Golden Son

Executive Summary: This book suffered from some of the same issues as the last one, but overall I found to be a much better book. If not for the slow start, I might have considered giving it 5 stars.Audiobook: [a:Tim Gerard Reynolds 4132657 Tim Gerard Reynolds https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1370714999p2/4132657.jpg] is once again excellent. He made the slower parts of this book far more tolerable, and just generally made the book better. Audio is definitely the best way to do this book in my opinion.Full ReviewAfter the slow start of [b:Red Rising 15839976 Red Rising (Red Rising, #1) Pierce Brown https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1461354651s/15839976.jpg 21580644] things finally got good, and I was excited to jump right into this book. Unfortunately the start of this book dragged as well. I'm a sucker for the school trope, but we barely get a glimpse of fleet school, and instead get a bunch of annoying posturing. I'm not sure why he did that. There was plenty of story to tell. Thankfully the lull at the start was far less than the last book. I'd say to the 10% mark vs. the 33% mark of [b:Red Rising 15839976 Red Rising (Red Rising, #1) Pierce Brown https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1461354651s/15839976.jpg 21580644].What makes this series for me is the characters and world building. The story itself has been largely done a few different ways. It's space twist is a nice change, and the computer nerd in me loves all the technology, even if it sometimes approaches magic. The characters are where things really shine. Darrow grew on me in the last book, but it was Sevro, Mustang and Pax that made that happen. I've rarely despised a character as much as the Jackel. In this book we get several more excellent supporting characters. In particular Victra, Cavix and Daxo. Orion was pretty cool too.Apart from the beginning, the storytelling is fast paced and engrossing. I really care about these characters, and wanted to find out what happens next. I always looked forward to the next time I would listen, especially the last 25% or so.Luckily for me, I picked this book after the final book was out, because it ended on a pretty bad cliffhanger. I've read books with worse ones, but only 2 come to mind. If you pick this one up, you should plan to just read [b:Morning Star 18966806 Morning Star (Red Rising, #3) Pierce Brown https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1461354277s/18966806.jpg 26984941] right after.I hope the final book doesn't suffer from a slow start like the last two, because after this ending that would drive me crazy. Either way, I can't wait to find out.