Golden Son.
- Oli Rubio
- 29 jul 2017
- 13 Min. de lectura
1. Author:
Pierce Brown
2. Name of the book:
Golden Sun
3. Editorial:
Hodder and Stoughton
4. Number of pages: 442 pages
5. Publication date: 2015
6. My Grade: 8.75
7. Summary: So we pick up the story a few years after the events of Red Rising, and Darrow is on the last bit of his training in the Academy. In the moment we pick up the protagonist is in some sort of galactic battle against Karnus Au Bellona, Cassius and Julius’s older brother. It seems that Darrow is the one winning, but Karnus appears behind a meteorite and wins the battle making Darrow’s ship break and his float to evacuate. That event leads to a confrontation between Augustus and Darrow. In this confrontation, ends with the decision of letting Darrow go, and what that means is that they are going to action him in an event on Luna in a few weeks. Darrow can’t truly believe that his mission is ending there and that’s as close as he will get to destroy the society.
Thereafter what we see next is Darrow in his chambers waiting to go there, not having doubts but thinking if that’s the right way, suddenly the door bells, and it’s Roque that tells him he and his family will bid for him, hence he is going to live with him, Darrow then knocks him down because he doesn’t want to get him caught in which will be an attack in that event.
Later on, at the event, and all its attendants, Karnus, Augustus, Virginia (Mustang), Cassius, Victra ( sister of Antonia and “friend” of Darrow), Tactus, and many more, are enjoying the evening, but he doesn’t detonate the bomb instead he ends up fighting Cassius Au Bellona in combat to death, as the Sovereign demands. Before the fight, he bows to Augustus, telling him that he will kill the older son of the Bellona’s as they killed his first son. And if he accomplishes that, he will stay with Augustus. The fight begins and to skip details, he cuts Cassius’s arm, then all the members of the Bellona’s join the fight and so do all those who are on Augustus’s side. That semi combat that suddenly becomes a vendetta for a few families and Darrow, Pliny, Augustus, Tactus, Victra, and more escape from there and while in doing so, they encounter Fitchner, now a soldier for the Sovereign and he brings Darrow to meet with the Sovereign, who has her grandson Lysander, with her. In the meeting she offers him to join her team, but Darrow rejects her. She then challenges him to a game of truths in a very venomous way, which if he wins, allows him a chance to get whatever he wishes from her. They question each other for information, each confessing many truths, but when Darrow asks if she had planned for House Bellona to kill the ArchGovernor Augustus and everyone at his table, she denies it, and looses the game. Mustang is there to witness this last question and is enraged with the Sovereign, but Mustang reluctantly understands and allows for the death of her father. Suddenly there is a sound like o battle and we realize is Sevro trying to rescue Darrow with his Howlers and Quinn. Many Pinks, Browns, and Violets are killed by the Praetorians and Bellona, trying to kill members of House Augustus. But Darrow also go around the Citadel to find House Augustus members and his friends, including Roque, the Telemanuses, and Tactus, despite being confronted by Aja au Grimmus, the Protean Knight. The Howlers kidnaps Lysander for safe passage out, and the Sovereign has no choice but to let them go. However, Quinn is attacked ruthlessly by Aja in front of Darrow, who can do nothing to help before they’re able to make their escape. During their flight back, while the Jackal operates on Quinn to try to save her, Tactus escapes the ship with Lysander. In a bold effort to save everyone from death from the inevitable fleet that will come after them, Darrow and Sevro are shot out of the metal launch tubes onto their enemy’s bridge. They are able to overtake the ship, formerly named Vanguard and now named Pax. He issues orders for the non-Golds to overtake their Gold commanders, which most do. They meet an Obsidian, a Stained, who introduces himself to them as Ragnar Volarus, after he kills four Golds and six Obsidians by himself, he offers his servitude to the protagonist as he sees him as a godchild and of course he accepts.
Darrow picks a new Blue for captain of the Pax, Orion Xe Aquarii, a sarcastic one that stood out from the other when they took the ship. They are able to use the starship to fight off the ships of the Sovereigns fleet before escaping past the Rubicon Beacons. Unfortunately, even though the Jackal tried his best to save her, Quinn dies, leaving Roque a broken man and Sevro lost, as he was in love with her. Darrow deep down knows that Roque blames him for Quinn’s death.
Darrow goes to find Sevro to try to comfort him for the lost of Quinn, during the conversation; Sevro reveals that Ares contacted him three months prior to arriving in Luna. Darrow opens the whisperGem that Sevro gives him, revealing a message from Ares (in a mask), saying that he was betrayed by Harmony, and that Darrow was right not to use the radium bomb at the gala, and is proud of him and urges him to carry on. Dancer is alive and his face appears and assures him that his family is safe. Also, during the conversation Sevro confesses that he found out three months prior that Darrow was a red and tells him that he doesn’t truly care about that which makes Darrow cry and hug Sevro, feeling some relief in being able to have someone know his secret that he's kept for so long. After this conversation we see Victra’s attempts to get close, but Darrow doesn’t feel comfortable about it as he doesn't feel that way about her, so he kind of decides to reintroduce himself as a way of starting over as friends, which makes her laugh but she is okay with it, for the moment.
