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    Golden Son
    Golden Son
    Golden Son
    Audiobook19 hours

    Golden Son

    Written by Pierce Brown

    Narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    With shades of The Hunger Games, Ender's Game, and Game of Thrones, debut author Pierce Brown's genre-defying epic Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom from the overlords of a brutal elitist future built on lies. Now fully embedded among the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his work to bring down Society from within. A life-or-death tale of vengeance with an unforgettable hero at its heart, Golden Son guarantees Pierce Brown's continuing status as one of fiction's most exciting new voices.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 6, 2015
    ISBN9781470380410
    Golden Son

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    Reviews for Golden Son

    4.5/5

    1,813 ratings106 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is the second book in the Red Rising trilogy and I liked it better than the first book. Red Rising reminded me a little of the Wool books and a little of Ender's game and at times seemed repetitive. The interminable war games in Red Rising bored me after a while. Golden Son didn't remind me of anything and kept surprising me. The author has accomplished the feat of both making the second book in a trilogy worth reading and also making me desperate to read the next book.Golden Son should not be read as a standalone book. It picks up about two years after the end of Red Rising and the protagonist, Reaper, is now 20 years old. The stakes seem more real in this book than they did in the first book. Even though people died in that book, it involved manufactured conflict in a training situation. In Golden Son, there are real world political machinations and military strategy worthy of Ancient Rome. The action sequences were exciting and I really cared about the outcome. The author has created a very intriguing world and interesting characters and I expect that the series would make a good movie. I hope I don't have to wait too long for the final book. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Wow. This book was more amazing and unpredictable than it's previous. What did I listen to? I can't really comprehend.
    • 5/5
      It expanded and grew but the ending was jaw dropping!
    • 5/5
      I liked it even more than the first book.
    • 4/5
      Well goddamn that was intense - how will this end...
    • 4/5
      This is not a book you can pay attention to here and there or else you’ll be lost. Narrator is so good & I’m loving the story line!
    • 4/5
      Didn’t grab me like book one but I’m invested in the series
    • 4/5
      The second in an incredible series that takes you to places most conventional sci-fi just won't go. Characters that think before they act, genuinely care about each other, and experience tragedy. I sincerely love this series and the narrator brings an extra sense of care to the story.
    • 5/5
      Very good looking forward to starting the next one now!
    • 5/5
      Another amazing book. This deserves 5 stars. It's gone to the top of my list of favourite series.
    • 5/5
      I have no words ... this book was amazing. Kept me so engaged and I couldn’t put the last 3rd down. Also. That twist.
    • 3/5
      Golden Son
      by Pierce Brown
      Futuristic Science Fiction Dystopia
      Scribd Audio

      This is book two of the Red Rising Saga where we catch up with Darrow, a Red, a miner of Mars and one of the lowest colors in this world, doing what he can to overthrow the Golds. The Golds are the rulers. Heartless and greedy, they will kill, rape, and torture the lower colors to keep themselves in power.

      If you like politics, killing, war, and betrayal with a little space travel this is a good series, just as long as you can keep up with everything and everyone in this book. There is a lot. Backstabbing, killing, friendships, romantic interest, heartache, and a lot of characters, colors, alliances, planets, spaceships, etc to keep track of.

      It's not a bad story, but it can be hard to follow. And it's worse if, like me, you let seven years go by after reading the first book. For the first quarter of the book or so, I was a little lost. I remembered some things, but there are still little things that I'm not sure of and there's not a lot of 'recap' to help. (I thought about re-reading the first book, but I only gave it three stars and my review didn't give me the encouragement to do so.)

      There is A LOT of violence, so this is not suitable for readers under eighteen.

      Other than feeling total depression from knowing that the hatred the characters feel about the other colors is based on reality, this one line from the book hit me hard!
      "Friendships take minutes to make, moments to break, years to repair." ~Pierce Brown Golden Son

      3 Stars
    • 5/5
      Amazing second book!! So much action and political intrigue. Starting bk 3 right now.
    • 4/5
      Somewhere in the last decade or so, Pierce Brown sits at his laptop writing Red Rising. He looks up at the shelves above him filled with every other well known fantasy series. He has managed to build the backbone of Darrow's world on all these great stories. Currently, Pierce is stuck. He has a great moment for Darrow coming up and wants to weave in something stol... tributed from the stories everyone loves. Thinking himself clever he eyes his Dune books and Star Wars movies. At the last moment he pulls back. "No," he says. "No, those are for book 2, Golden Son."

