Thank you netgalley for a digital ARC I've been hopping in and out of and finally sat down with to finish in the last day. 
 I will give Pierce Brown this: he keeps the dramatic action coming. The novel starts with a nice action sequence, throwing the reader right into the fray. And then I realized we had jumped a neat two years between Red Rising and Golden Son. I respected Brown's ability to keep his revolution plot moving forward, but still feel kind of robbed. There are many things about this world that would feel less kitschy if I was introduced to them the first time Darrow was. And there are bits of his history in that two year interim that just come off pretty convenient. Yes, of course Darrow managed to train with that reclusive, retired fighting master. And of course no one else new so it was a complete ace in the hole for a fight. What disappointed me the most about the jump though was that I was unable to see how Darrow's relationships with his friends, comrades, and enemies developed in that all important first few years out of the game. The most interesting characters get shoved to the side. Which brings me to my big problem with Golden Son. 
 Like in Red Rising, Darrow just rang hollow to me. Only this time he was further away from his roots and less grounded in his purpose. And that should have made him more interesting. Conflict. Drama. Uncertainty. He has all the right words in his mouth, but it all feels contrived. I get no emotional honesty from this novel. I'm not asking for sappiness, for a romance, for Darrow to sit and tell me his feely feels. That is obviously not Brown's book. Except of course when Darrow wallows about Eo, which gets even more tedious and unbelievable this go round. 
 I want some character development. Some character depth. Darrow always views himself in the right. And as a character being forced to make some shady choices, and justify some pretty harsh things, that is his prerogative. But I do not really know this man outside of platitudes that could be slapped on any "hero."And then the end comes, and it begins to hit the right emotional notes. I can only hope this carries into the final installment. 
 Pierce Brown knows how to write a pretty sentence and a cinematic action sequence. And, giving him the benefit of the doubt because he obviously knows how to write, he's attempting to let a character's actions speak for them. But his characters often feel like devices to this. And he's got some really compelling characters hiding in the wings. Why as a reader do I care about Darrow's journey? 
 This series has gotten so much positive press. I'm in minority in a lot of my thoughts. And it's not a bad series, or book. Most of the time it's plenty enjoyable. But I keep trying to search for something in it that explains the fanaticism, and I can't find it yet. Maybe some of my frustration comes down to all the right pieces are there for me, but something about how they fit together isn't doing it for me like it should. Regardless, Brown is a voice to watch. He's still very early in his career and all the right instincts are there.