Preface: If you haven’t read Red Rising, which is book #1 in the Red Rising trilogy, stop reading this review right now–as it will contain light spoilers for you–and go read Red Rising. You will not be disappointed.
I’m reading the audiobooks of this series–so can I call it reading? Is it listening? *shrugs*–and of all the audiobooks I’ve read this one stands out. Exemplary, really. The writing, and story, and all that book-review stuff are absolutely top notch, but the performance delivered by Tim Gerald Reynolds, the narrator, is spectacular. He narrated the first book, and did an excellent job, but he found his stride with Golden Son and frankly, I think his performance takes the book to a level it might not have achieved for me by eyeball reading. If you haven’t truly experienced an audiobook yet, I strongly encourage it. Even if the purist in you thinks that reading must be done with your eyeballs, trust me. This is next-level shit right here.
Did you think Red Rising was a little too derivative, too young adult, too Matrix/Hunger Games/Modern YA Dystopia for ya? Any dust motes of that type of thinking are quickly swept away as soon as you open the door to Golden Son. This entry in the trilogy takes you way, way beyond book #1, and doesn’t just break the chains, but breaks the mold (bahahaha! See what I did there?).