Golden Son (2015) Pierce Brown - Book Two of Red Rising Trilogy
· Darrow, a Red remade into
a Gold named "Darrow au Andromedus" (The Reaper) Lancer of House
Augustus.
· Virginia au Augustus,
nicknamed "Mustang", daughter of Nero au Augustus and twin sister of
Adrius.
· Adrius au Augustus,
Virginia's sociopathic twin brother, called "The Jackal".
· Nero au Augustus, the
ArchGovernor of Mars and father of Virginia and Adrius.
· Victra au Julii, lancer
of House Augustus, half sister to Antonia au Severus.
· Roque au Fabii, lancer of
House Augustus.
· Tactus au Rath, lancer of
House Augustus.
· Ragnar Volarus, Stained Obsidian
· Kavax au Telemanus,
father of Daxo and the late Pax.
· Daxo au Telemanus, son of
Kavax and Pax's brother.
· Cassius au Bellona,
lancer of House Bellona, brother of Karnus.
· Karnus au Bellona, lancer
of House Bellona, Brother of Cassius.
· Octavia au Lune, the
Sovereign of the Society.
· Lysander au Lune,
grandson and heir of the Sovereign and grandson of Lorn au Arcos.
· Aja au Grimmus, the
Sovereign's Protean Knight.
· Lorn au Arcos, the former
Rage Knight.
· Fitchner au Barca, former
Proctor of Mars at the Institute, father of Sevro.
· Sevro au Barca, leader of
the Howlers, son of Fitchner.
· Antonia au Severus-Julii,
Darrow's ruthless longtime enemy and Victra's half sister.
· Pliny au Velocitor,
Nero's chief of staff.
· Dancer, Red lieutenant in
the Sons of Ares.
· Harmony, Dancer's Red
lieutenant.
· Mickey, a Violet carver
who remade Darrow as a Gold.
· Evey, a Pink former slave
of Mickey.
At the end of Red Rising our hero, Darrow, becomes a Lancer
for his enemy, Nero au Augustus. At the
beginning of Golden Son we see Darrow lose a mock space battle to Karnus (Cassius’
old brother). This loss prompts Nero to
tell Darrow that he is going to put his contract up for bid at the next summit of
the great houses. Before the meeting
he sees Adrius (the Jackal) who has his own schemes. He also meets Harmony who
tells him that Dancer is dead (a lie) and tells him that Ares wants him to be a
suicide bomber at the House Summit.
Darrow is about to do this and then has another idea. He challenges Cassius to a duel. It turns out that Darrow has been training with
Lorn au Arcos (former Rage Knight) and is able to defeat Cassius and is about
to kill him when the Sovereign calls of the fight to save him. Darrow chops off Cassius’ arm in frustration
and chaos ensues.
The Sovereign asks Darrow to join her and has a truth
telling contest with him using special scorpion-like creatures called
oracles. Darrow finds out that the
sovereign was planning to destroy Augustus and give Mars to Bellona. Mustang signals Sevro and the Howlers who
rescue Darrow and take the Sovereign’s grandson Lysander as a hostage. As they are escaping Aja crushes Quinn’s
head. On the escape, Adrius (the Jackal)
pretends to operate on Quinn but actually (we find out later) kills her. Now we have war!
Darrow attacks and takes the largest ship in the Sovereign’
s fleet. He renames the ship the Pax in
honor of his friend from the institute.
Also of note is the appearance of a stained obsidian – Ragnar Volarus. Ragnar is one of the most interesting
characters in the series. The whole
culture of the obsidians is designed to make Golds as god-like figures and
prevent the obsidians from uniting. For
if they do they would be a massive force.
Darrow, wisely, gives Ragnar his freedom. This is not an easy thing and Ragnar rejects
freedom but Darrow finally convinces him.
This, of course, makes Ragnar even more loyal to Darrow then
before. He becomes a member of Sevrus’s
howlers. I would really like to see
Pierce Brown write a book with an obsidian as it’s main character. Maybe a prehistory to this when the obsidians
fought the Golds (and lost).
Darrow plans an “iron rain” and to take Mars from the
Bellona for Nero au Augustus. First he
needs more ships and men and seeks these with his teacher Lorn au Arcos who is
forced to join Darrow when the Sovereign’s forces turn up to kill his family
and Darrow saves them. Darrow’s former
friend Tactus escapes Darrows first trap and is in position to kill Lorn’s
family. Darrow convinces him to come
back to him. A very positive moment
which is very short when Lorn kills Tactus for threatening his family. Second Chances seems to be a theme for Darrow
which occasionally gets him in trouble.
I think it humanizes him and makes him a much more believable character.
With Lorn’s forces they initiate the battle for Mars. In the fight he is rescued at one point by
Fitchner who reveals himself to be Ares.
Turns out that his wife (Sevrus’ mother) was a red who was put to
death. Sevro had already told Darrow
that he knew his secret. He tells
Mustang his secret and she considers killing him until Ragnar intercedes.
As Sevro becomes closer to Darrow, Rogue is pulling
away. He blames Quinn’s death on Darrow
(as Cassius blames him for killing Julian).
So it is not a big surprise when at a victory feast he stabs Darrow with
a tranquilizer. They present him with a
box containing Fitchner’s head (Cassius killed him) and Adrius (the Jackal) kills his father, Nero. Rogue, Cassius and Adrius are in a plot with
the Sovereign Octavia. Antonia shoots
here half-sister Victra in the back. They
know Darrow’s secret and plan to dissect him to find out how it was done - we will see what that means. Probably torture
and eventual death for Darrow (and Eo’s dream).
Why would Rogue betray Darrow? He blames Darrow for Quinn’s death. The
sovereign ordered Aja to kill Quinn and Adrius finished the job. Well maybe to maintain the Gold’s way of
life. But if Rogue didn’t betray Darrow
then what would be the plot of the third book?
Sort of an odd plot twist that didn’t make good sense to me. I could see Rogue fighting against Darrow but
not betraying him.
Remaining Questions:
Will Darrow give Rogue and Cassius another chance to get on
the right side?
Where is Mustang?
Are the Son’s of Ares gone?
How will Ragnar and Sevrus fit in?
Where is Darrow and how is he going to escape and lead the
revolt to victory?
Next up: Morning Star
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