Reviews with content warning for Violence - Golden Son

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

75 reviews

bookwyrmsam's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Golden Son is like watching a car crash in slow motion and I am absolutely here for it. It was tense, it was exciting, it was emotional, it was stressful…. Gah! Looking forward to book three.

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kmarkus15's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

I have now read this book three times. I have cried every time. I have laughed out loud every time. I have fallen more in love every time. This is a masterpiece. Everything that was imperfect in Red Rising is perfected. Every thing that was perfect in Red Rising is somehow improved. I have no notes. This is the vale.

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catmcso's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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josiah17's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

Pierce Brown...what a ride. I'm really starting to enjoy the first person perspective because of how well Brown writes in Darrow's voice. Something about the prose, which I find to be super consice yet insanely profound, just makes this narrative so digestible.

This book just an insane step up from the first book, which was already a solid entry. Brown just took more time with the right scenes and so much happened. My only critique is the action sometimes feels lacking in setting description, but that's minor and does not hinder the reading experience for Golden Son whatsoever. Best read so far this year.

Edit 11/25/23: Bumping down to a 4.5 I think.

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joshoonet's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I had a bit if a hard time getting into this book, mostly because the feeling of having to read another ~1200 pages to finish the series was kind of daunting
But then I ended up finishing the majority of the book in one day, so it was absolutely captivating!
Almost as good as the first one, but of course higher stakes and more complicated politics
Lost focus a bit during the big fighting bits
Love how nothing is ever quite how it seems, everyone is scheming all the time
Starting the third book immediately!

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secre's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

I thought Red Rising was an excellent book. And it is. But Golden Son absolutely blows it out of the water. It completely expands the world building and offers a far broader and more expansive plot, whilst never losing sight of the character development and personal narratives. Red Rising was very much a dark YA dystopia, which kind of veered into adult territory due to the violence and gore but was fairly squarely in the 'Hunger Games' line of writing. It was good, but fairly simplistic and didn't offer the full scope of world building. Golden Son veers off and is absolutely an adult military science fiction.

From the fairly insular world of the Academy, Golden Son propels us into the wider world and forces Darrow into far more adult and strategic decisions. It goes from the 'competition to the death' genre into absolute and total war, lives on the line, blood spilled and friends and comrades lost. Darrow is forced to balance the two sides of his life; his old life as a Red and his decision to overthrow the Gold's from within and his new life as a Gold with all the friends, allies and enemies he's found along the way.

The character development continues to be exemplary and I found myself becoming genuinely attached to individuals. Which is a pity in a way as whilst Brown isn't quite as trigger happy as say George R.R. Martin, there's still absolutely no guarantee that any of your favourites will make it through the pages alive. And the ending... I've rarely been impressed by a cliffhanger ending, but I was undoubtedly impressed by this one.

All in all, an absolutely stunning continuation of an excellent series. I look forward to the next book.

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