Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

36 reviews

praaliine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

where do i even start? golden son was really something, only one other book (series) has ever put me through an emotional wringer like this. every little detail in this book was worth paying attention to because pierce brown leaves no stone unturned. this was in no way a senseless science fiction, it really explored the tragedy of human nature and the relationships developed in this book were the most profound and complex i’ve ever read. there’s a big cast of characters and not one was irrelevant, pierce brown breathed so much life into the supporting characters that i cried at their pain.

i really love how Darrow, as hot headed as he was (rightfully so), remained self aware through it all, he’s broken, confused, (stupid)ly brave and gets ahead of himself way too much, yet he realizes this and isn’t afraid to say so.

I could go on all day about every single character, but i’ll stop here. it took me longer than i would have liked to finish the book, but that’s on me because i’m pushing through a slump. golden son was epic, i’ll always recommend it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Medical trauma, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol

ripxw's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: War and Violence

Minor: Slavery

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Torture, Child death, Classism, Grief, Medical content, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Abandonment, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Trafficking, War, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Rape, Hate crime, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Excrement, and Genocide

rubyroses's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I’m screwed… I already rated the first book in the series 5 stars… After reading Golden Son I think I’m going to need more stars. This book truly captured my heart and broke it in two.

Unlike the first novel in the series (Red Rising) which focused on a Hunger Games inspired battle arena this novel expands into a galactic civil war. If you enjoyed Enders Game but would have liked more violence this is for you. Not to mention the amount of twist and turns you will never see coming is chefs kiss. 

Pierce Brown does well to make even the characters who are evil seem compassionate. In return he also makes the characters you believe to be good grotesquely dark and twisted. In this book you’ll never know who is going to stab Darrow in the back or be his saviour. 

But… at least you can always put your faith in Darrow & Servo. Darrow is a man born Red & made Gold but Servo… Servo is a man of two colours. If anything bad happens to Servo in this series I will throw a fit.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic friendship, War, Blood, Kidnapping, Racism, and Child death

fierymoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

my jaw is on the ground

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content and Cannibalism

blueberry0531's review

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Classism, Murder, and War

Moderate: Slavery, Blood, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content

chris_reads's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Murder, and War

Minor: Vomit, Blood, and Trafficking

berglindsh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Death, Gore, Blood, Classism, Slavery, and Torture

sylvestra's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Violence

Moderate: Slavery

st_ender's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I am amazed that so many things were put into this book. Like so many. Just rapid fire events. I mean I did have to go back to plot section of wiki to understand some parts and there being multiple settings across the solar system AND multiple new characters AND plot twists and betrayals AND the main character changing his goals like 10 times? It's like the author tried to avoid the sequel slump so much he just put his entire brain into making every sentence engaging and if you miss that one sentence you are done.
I did have fun tho, it was tense and it made me gasp and go wait whaaat out loud so I guess the aim was achieved. It was also very different than the first one in about everything but also less ender-y (don't worry the space school takes like a chapter) so I'm excited for the next one

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Murder, War, Classism, Death of parent, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, and Trafficking