Golden Son by Pierce Brown
Posted Tue Oct 14 2025
As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within. A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.
I finished Golden Son just as quickly as I did with the first novel in the Red Rising Saga. Golden Son builds on where Red Rising ended with higher stakes, a more vulnerable Darrow, and just as intense action.
Unlike the first book, Darrow feels more mortal in Golden Son, which makes his victories and failures more meaningful. Watching Darrow lose to Karnus at the Academy and fall out of favor with the ArchGovernor through Pliny's manipulation was refreshing, showing Darrow's shortcomings in politics and making every fight's outcome uncertain.
The action and pacing nearly match the first book's intensity. Darrow's duel with Cassius is one of the best action scenes in the series, and the novel is packed with twists and reveals that make it hard to put down. The ending is such an amazing cliffhanger that I bought the third book a day later because I needed to discover what happens next. However, I think the climax and other actions scenes aren't as compelling as Red Rising because Darrow does less hand-to-hand fighting and more space battles commanding ships.
Mustang disappointed me in this book. She didn't play a significant role in the plot and didn't display the cunning that she did in Red Rising. Her only plan of dating Cassius and siding with Octavia failed to keep her family safe. While her contradicting behavior may have been intended to show her inner conflict, it felt inconsistent and made her seem less capable. She supports her tyrant father because he showed slight kindness towards her in her childhood, but he suppresses the lowColors and stands against everything Mustang believes in. I was infuriated with her reaction to Darrow revealing that he's a Red. Despite her preaching equality, she didn't show empathy and abandoned him.
The inconsistency extended to the plot as well, where some of it seemed driven by convenience. Throughout the whole novel, I was wondering whether Mustang would support Darrow or the ArchGovernor because she loves her father, but also wants to overthrow the Color system. Then, this tension vanishes through a convenient plot twist.
Golden Son is a strong sequel to Red Rising that leaves many unanswered questions and important decisions the characters will have to make. The action is intense, and even when it faltered I couldn't put it down!