If Red Rising was the book that introduced me to this universe, Golden Son was the book that completely hooked me. I enjoyed the first book and thought it had an incredible foundation, but there was something about starting Golden Son that felt different. It jumps ahead two years, Darrow is no longer the kid we left behind at the Institute, and almost immediately the scale of the story gets bigger. He’s fighting actual space battles, commanding soldiers, navigating Gold politics and trying to figure out how the hell he’s supposed to bring down an entire Society from the inside. Even early on, when Darrow wants to jump out of a ship and fly through space to board the enemy vessel, I remember thinking, Okay, this guy is fucking insane. And then later in the book, he actually does it with Sevro. That’s Darrow in a nutshell: someone gives him a plan, he sees another possibility nobody else considered, and suddenly he’s doing something completely fucking ridiculous that somehow works.
But I think the moment Golden Son really grabbed me was the Gala. Darrow is supposed to bring a bomb into this massive gathering and essentially wipe everyone out, but when he sees Mustang, he can’t do it. Instead, he decides to completely change the plan and use the opportunity to start a civil war. Then he challenges Cassius to a duel in front of everyone, and what follows is one of the coolest moments in the entire trilogy. Cassius thinks he’s fighting the same Darrow he knew from the Institute, but Darrow has secretly been trained by Lorn au Arcos, the greatest Razor Master in the Society. Darrow lets Cassius think he has the upper hand before revealing what he can actually do, and then cuts off his hand and nearly kills him in front of his family. It’s one of those moments where you realize just how far Darrow has come. In Red Rising, he was learning how to survive among the Golds. In Golden Son, he’s becoming one of the most dangerous warriors among them.
And then everything gets worse. Lysander is kidnapped and used as a bargaining chip, Tactus betrays them, and Darrow eventually realizes that Tactus is simply too rotten to trust and Lorn kills him. Lorn joins their cause, Orion becomes one of Darrow’s most trusted commanders, and then we meet Ragnar. Ragnar quickly became one of my favorite characters in the entire series. He’s this enormous, terrifying warrior who can basically kill anything put in front of him, but he’s also incredibly loyal and surprisingly gentle. Darrow recognizes something in him that the Society refuses to see: that an Obsidian doesn’t have to be the monster Gold society created him to be. Ragnar becomes another protector for Darrow after Pax’s death, but he’s also much more than a weapon. His loyalty is personal. When Darrow eventually tells him the truth about being a Red, Ragnar doesn’t care. He tells Darrow that he’ll follow him anywhere. And then Darrow gives him a Razor, essentially spitting in the face of one of the most sacred rules of the Society. A weapon that only Golds are supposed to possess is suddenly in the hands of an Obsidian, and Ragnar proves exactly why Darrow trusted him with it.
That relationship between Darrow and Sevro also reaches another level in this book. Sevro already feels like Darrow’s brother after everything they went through at the Institute, but then Sevro reveals that he knows Darrow’s secret. He knows he’s a Red. We also learn that Fitchner is Sevro’s father and that Sevro’s mother was a Red, meaning Sevro himself is half Gold and half Red. Suddenly, the two of them aren’t just brothers because they fought together. They understand something about each other that almost nobody else possibly can. That moment cemented Sevro as one of my favorite characters in the series. Their relationship is one of the emotional anchors of these books, and the idea that these two completely different people from opposite sides of the Society can become brothers is exactly what Darrow’s entire rebellion is supposed to represent.
Mustang, meanwhile, is one of the most complicated parts of the book. Darrow loves her, but she’s working for Octavia and is involved with Cassius, while Darrow is becoming increasingly alienated from the political world he’s trying to manipulate. Eventually, Darrow tells her the truth: he’s a Red. He brings her home and essentially puts everything on the line by telling the woman he loves what he really is. Mustang doesn’t know what to do with that information and ends up holding a gun on Darrow and Ragnar. It’s another moment where Darrow has absolutely no idea whether the people closest to him will accept him once they know the truth. Ragnar’s loyalty never wavers, and eventually Mustang makes her own choice, but the uncertainty surrounding their relationship gives Golden Son a much more personal side underneath all the political maneuvering and battles.
And then there is the Iron Rain. Darrow and his people launch an enormous assault, and just when it seems like they’re going to pull it off, an EMP disables their armor and sends them crashing into the water. Suddenly this massive military victory turns into a desperate fight for survival. People are drowning, Howlers are dying, and Darrow is doing everything he can to keep his people alive. It’s another reminder that this isn’t the Institute anymore. The stakes aren’t just losing a castle or a standard. These are actual people dying in an actual war. And even though Darrow manages to survive and continue forward, the cost keeps getting higher.
Eventually Darrow reaches Octavia’s ship and finds himself surrounded by Octavia, Aja and Karnus. Karnus decides he’s going to be the one to kill Darrow, charges him, and Darrow cuts him in half. Meanwhile, Roque wins the space battle. For a moment, it feels like Darrow has actually done it. He’s assembled an army, he’s recruited some of the most powerful people in the Society, he’s won another enormous battle, and he’s finally starting to look like someone capable of actually challenging the Sovereign.
And then comes the Triumph.
This is the Red Wedding of the Red Rising trilogy.
It’s probably the moment in the series where my jaw hit the floor the hardest. Darrow has just won a massive battle and everyone is celebrating, so naturally you think he’s finally getting his victory. Instead, Roque turns on him. Darrow is sedated and poisoned, his friends are either killed or betrayed, the ArchGovernor is executed, Antonia kills her own mother, Victra is shot in the spine, and Lilath kills Lorn. And then, as if all of that wasn’t enough, Darrow is given a box containing Fitchner’s head. It is just an absolutely brutal ending.
Roque’s betrayal might be the part that hurts the most because of who Roque is. He isn’t simply another villain who was secretly evil the entire time. He’s Darrow’s friend. They fought together at the Institute. They shared some of the most important experiences of Darrow’s life. But Roque believes in Gold society in a way Darrow never could. In a strange way, Roque is what Darrow is to the Reds. Darrow looks at the world he was born into and says, This system is wrong. Roque looks at the world he was born into and says, This system is worth protecting. That’s what makes his betrayal so tragic. Darrow’s greatest strength is his ability to see beyond the labels society has placed on people, but Roque ultimately can’t do that with Darrow. Once he discovers that his best friend is actually a Red, everything Darrow represents becomes a threat to everything Roque believes in.
That’s why I think Golden Son is the Empire Strikes Back of this franchise. It’s darker, bigger and more devastating than the first book. Darrow starts the book stronger than he was in Red Rising, and for much of the story it feels like he’s finally putting everything together. He’s building an army, finding new allies, becoming an elite warrior and getting closer to actually challenging the Society. Then, at the exact moment when it feels like he’s won, everything is ripped away from him. I loved Catching Fire when I read it, and I’ve always thought of it as one of the rare sequels that improves upon an already great first book. But for me, Golden Son takes that idea even further.
This was the book where I stopped simply enjoying Red Rising and became completely immersed in it. I started Morning Star after finishing this one and basically couldn’t put it down. Suddenly I wasn’t just reading to see what happened next. I cared about these characters. I cared about the friendships, the betrayals, the victories and the deaths. I wanted to know what happened to Darrow, Sevro, Mustang, Ragnar, Cassius, Victra and everyone else I’d become attached to. Golden Son took the foundation that Pierce Brown built in Red Rising and turned it into something much bigger, darker and more ambitious.
Five out of five stars. For me, this is the book where the Red Rising saga became something special.
