Comment

Nov 29, 2017
This was a strong follow-up to "Red Rising," that moves beyond the elements that drew inevitable comparisons to "Ender's Game" and "The Hunger Games" in the first book. There is a good deal more violence in this series than I usually enjoy, but I am drawn by the depth and complexity of the characters, the strength of the continued worldbuilding, and the lovely twists and turns of a plot rife with political intrigue, friendships and alliances made and broken, and secrets worth dying--and living--for in this grim imagining of our future. We often joke of the "second book" trap, in which the second book of a trilogy serves as little more than a bridge to the trilogy's conclusion, neither forwarding the plot nor developing the characters in meaningful ways--"Golden Son" escapes this trap entirely (perhaps through use of its Grav Boots?) and becomes one of the strongest "second books" I have ever read.