really liked it

Wow. WOW. What an ending. It took me SO long to finish this book but I am SO glad I did. There were some parts I absolutely loved and others I found a bit dull but definitely something I could power through. I’m excited to read the rest of this series. This book ended on such a cliffhanger it would be hard not to continue the series.

Like · see review