Darrow, having trouble to sleep, walks around the ship and finds Mustang in the hall. They start talking about what she learned in Luna, about the Board of Quality Control, and about the rigidity of the laws, telling a story about how a Gold fell in love with an Obsidian, but they were killed. The conversation turns bitter as Mustang tells of her choice to lure Cassius into falling in love with her as a way to protect her family. She also says that he can’t trust Adrius, telling him they can win the war without him, but Darrow doesn’t think so as he has made previous agreements whit him.
A month later, the ArchGovernor of Mars knows that he is on the verge of losing his governorship. Darrow proposes taking all the ships on Ganymede and also proposes kidnapping all the Institute students to use as ransom. They know this will cause war. Augustus agrees to the plan, despite Pliny’s efforts to prevent it. Then Darrow goes to see Lorn au Arcos upon the order of the ArchGovernor to gain his allegiance.
Upon meeting with Lorn, he rejects his request to join them. Lorn also tells him that Aja and a Praetorian death squad have been waiting for him for days to take him back to the Sovereign. Lorn offers him Icarus to flee, but Darrow does not take the offer. Apparently Darrow knew of the trap already, knowing that Pliny, the character that worked previously with Augustus, was behind it, and it makes it look as if Lorn had known as well, thus forcing him to ally with Darrow. During this battle we can see that Tactus is with Aja and when Sevro and the Howlers arrives and fight making progress to win the battle then Aja escapes leaving. Tactus after she gave him orders to kill Lorn’s family. He then finds Lorn’s family where they were hiding, but is at a standstill when Darrow finally finds him, there Tactus talks about regretting his decision of betraying him. Darrow tells him he will forgive him if he wants to come back, and so Tactus breaks down, and cries in Darrow’s arms leaving Lorn's family unharmed. But without hesitation, Lorn kills Tactus almost immediately, as he tried to kill his family.
Mustang arrives on the ship after traveling via an assault shuttle, with news that her father has been captured and Pliny has set a coup, killing Mustang’s aunt and her children, and arresting the Jackal. When Mustang and Darrow go to see Tactus’ body, Roque is there. He is still angry with Darrow, letting Aja escape again, and now with Tactus’s death. Roque tells them that Tactus had sold the violin that Darrow had given him, but then felt guilty about it and stopped the sale from being finalized. Tactus had been practicing in private to surprise Darrow with a sonata and with that he leaves, Mustang warns Darrow to fix his broken friendship with Roque before it’s too late, as it’s getting worse day after day. Then they all reunite and finally Mustang briefs them on what happened that Augustus was taken by the Rage Knight Fitchner and the Morning Knight Cassius, but only after Nero killed the Hearth Knight. Victra’s mother’s forces were also involved, thus creating distrust on Victra, but after a short bout and words from Roque about Victra’s loyalty, saying that they are all hypocrites makes them rethink off letting her go. They go to the Hildas Station. While waiting, Lorn tells Darrow to be careful on trusting Ragnar, because he believes that Ragnar is a weapon and he will never stop being a weapon, hinting that Ragnar will eventually betray and kill Darrow, but of course, he doesn’t believe that.
He goes to Ragnar to talk about what it is Ragnar wants, but Ragnar only understands that he must obey and that is it, Darrow makes an attempt to show him a brotherhood between them instead by confessing his life as a red in order to make him understand that he does not have to be a slave anymore.
They land on Hildas Station and pretty easily rescue the prisoners, including the Jackal. Pliny is killed in the process. Darrow makes a call for another Iron Rain, the first in twenty years. On the dock moon of Phobos is where they prepare. Roque and Victra are to be set on starships to battle in the skies. Roque goes to Darrow to suggest another way to attack, but Darrow is set on his plan to conquer the city Agea on Mars first. Roque, upon slight urging from Victra, gives a farewell kiss on both Darrow’s cheeks. Darrow brings their foreheads together, calling him brother, and apologizing for all who’ve been lost and all the slights, telling him he’s been his dearest friend, admitting he was afraid. Roque says they’ll make amends later.
Many Obsidians and some Howlers die before getting into the city walls of Agea. As they move through the city, Ragnar manages to kill the Wind Knight and almost kills Cassius. They see the Sovereign is making her escape, and Darrow can’t wait any longer. He leaves his group behind to try to catch her and ends up getting into her ship without anyone to back him up. Darrow is surrounded by Karnus, Aja, Fitchner, the Sovereign and her Praeterians. Karnus tries to attack, but Darrow kills him. He is badly injured though, and Fitchner whispers to Darrow, that he is in fact Ares, and escapes the ship with Darrow.
When Darrow is conscious again, a week has passed. Mustang is there and tells him that all of Cassius’s family is dead and he and his mother are missing. Roque was able to capture more than eighty percent of the Bellona fleet and also that the Sovereign is still alive.