      Every blatant reference is obnoxious. And yet.... I still couldn't put it down.
    • 5/5
      It is a great book/series, but the app skipped multiple times throughout and finished the reading about 12 pages before the actual end of the book. Pretty disappointing.
    • 5/5
      Even better than the first, cant wait to continue to the next.
    • 5/5
      Oh my god what a psychotic book. I couldn't stop reading ????
    • 5/5
      Great science fiction. I like how the author keeps the story line in our solar system. Humans have moved from earth to the other planets but live under a caste system from which no one is supposed to "escape". Darrow, our hero, continues on his journey to break the bondage of his people. Well written.
    • 5/5
      I can't wait until Book 3 is released on the 9th....only 4 more days! Golden Son (the second installment in this trilogy) was an absolutely gripping, bloody, adrenaline rush of a read. Pierce Brown has created an fascinating world. I've read a lot of books lately where I just wasn't feeling the characters, but in the Red Rising Trilogy, each character is so well-defined that you grow to either love them or hate them. They are complex, intelligent, emotional and manipulating. The main character Darrow is a hero for the ages!
    • 5/5
      This is a book where after I finished it, I had to just sit for a few minutes to take it all in, primarily the ending which was a god awful dooming cliffhanger. I certainly think this second book is a bit better than the first book. I am definitely going to be going out and buying it. It was hard to watch Darrow make choices that turned out wrong or got lots of people killed. I grieved with him. I've totally invested myself in Darrow at this point and am thus greatly terrified for him. The twists in the book remind me a little of Martin's books; they are twists for the worst. This isn't a revolution that is successful so far. But I like that Darrow isn't the hero who wins every battle - that would be unrealistic, especially based off of the setting and the world and who Darrow is as a human being. I also really like that Darrow is watching himself revel in being a Gold or fighting and then hating himself for it. That makes him real too - having emotions that he doesn't like. We all like to be powerful, and once we have power, usually anyone would want more. Its part of being a human being. And Darrow is portrayed as a realistic human being. High praise for Pierce Brown. I am really looking forward to the next book in the series.
    • 3/5
      Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom from the overlords of a brutal elitist future built on lies. Now fully embedded among the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his work to bring down Society from within. I did not like this book as much as I did Red Rising. I dunno… it was flinchy. I was absolutely flinching at the end of it to the point that I wasn’t sure I wanted to put the third book on my to-read list. It’s not that it isn’t good, it just didn’t hold me the way the first book did. Bleh. Don’t hate me.
    • 3/5
      2 years have passed since the events of Red Rising, Darrow is part of Augustus house and well established in Gold society until Augustus' right hand man wants to get rid of him. Rather than giving up Darrow fights back and beings a civil war within the Golds with the lower colors joining his side. I enjoyed Golden Son much more than Red Rising. It's fast paced and still confusing at times to keep events and people straight but very entertaining. The ending has me excited for the conclusion!
    • 5/5
      This review includes some quotes from the book:

      This monstrous book tore out my heart multiple times and caused me so much anxiety that I had to finish it no matter that it was 3 in the morning. I'm having the greatest difficulty expressing my torrential outrage and the shock that accompanies the epic cliffhanger.
      Please, if you truly consider reading/starting this series, make sure you do not get too attached to anyone because bad things WILL happen to them. Unlike the other cliché dystopians out there, this book does not skimp out on the violence and injustice dealt against my heart the characters.
      "They have white rose petals for him. Red rose petals are reserved for Triumphs, true victories where Gold blood is shed. The blood of eight hundred thirty-three lowColors doesn't count. That's a clerical issue."
      No Spoilers: The book begins two years after the events in Red Rising and it updates us on the rising fame and glory pitched upon Darrow au Andromedus, our hero...which all quickly goes downhill. His quick ascent to popularity just means a deeper drop when he has his own identity at stake and so many reasons to fight for. It's infinitely difficult for Darrow to claw his way up because all his life, he's instilled with ideals of loyalty, chivalry, and doing hard honest work. He's never had to play at people manipulation and it is something he is severely unprepared for in the society of Golds where the mouth is power alongside strength. These all equate to establishing a high hierarchical position and it's a dangerous game to play among professionals. However, he is exceedingly clever and it's exciting to see how he struggles and eventually triumphs in gaining back his renown and power.
      "'Monsters,' the Jackal whispers, sending chills up my spine, because his acting is so damn good. He couldn't give a piss.
      Children. Would Eo have sung if she'd known this was the chorus? We all carry burdens. And as the killers slip away from the murdered family, I know my burden will crush me under its weight one day. Just not today."
      There is romance but it takes a seat on the back-burner because remember, this is about subterfuge and war against the Golds. This is one of the plot's strongest points; the blurb does not lie and the focus of action is what you will get plenty of. Darrow knows what's important and he adamantly refuses to compromise his mission. However, he loses his purposes time and again throughout the novel and it's just frightful seeing how easily the cruel society can drive him to commit disreputable actions. His characterization continues to flourish spectacularly and his tremendous improvements navigating the shark-infested waters of the élite is subtly shown through every action, no matter how minuscule it is.

