Golden Son (Brown)

Golden Son  (Red Tide Trilogy, 2)
Pierce Brown, 2015
Random House
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345539816


Summary
Debut author Pierce Brown’s genre-defying epic Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom.

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. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1987
• Raised—Colorado; North Carolina; Arizona; Iowa; Texas; and Seattle, Washington
• Education—B.A., Pepperdine University
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California


Pierce Brown spent his childhood building forts and setting traps for cousins in the woods of six states and the deserts of two. Graduating from Pepperdine University in 2010, he fancied the idea of continuing his studies at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a magical bone in his body. So while trying to make it as a writer, he worked as a manager of social media at a startup tech company, toiled as a peon on the Disney lot at ABC Studios, did his time as an NBC page, and gave sleep deprivation a new meaning during his stint as an aide on a U.S. Senate campaign.

Now he lives Los Angeles, where he scribbles tales of spaceships, wizards, ghouls, and most things old or bizarre. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
Gripping.... Both author and lead character have cranked up the emotional stakes.... With Golden Son, [Pierce] Brown avoids the sophomore slump, charging the novel with the kind of dystopia-toppling action you’d expect in a trilogy ender, not a middle volume. On virtually every level, this is a sequel that hates sequels—a perfect fit for a hero who already defies the tropes (Grade: A).
Entertainment Weekly


Brown shows everything organically.... Dramatic battles with a real sense of loss, and a final chapter that slams into both Darrow and the reader, make this the rare middle book that loses almost no momentum as it sets up the final installment.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) [A]n even better novel than Brown's breakout debut. The scope of the conflict is larger—it's not a child's game anymore but a real battle for the future of the solar system. Darrow remains a fascinating yet tortured martyr, never able to grab any personal happiness when he knows how much rests on his shoulders.
Library Journal


(Starred review.) The stakes are even higher than they were in Red Rising, and the twists and turns of the story are every bit as exciting. The jaw-dropper of an ending will leave readers hungry for the conclusion to Brown’s wholly original, completely thrilling saga.
Booklist


Brown presents the second installment of his epic science-fiction trilogy, and like the first, it’s chock-full of interpersonal tension, class conflict and violence.... Stirring... Comparisons to The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones series are inevitable, for this tale has elements of both.
Kirkus Reviews

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