#6 in Science fiction
Golden Son
- 464
- Pages
- about 9 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 1 week on the list, peaked at #9
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Our view
The second Red Rising book wins on momentum: political intrigue, violent action and one twist after another, with chapters built so that stopping is hard. Some readers find the prose serviceable rather than elegant and its debts to other well-known sagas easy to spot, yet the mix holds up. Best for readers who want speed and high stakes in their science fiction, and who have already read the first volume.
Worth knowing Published in January 2015, it moves from the Institute’s war games to real war and court politics among the Golds, and is often named the strongest book of the trilogy. It ends on one of the series’ most notorious cliffhangers, so have Morning Star (2016) at hand.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Golden Son is a 2015 science fiction novel by American author Pierce Brown; it is the second in his Red Rising trilogy.
Reading order · Red Rising Saga
Full order & progress →- Red RisingStart here
8.48.4 / 10 - Golden SonThis book
8.88.8 / 10 - Morning Star
8.88.8 / 10 - Iron Gold
8.18.1 / 10 - Dark Age
8.68.6 / 10 - Light Bringer
9.19.1 / 10 - Red GodRed God–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.9 across 2,753 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 95% of the weight and the score stays at 8.8 — the Science fiction average of 7.8 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.5 | 56 | 2% |
| Google Books | 9.0 | 6 | 0% |
| Hardcover | 8.9 | 2.7K | 98% |
Frequently asked
How long is Golden Son?
It has 464 pages — longer than 56% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Science fiction — with scores between 8.8 and 8.9, closest to this book.