      Characters: I'm ashamed to say I forgot many of the characters and their defining aspects (Come on, I read the first book nearly a year ago...) but GOLDEN SON brings it all back with even more development. There's a vibrant cast filled with individualistic features and discrete qualities that set them apart. It was terribly frightening for me because I was wary of almost every single character since they all had brilliant, crafty minds. For those who miss those vicious, eccentric characters from the Institute, do not fear because Sevro, Roque, Victra, Tactus, Mustang, Jackal, etc. are here! I wasn't initially emotionally invested in them because Darrow wasn't but then he started to trust them more and become better friends. I reluctantly warmed up to them despite knowing terrible things they've done and good deeds they've committed for Darrow. No one was completely good and that just meant that a lot of people will not even hesitate to switch sides. Darrow is so set against letting anyone in or even trusting his closest friends. He is more of an anti-hero than a righteous rebel and he knows he's not omnipotent despite how far his stellar intelligence and superior body training has carried him. He learns that by distancing himself, it in fact creates more likelihood for people to leave him. I hate it because he never wins in the internal conflict of relationships. It's either forsaking love or receiving harm because he trusted too much or too little.
      "'My twin,' she whispers as though he sits in the corner of the room. 'He's not a man like you. He's something else. When he looks at us, when he looks at people, he sees sacks of bone and meat. We don't really exist to him.' I frown as she clutches my hand. 'Darrow, listen to me. He is the monster they don't know how to write stories about. You cannot trust him.'"
      Betrayals, oh so many, conspiracies, and assassination plans were much abound. I actually felt my heart beating fast...faster during most of the book because everything got super intense and IT JUST KEPT GETTING MORE INTENSE. I died a little inside every time something bad happens to Darrow and things end in tragedy and loss. I fluctuated between hating the characters to loving them for that one triumphant moment when they shone so bright. However, everyone deep down has made terrible life choices, caused so much pain and suffering, and in turn are rotten full of mistakes. It takes talent, a superb talent, for me to care for them regardless because of their faults. I empathize especially so for Tactus because he is lost and weighed down by his family legacy.
      "'Pfah. Agrippina's a wicked bitch," Kavax grumbles. 'Always has been.'
      'Careful, large one,' Victra warns. 'She's still my mother.'
      Kavax crosses his burly arms. 'Apologies. That she is your mother.'"
      The characters revolve so heavily on family and its beliefs. It's the reason Darrow makes so many enemies because he allied himself with a not-so-clean bloodline. He also receives so much hate with every important person that he cuts down. There's also the obsession with pride where Darrow cannot get away with killing a specific someone. So many consequences and collateral damage rose from that inevitable choice. Pride and family traditions are what these Golds feed on and they gorge themselves upon pride. I see pride manipulated countless times against others so that they have to fight a battle even if the outcome is predetermined unfavorably towards the enemies.
      "I was born in a home smaller than the cargo bay of this ship. I made my life at the end of a clawDrill that makes this tube look like a child's toy, all while sweating and pissing my soul away in a frysuit cobbled together from scrap."
      Storyline: Deep down, I knew there was no way everyone was going to survive without casualties. I just didn't expect the price to be so high and my emotions went on the craziest roller coaster along with Darrow. His emotions do get the best of him, it's endearing that he cares so deeply for everyone, but it's folly sometimes how little or how much he trusts in them. There is war in this book, and who else but Darrow to lead the frontier and direct the battles? He may have the began the war and be the current mastermind but there are those who are just as efficient and some who are more experienced in this than him. That's correct, he gets outmaneuvered but he also wins a lot but at what cost? His allies often change and his enemy shifts but his aim is true. I learned a large extent of how cunning Golds can be but I know they have aces up their sleeves that have not been revealed yet. It keeps Darrow on the tip of his toes and he'd do well to remember that. Shame that he's only human.

