3.8* to be exact.

First, I must say that I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read Red Rising right before reading this book. I didn't read Red Rising that long ago, but I did read almost 30 books in between so I forgot how in depth the language is and what all the tech they use actually looks like.

This book was intense. More so than the last one even. It is a war, so it should be intense. However reading it, it was almost too intense - kind of like Kill Order if you've read that. Bad things continually flow out of this book. Though in saying that, it makes complete sense for this book. Like I said, it is a war, and wars are bloody, messy, don't slow down for anyone. And while I only get a brief chapter break from one intense scene to another, the characters often get days - months even. And that makes it harder for me as a reader to tell when the characters get a mini break. Hope that makes sense.

Pierce Brown does an excellent job of getting his message across through Darrow. The battles between being a lowColor and highColor and their reasoning behind what they do really makes this story feel real. I can't even put to words my feelings in regards to how he does it, but he delivers the message well.

I've decided that this would make a great movie - not just for the story, but for the tech. The technology that is used and described in this story is awesome and would be awesome to visually see being used. That said, while reading the story (and this may also be because I didn't read Red Rising right before), I got confused by the different tech and what was being used but the story was so intense I would almost skip over it just to keep reading and get the story in.

Going along with that, I found there were lots of similar names and Brown often alternates between first and last names that when reading the beginning of this book got me confused. (Bears repeating that I should really have reread Red Rising before).

There were quite a few quotes I found myself drawn to in this book as well, and whenever they showed up I was quite surprised by how true they are of the world and how well they fit into the story. So props to the awesome quotable quotes, of which I will share 3 of my favourites now...

"We're all just wounded souls stumbling about in the dark, desperately trying to stitch ourselves together, hoping to fill the holes they ripped in us......We're swinging at the apples when we should be digging at the roots" - Darrow Page 74

"There is no greater plague to an introvert than the extroverted." - Roque Page 85

"Home isn't where you're from, it's where you find light when all grows dark" - Quinn spoken through Roque Page 87

You may have noticed those were all from the beginning of the book. That's because the rest got so intense I didn't want to stop to mark down the quotes I liked.

I think I prefer the first one to this one, but I don't really know why. This one was definitely grander and more in depth. I think when I reread these back to back I will be able to make a better decision. I also think I'll be able to understand the tech better on a reread as well as know who everyone is better, making the book even better on the second read than the first.

As you can probably tell if you've read this whole review, if you plan on reading this book, my biggest suggestion would be to make sure you read Red Rising right before.

Golden Son - Likewise Book Reviews

35 Reviews