A review by zephyrscape
Golden Son by Pierce Brown

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Now, I have no problem with sad books. I have absolutely enjoyed being wrecked by books before. But in order for that to happen for me, there needs to be enough happy or heartwarming or moving material between the sad parts for me to actually build up an attachment to characters. And in Golden Son, the vast majority of those sorts of moments between sad events are instead subbed out for action sequences where Darrow is angsting over his choices and the world he lives in. Maybe this will work for you if you get a thrill from battle sequences. But it didn't work for me. It left me with a sour taste in my mouth as the book hammered me again and again and again with things that I think were meant to shock and upset me, but only ended up annoying me. I kept internally snapping, "I *know* we can't have nice things, you've already said as much several times!"

The stars I'm giving this book are for the quality of the prose, which is admittedly quite good, and also for fleshing out some of the story's female characters in a way that I felt was missing in book one, which I did appreciate. But I finished this book without the enjoyment of a new idea to chew on and in a markedly worse mood than when I started it.
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