A review by yodamom
Golden Son by Pierce Brown

3.0

I was doing some serious happy dancing when I received a copy of this for review, I think I even pulled something. I loved, LOVED Red Rising. So I grabbed a hot cup of joe, some biscotti, a blanket, my warm reading buddy(my dog) and settled in for some serious take me away time. Yes, I was ready ! I began the first page with so much enthusiasm it was hard not to squeal to the heavens, okay I might have squeaked a bit I was overflowing. I started finally, I was lost. What ? I just need to keep reading and it’ll all click in, that is what I told myself. I kept it up, I struggled to stay awake ?!??! “How did this happen ?” I asked myself and “did I miss something ? When did this happen ?” I was still not feeling the love at 60 %. I have some iffy books with 4 and even 5 stars because they made me want more of what they offered. I wanted more of Red Rising, I wanted about 60 % less of Golden Son. That is the bottom line for me.
What went wrong ?
Huge parts of Darrow’s adventure just happened out of frame and I felt discontented from the story. I wanted to watch him train, I wanted the inner turmoil of the discipline needed to become this person. He was accepted at the house of Augustus where he is to function as? I’m not sure what his role was really. He was conflicted in his role from what I got and I was even more so. He is at a major crossroad he is becoming his peoples future.
The political drama drowned the story for me. Talk talk talk, how can a book made up of words talk to much ? I found myself many times just wanting them to shut up already. Enough of the political games rehashing and strategizing. This might all be a necessity for book three but it was tedious for this reader to get through. It’s just something I enjoy reading.
The last 40% of the book was awesome. It was everything I expected from this series, unfortunately I had lost touch with many of the characters and it didn’t have the emotional impact it could have. The characters I got to know and love all come crashing in for the finale scenes. They were barely visited in the first 60%, I was less invested in their plight. But with every sentence I was more invested, more wanting, then BAM it ended. CLIFFHANGER EXTREME ! This one didn’t thrill me like the first one in the series but I have high hope for book three.

Some favorite quotes:
“A fool pulls the leaves.A brute chops the trunk.A sage digs the roots.”
“I took his hand, he took a friend. All he has done is bite and claw for his own survival.”
“Vox clamantis in deserto”
“We all have our own tides inside us. They go in. Out.”
“I thought I would change the worlds. What young fool doesn’t.Instead, I have been swallowed by the machine of this vast empire as it rumbles inexorably on.”
“There is no greater plague to an introvert than the extrovert.”
“ You meet a man, you know him. You met woman she knows you.”