Golden Son (Red Rising, #2) by Pierce Brown

Synopsis:

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.

He must live for more.
 

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

As much as I loved this book, it does unfortunately suffer a bit from second book syndrome. Y'know, when the second book sloooows down from the fast pace of the first book in order to set up for the Big Events in the third book? Yeah. Luckily, Golden Son does save itself and picks up about halfway through the book, keeping significantly better balance between the slow bits and the action than the beginning of the novel.

I did think that this book doesn't have as much charm as the first book, especially in the character department. Mustang felt even more bland and only-there-to-be-the-love-interest to me, which is a shame because this series has such a lack of female characters. I think that's my biggest issue with this series: lack of female characters, well-written and not.

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed this second book. Onto the third book I go!