Golden Son - Pierce Brown

So brilliant was the opening book in the Red Rising trilogy - a debut novel too - that it should have made the follow-up Golden Son all the more near-impossible to live up to. The promise of Book 1 Red Rising however and the potential it opened up left little doubt that Pierce Brown had the ability to take it to the next level. If it doesn't quite raise the game substantially, Golden Son is nonetheless an impressive follow-up every bit as good as the first.

Every bit as good, but despite taking the battle to a new arena, not really any different. It was always going to be interesting to see where Brown would take the space opera elements of the trilogy after the rather earthbound (or planet bound) war gaming adventures of Red Rising. Anyone expecting a continuation of the war games in space will soon find that this side of the story is discarded rather quickly. Darrow, our hero, has rather bigger fish to fry, or bigger ships to fly, in his role as an underclass Red agent of the Sons of Ares infiltrating Gold society that dominates the rule of the planetary system.

What's great about Golden Son is that Brown doesn't waste time explaining the colour/caste system. It's already been well established and just in case you need reminding, it's there for reference at before the start of the book. The author has many other ideas and twists, battles, schemes and intrigue he wants to play out, and he gets straight into it with scarcely pause for a breath. In some ways, this is just a continuation of the flag-gathering/plotting and overthrowing of power that dominated the war games of Red Rising, albeit on a level that is rather more 'real' and likely to have a big impact on society. Which is what Darrow's objective is all about.

As thrilling as it is to see this taken to a new SF space opera level, there remains a strong core philosophy to the book that gives it a little more substance than other books of this type. There is something here worth fighting for that has universal and real world relevance - "It's there, even if you never see it till the end - that spark of individuality, of freedom". This is what drives Darrow to seek to support and use to overthrown tyranny. It's also what gives Brown the freedom to work with real-world models (mainly Roman) of rules of engagement and the art of war, and yet keep it real, rewriting the rules, keep you guessing, and constantly surprising the reader. The final part will undoubtedly mark Red Rising out as one of the best SF trilogies of recent times.