Golden Son takes up where Red Rising left off, following the continuing adventures of Darrow, the Red turned Gold as he tries to tear apart society… and hopefully rebuild it for the better?

Overall, the world building is about the same as the first book in that it’s better/more believable than the conceits of most YA novels and I like the sci fi tropes. We’re also starting to see some of the exceptions to the rules that everyone (in universe) thinks were so unassailable the first time around, which is interesting. We do get a more expanded scope though, seeing much of the rest of the Solar System, which is neat. And there are interesting hints at some of the history of this world; like how the Obsidians got to where they are and why there are no robots or anything quite like that.

Characterwise, Darrow continues to be a combination of entirely too good at many things and really (almost unforgivably) stupid when it comes to others. I get that he’s still a young adult in these books, so some of the decisions he makes do make a sensible lack of sense, but it’s really frustrating to read. You don’t necessarily have to like the main character of a book to like the series, but it certainly makes it easier. Also, given how Darrow treated him, totally called Roque…

On the positive side, there are some really interesting / crazy action scenes and I really do care about how the whole mess is going to end up. Certainly enough to read the third and final book of the series. When you’ve risen/fallen so far…