Hello guys!
Friday Reads is back a lil later in the day than usual, but this week has been a bit strange and yesterday though full of good news and potential good news left me completely drained, so I've slept in today like there's no tomorrow.
Today's book is a sequel without middle book syndrome and one that absolutely made my day when I was approved by Random House via NetGalley to read it (THANK YOU!!)! The only bad thing about reading it as an ARC? The even longer wait for Book 3!!
As an ARC it will be counted towards my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge and as a science fiction dystopian it will be counted towards my Dystopian Reading Challenge 2014!
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When the first book in a series sets itself up as a 5 stars, there's always the question of how will the second one fare compared to it but in this case have no fear. Golden Son doesn't suffer from second book/sequel syndrome AT ALL, if anything I'd say it's even better than Red Rising, and that's quite a feat in itself!
Darrow has found himself a successful place in the Gold elite, apprenticing under Nero au Augustus, the ArchGovernor of Mars and a man that believes he has the best interests of the human race and that his way is the only way to proceed.
Darrow's plight is as dire as ever, he needs to get a position of power so he can follow the plans of the Sons of Ares to destroy the Society from within, and that is not getting any easier the higher he climbs. The amount of political intrigues, tactical changes and who to trust, who not to trust in this book is estupendous!
Darrow has gained himself some enemies within the Augustus family and due to their conspiring, he loses his place there. But it doesn't stop there, because the Sovereign is involved and soon everything progresses into a bigger scale for Darrow, for the Augustuses/Augustii and maybe even for the Society as a whole.
I am simply in love with the complexities of the world the author has crafted in these books, with how the Society elite being so rooted in Roman tradition, and not only by family names or Gods, but also because if there was something the Romans knew about was politics and intrigue!
One word of warning, this is a LONG book and although it is quite full of action everywhere and politics and intrigue and tactics and counterattacks and it never seemed slow for me and I couldn't turn pages fast enough and I finished the second half of the book before sleep, it reads a lil different, the pace is not as fast but every page is full of fascinating and intricate relationships, changes of alliances and quite shocking reveals!
Yes, there are twists and reveals, and like Darrow I felt like I should have realized that before, but I was completely blindsided, and no don't worry I'm not gonna give more hints as to what reveal I'm talking about.
After more epic scheming, and seeing what a great team in political matter Mustang and Darrow make, an epic battle and when you think that things are finally looking up... the othe shoe drops, and holy shitzu does it drop the big way. The ending of the book is painful and a full on cruel cliffhanger that will give you a very serious book hangover!!
Golden Son earns its gold fair and square and it's a sequel that does what every sequel ought to do, bring up the stakes even higher, make the world more complex and leave you pining and crying for the next book! Very much well deserved 5 stars!!
View all my reviews
Friday Reads is back a lil later in the day than usual, but this week has been a bit strange and yesterday though full of good news and potential good news left me completely drained, so I've slept in today like there's no tomorrow.
Today's book is a sequel without middle book syndrome and one that absolutely made my day when I was approved by Random House via NetGalley to read it (THANK YOU!!)! The only bad thing about reading it as an ARC? The even longer wait for Book 3!!
As an ARC it will be counted towards my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge and as a science fiction dystopian it will be counted towards my Dystopian Reading Challenge 2014!
Golden Son by Pierce BrownMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
When the first book in a series sets itself up as a 5 stars, there's always the question of how will the second one fare compared to it but in this case have no fear. Golden Son doesn't suffer from second book/sequel syndrome AT ALL, if anything I'd say it's even better than Red Rising, and that's quite a feat in itself!
Darrow has found himself a successful place in the Gold elite, apprenticing under Nero au Augustus, the ArchGovernor of Mars and a man that believes he has the best interests of the human race and that his way is the only way to proceed.
Darrow's plight is as dire as ever, he needs to get a position of power so he can follow the plans of the Sons of Ares to destroy the Society from within, and that is not getting any easier the higher he climbs. The amount of political intrigues, tactical changes and who to trust, who not to trust in this book is estupendous!
Darrow has gained himself some enemies within the Augustus family and due to their conspiring, he loses his place there. But it doesn't stop there, because the Sovereign is involved and soon everything progresses into a bigger scale for Darrow, for the Augustuses/Augustii and maybe even for the Society as a whole.
I am simply in love with the complexities of the world the author has crafted in these books, with how the Society elite being so rooted in Roman tradition, and not only by family names or Gods, but also because if there was something the Romans knew about was politics and intrigue!
One word of warning, this is a LONG book and although it is quite full of action everywhere and politics and intrigue and tactics and counterattacks and it never seemed slow for me and I couldn't turn pages fast enough and I finished the second half of the book before sleep, it reads a lil different, the pace is not as fast but every page is full of fascinating and intricate relationships, changes of alliances and quite shocking reveals!