      The world-building is meticulously outlined and the purpose of each technology and battle warfare weapons are specific and essential to the plot. This is science fiction and dystopia done well because I can see how the Golds so easily conquered and ruled them all.The battle scenes are tremendously fierce and it gets me so animated because I actually don't know the outcome. The plot twists just keep coming. And some of them are so unpredictable and insanely skillful. I usually find many books predictable but GOLDEN SON is a master twists and turns. There were so many that I sat agape at the madness and ingenuity when again, Darrow (and co.) manages to evade death. There was no deus ex machina, all the pieces fit into place, and man, did it look great!

      More than half of the book deals with raging war so the reader might have to adjust if they came in looking for political intrigue and less action. That, my friend, is my cue to recommend you The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner instead. I wish to discuss those humiliating moments that knocked Darrow off his pedestal. Also those death scenes (internally crying). And that DAMN CLIFFHANGER AT THE END.
      "I look into the box and my heart shatters.
      All that has been, all that was to be, crashes down. Eo's dream falls into darkness. Wherever you are Sevro, Mustang, Ragnar, do not come back to this world. There's too much pain. Too much sorrow to ever mend it."
      But I don't wish to spoil the pleasure of anyone uncovering these things by themselves because where would the joy be without the surprise element? This way, I hope GS can deliver a greater impact and I feel sorry for you readers out there who found out Tris died without reading Allegiant. Since I'm doing you all a favor, please reciprocate by reading this book!
    • 5/5
      The 2nd book in the trilogy blew me away. Action packed and heartbreaking down to the bitter end! I laughed and I cried with this book. Again, a not-your-run-of-the-mill YA dystopian novel. The description of the characters are so in depth and I have no problem seeing the places that we visit! Can't wait to listen to the third book!
    • 5/5
      This was sooooo intense, many times I had to put this down just to swallow the volince. But Heel Yea, schemes and plans and plots upon plot and plans and schemes. Who to trust and who to lie to, still . . . I loved this book and series.
    • 5/5
      Gory damn good! Story & characters make this series truly special!
    • 5/5
      My mind is officially blown. "Golden Son" is even better than the first book in the trilogy, filled to the brim with explosive action and cleverly crafted scenes.

      "Golden Son" picks up two years after where "Red Rising" left off at the Institute. Darrow, now 20, is at the end of his time at the Academy. There he has furthered his training in the art of war by commanding a fleet of ships, all the while working under the tutelage of his arch enemy ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus. His feud with Cassius au Bellona is far from forgotten and he finds that its repercussions run deeper than anyone imagined. Before long the tide turns against Darrow and his situation becomes extremely precarious. Not only is he lonely for his own kind and having conflicting feelings about his station, but he also gets backed into a corner. The only thing he can do is come out swinging, in true Darrow style, with the help of both old and new friends.

      This book has sooo muuuch going on. There is a lot more action and switching around in setting than in the first, and the pacing seems even faster. The writing is clever and witty. Darrow's character is as cunning and rebellious as ever as he delves into politics, constantly taking insane risks. It was good to see some of the old characters make an appearance and to meet the new ones. Relationship dynamics have slowly but surely changed.

      Unlike the first book, I can't say that "Golden Son" reminds me of any other book or movie, which should appease anyone who had a problem with that in "Red Rising". It's in a league all its own. Just like before, there will be A LOT of blood. Everywhere. Here, though, deaths tend to be less intimate because of the nature of most of the fighting, which might be better for the squeamish.

      For some reason I didn't have an issue with the terminology this time around like I did with the first. I'm not sure if it's because I got used to it, or there were better context clues, or I if just didn't care because the story was so good. I still think a glossary wouldn't have hurt, though.

      My expectations were most definitely surpassed with this book. It has the most exciting tensions and unpredictable twists. There is never a dull moment. I can't wait to see how the story is wrapped up in the next book, because the ending of "Golden Son" is crazy. I'm still trying to come to terms with it :/
    • 4/5
      More original than the first novel and some decent character development. Plenty of betrayal if that is something you enjoy.
    • 5/5
      I’m so traumatized that I want to not give five stars strictly out of spite, but really how could I not for such a wonderful book?
    • 5/5
      The writing is amazing. I overall enjoy the characters and twists and turns. Highly recommended