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A review by sarahmsklar8
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
adventurous
tense
2.75
Age of reviewer: 36
I have been told the second book is better than the first, stick it out, it's amazing. And I can admit, Golden Son is better. But it doesn't hold enough of an impact to bump it up from "just ok" to "good" for me.
Golden Son picks up some time after where we left off in Red Rising. Our band of misfits have all disbursed to their contracts or secondary schools, etc. We get a faster-paced story with action, battles, and betrayals everywhere you turn. Unfortunately, Brown couldn't write an immersive battle scene if his life depended on it. In typical male fashion, we get so built up with tension, only to be let down at the climax. It's there... It just doesn't accomplish much.
Darrow is the most insufferable character in the entire galaxy, and not in a way where you can see he is intended to be flawed in order to foster growth. When he fails, he doesn't really fail, when he wins, he doesn't really win, and either way you have to read through his long-winded self pitying inner dialogue.
The two most interesting characters, Mustang and Sevro, are entirely glossed over and inserted only to give Darrow someone to talk at instead of himself for a minute. I think that's where this series really falls short for me. As a reader, I draw more to the side characters and subplots. I get invested in their story, crawl for crumbs to learn their history and motives. While I know it is not easy to convey with the first person narrative, I just can't wrap my head around the fact that Darrow "loves" these people, yet has not connected with anyone beyond how they can serve him.
I guess we will see what happens in the final book, only because I already bought it so I might as well see it through. but I am quite literally begging for some depth
I have been told the second book is better than the first, stick it out, it's amazing. And I can admit, Golden Son is better. But it doesn't hold enough of an impact to bump it up from "just ok" to "good" for me.
Golden Son picks up some time after where we left off in Red Rising. Our band of misfits have all disbursed to their contracts or secondary schools, etc. We get a faster-paced story with action, battles, and betrayals everywhere you turn. Unfortunately, Brown couldn't write an immersive battle scene if his life depended on it. In typical male fashion, we get so built up with tension, only to be let down at the climax. It's there... It just doesn't accomplish much.
Darrow is the most insufferable character in the entire galaxy, and not in a way where you can see he is intended to be flawed in order to foster growth. When he fails, he doesn't really fail, when he wins, he doesn't really win, and either way you have to read through his long-winded self pitying inner dialogue.
The two most interesting characters, Mustang and Sevro, are entirely glossed over and inserted only to give Darrow someone to talk at instead of himself for a minute. I think that's where this series really falls short for me. As a reader, I draw more to the side characters and subplots. I get invested in their story, crawl for crumbs to learn their history and motives. While I know it is not easy to convey with the first person narrative, I just can't wrap my head around the fact that Darrow "loves" these people, yet has not connected with anyone beyond how they can serve him.
I guess we will see what happens in the final book, only because I already bought it so I might as well see it through. but I am quite literally begging for some depth