I was also pleased that the book begins with Darrow actually failing for once, and being humiliated into the bargain, since Darrow's constant unstoppable successes (and his first person account of these successes and why he himself is so awesome) did not endear him to me. In one sense here Brown definitely delivers, since we do see a little more of Gold society, the ethics of family loyalty, the political makeup of the system and how different Golds treat the lower colours they are responsible for.

One thing Brown does extremely well, and another reason that I wished to continue the series, is that though the road there was a little ponderous, the potential cliff-hanger ending of Red Rising with Darrow taking apprenticeship under Nero Au Augustus, the governor of Mars did promise for some interesting developments, in particular a deeper look at the society of the Golds (since the previous book had been mostly confined to the institute).

While Red Rising certainly was rougher than most, it did have its good points, and I was hoping that Brown could expand upon these while smoothing out some of his more knotty aspects. The first, and probably least important reason is that a book deprived childhood and a generally stubborn streak have left me with an inability to stop series mid way through, however more importantly, I have certainly come across authors whose first books are a little rough around the edges and who improve in their later work even within the same trilogy. You might wonder why after not exactly enjoying Red Rising I decided to read Golden Son.

The golden son pierce brown