Yes, there are twists and reveals, and like Darrow I felt like I should have realized that before, but I was completely blindsided, and no don't worry I'm not gonna give more hints as to what reveal I'm talking about.
After more epic scheming, and seeing what a great team in political matter Mustang and Darrow make, an epic battle and when you think that things are finally looking up... the othe shoe drops, and holy shitzu does it drop the big way. The ending of the book is painful and a full on cruel cliffhanger that will give you a very serious book hangover!!
Golden Son earns its gold fair and square and it's a sequel that does what every sequel ought to do, bring up the stakes even higher, make the world more complex and leave you pining and crying for the next book! Very much well deserved 5 stars!!
View all my reviews
AHHHH! I STILL NEED TO READ RED RISING PILI!!!! I haven't seen a rating below 5 stars for that one, and it makes me incredibly happy to see such a high rating for the sequel as well. So glad you felt this one lived up to its predecessor:) I can't wait to meet Darrow!
ReplyDeleteYES! YES! YEEEES!! You must read these two, but be warned... massive book hangover and cruel cliffhanger at the end of Golden Son, Jenny! You have been warned!
DeleteI'm so happy you loved it Pili! I've been a tad nervous because I wasn't sure how it would go. So happy to be seeing such positive things.
ReplyDeleteIt is an amazing sequel Kristen! I hope you'll get to read it soon!
DeleteOMG Pili you are super lucky for being able to read this one! I LOVED Red Rising and it's in my top 10 of the year. I just love the Greco-Roman feel of this and it sounds like there's a lot of war and attacks in this one which really floats my boat. I'm really excited now that I've read your review!
ReplyDeleteYESSSS!! It's even more everything than Golden Son Jeann, so I hope you can read it soon!!
DeleteI was so so excited and surprised to be approved!!
I'm glad you enjoyed this one!! Aaahhh I still need to read Red Rising...
ReplyDeleteMake it one of your 2015 priorities Rachel!! Awesome books both of them!
DeleteOh and have you seen a picture of Pierce Brown's face? He's freaking gorgeous...
ReplyDeleteThat he is!! Those eyes!!
DeleteYAY for five stars. <3 I'm so glad you loved this book Pili :D I will soon read book one. After my pre-order of this arrive, and I have peeked at the ending, lol :D I cannot wait. <3 Just so happy you loved both books. Makes me so much more excited about reading them :) Thank you for sharing your amazing review sweetie. <3
ReplyDeleteYAY! Just so you know, the ending of book 2 is crueeeel!! Cannot wait till I hear what you think!
DeleteOhh im so glad you got this one!! I cant wait till I have some time to read it. I think i might need to revisit Red Rising too since it was pretty heavy! Great review lady!
ReplyDeleteYESSS! Thank you Britter! I'm so happy I got approved for this one! And yeah reading Red Rising and Golden Son back to back or at least close by is best!
DeleteYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY FIVE STARS :D I feel like I should have waited until book three comes out... but nahhh, I'm glad I binge-read books one and two. Also, Pierce Brown is a CUTIE ;D
ReplyDeleteAlyssa @ The Eater of Books!
AGREED! I was so happy to be approved for this one because reading them close together was awesome!
DeleteAnd yep Pierce Brown is quiiiite the eye candy, isn't he? I love those eyes of his!
AHHHH PILI I JUST FINISHED.
ReplyDeleteOk, sorry. So I am super curious about where the third book is going to take us. I knew A Thing was going to happen (since I'd seen distressed folks talking about Golden Son online) and though it happened as per my expectations, I am still deeply shaken.
I liked this - though not as much as Red Rising - but still a great deal (and in part because I like the whole dystopian contest "we're fighting to the death in an arena" thing and it's harder to sustain - for me - when the arena is THE WHOLE WORLD. The scope shifts and I think I always prefer a smaller focus). But ah. Still so good! So many feels!
Yep, I read it before too much info creeped around, but I still knew the book was not gonna end well, and clearly just by reading Red Rising you know to not trust the author, so whenever things seem to go well, I keep on expecting the other shoe to drop, and boy did it drop in this book!
DeleteI have no idea where the author will take the next book, but I'm so damned excited to find out!!
Thank you for visiting Layla!!
So I haven't read the first book, but I saw a couple of lines into your review this was the second book so I stopped reading. Spoilers will put me off reading a book for years sometimes or as long as it takes for me to forget the spoiler.
ReplyDeleteI did see that the first book was 5 stars and that this book came with high expectations. I'm very glad to see you gave the book 5/5. If you were to compare this series to other dystopian novels, how highly would you recommend I read them?
I'd say read them now! I had been on a dystopian slump, being completely burnt out on dystopias and BAM, I simply adooore these!! They're epic Chanpreet!!
Delete