Darrow tries to mend his friendship with Roque, but Sevro calls him away on urgent news that the Jackal has captured Harmony, Evey, and Mickey. Darrow visits the Jackal in Attica, making himself a distraction as Sevro and some others play at being Sons of Ares and rescuing the three, all while Darrow plays not knowing what’s going on. Later, Darrow and Sevro meet with the Sons of Ares at a secret warehouse location. The Telemanuses are there, too. Fitchner tells of how he became Ares after Sevro's mom was killed.
The next plan is to have the ArchGovernor adopt Darrow as his heir and rise from there, all the way to becoming Sovereign. Darrow agrees but wants to be in constant communication with Ares. Ares agrees. Then Darrow says he wants to see his family first, his family in Lykos, before they go further. And Darrow wants to take Mustang with him. Darrow arrives on Lykos with Ragnar, Mustang, and Sevro. He returns to the garden that Eo had brought him to four years prior. It is not the same as it was. He meets with the mine Magistrate tells him to bring the food he brought from his ship and allow the people a feast. He watches his people eat and dance as he contemplates what their future will be. Mustang finds him there. In this moment, is where he reveals who he is and who he was to Mustang, after visiting his mother, who recognized him still, even as a Gold. She tells him that unfornantly his Uncle Narol died with Loran down a mineshaft, though they never found the bodies. So, she believes that Narol left and took Loran with him. Then Mustang confronts Darrow after he leaves his house. She is angry and feels she has to kill him to prevent her family from being killed but she is torn with the decision as she knows the reason behind everything Darrow has done is for a greater cause, a cause that she might believe or not, but Ragnar appears and interferes with the conversation, and prevents Mustang off trying to kill Darrow, even thought she just runs away. Then, at Darrow’s Triumph day, where he is to be crowned, terror reigns as the Jackal conspired with Roque as he injects Darrow with a paralyzing agent then he realises that something is wrong, that someone has betrayed him. Next thing we see is that Victra is wounded by her sister Antonia, and she also kills their mother in front of her. Lorn au Arcos is killed by Cassius, and also the ArchGovernor Augustus is killed by the Jackal. Mustang never showed up for the Triumph and neither did the Telemanuses, so we don’t know if it was them or not who betrayed them all. Sevro, his Howlers and Ragnar are unaccounted for. Cassius is there and accuses Darrow of killing his whole family, including the children, but Darrow has no idea what he’s talking about, as this is an acusation based on the information given him by the Sovereign. Roque presents Darrow with the head of Fitchner, aka Ares proving to him that he chose to betray him.
8. Full opinion: The second book we start with a time jump, a whole new environment, and new characters like Victra, which I truly love and enjoy. But first let me say what I didn’t particularly enjoy, first of all, why wasn’t any mention of Darrow’s training with Lorn? Why that was kept a secret until his battle with Cassius? So why even after finding out, a few flashbacks of how everything started and turned out would have been a good choice for me. Another think that did not quite suit weel on my was the act that it is at the beginning, when Harmony tells Darrow about Eo and that she was pregnant, Idon’t like how Darrow stills put her in that pedestal, yeah what she did was brave because she dared to sing, but I don’t know it just seems to me that she was truly selfish, because she wanted him to fight for something but he didn’t even know about the baby, it eels like it was a method of telling the secret if he hasn’t completely sure about the mission or the reason behind it. I don’t know, only my opinion.
What I got really enthusiastic was with that whole new adventure of them starting to fight besides from the academic world, which was everything we saw until this point of the trilogy. I liked how the special fights took place and how the author created this digital fight. Also I am very pleased with the fact that more characters from other colors are introduced to us, and how different they can be as we expected, since the only introduction that we had is basically what were they created or modeled to do.
The part of the escape from the Sovereign and how ruthless Aja is by killing Quinn without hesitation and just to screw with Darrow even more was amazing, well I was mad since I loved her as a character but impressed on how little mercy there was, since in some authors don’t just to kill they also tend to show how cruel and vile wars are, and this one is no exception.
I quite enjoyed the introduction of a family like the Telemasus, family of Pax, who died on the first book, it’s really gratifying to me, not just to see the development of the main character but also the introduction and the follow up of different characters that are like secondary for the book, like Victra or the Telemasus, as well as Ragnar. Also the fact that Fitchner is Ares is mindblowing; probably the most unexpected turn of the book, I mean it’s amazing how he discovers himself to Darrow, and also the reason behind it. It was a nice surpise.
The introduction of Ragnar was brilliant to the plot of the book as it was the perfect combination of an assassin and loyalty, like a true believer of the cause that Darrow is trying to create and to make sure it changes the society. And the ending, I mean, that ending was amazing, somhow Roque betraying wasn’t that much of a surprise, as he was being a really annoying character from quite some time, but it still hurt, to be honest, because it was like truly the end of that friendship that was built during the first book and in the beginning of this one you can still see how deeply Roque cared for Darrow, and that is why the betrayal is so deep.
And now Augustus, Fitchner and Lorn are dead, more ar nowhere to be found or we do not have any kind of information and finally, Antonia kills her mother and wounds almost deadly her sister Victra, leaving them to the Jackal. I can not wait for what he will do to Darrow.
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