In the last real period of consistent content on this blog, I was on the verge of adulthood and college. I was confused, excited, and deeply aware of being in a transition time. I stopped blogging in college.

It's different; my interests changed, my time became further constrained, and I felt like I had exhausted everything I wanted to say about YA and books. I returned to being a fan, reading books on vacation, but also allowed myself the intellectual freedom to explore other interests. I became deeply interested in feminism, Canadian politics, and rather than, or in addition to, reading books, I started to read longform journalism.

I changed. I still read YA. I also read adult. I also read the news. All of what I was remains true, but evolved. Perhaps more mature, perhaps more thoughtful.

When you're young, you understate the value of experience. Everything is always new, and that's fun. It's exciting. It's also deeply anxiety-inducing. Moving out to live on my own at 17 was very difficult. Adjusting to college was difficult. Getting my first real job was incredible. Attending company recruitment events, adapting to office culture, soon I'll be studying in another country. Networking at conferences. I'm not an expert at these things, but I've done them, and that's valuable.

I'm writing this post not because I'm done learning or growing. There are many things I have not done, and there are new stressors that have come up in my life. But I have been pondering adulthood for a long time, and as I am now 20 years old, I believe there is one truth I have discovered, at least for the moment.

Things don't get easier. There are studies that say you are about the same level of happy throughout your entire life. But having dealt with tough situations before, I know that I can deal with other tough situations again. It's not that life is any easier. I just feel better equipped to handle it. I feel more confident that everything will end up being okay because bad things have happened and life goes on. Experience has value.

I hope that is reassuring to everyone worried about the future and nervous about starting college. moving away from home, getting your first job, etc. I know it's easy to be reasonable and calm in retrospect. Hell, now I'm applying for jobs, not merely for the short term, but for a career and it is really hard and scary. I don't know if I'll get the job I want. I don't know if I'll bomb the interviews. I don't even know where I'll live. But, at this particular moment, I think it'll turn out okay. At least, I hope it will. If one path doesn't work out, I'll try another, and eventually I'll get to where I want to be. I think you will too.

With shades of The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game, and Game of Thrones, debut author Pierce Brown’s genre-defying epic Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation.
Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom from the overlords of a brutal elitist future built on lies. Now fully embedded among the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his work to bring down Society from within.
A life-or-death tale of vengeance with an unforgettable hero at its heart, Golden Son guarantees Pierce Brown’s continuing status as one of fiction’s most exciting new voices. 

My Review 

Author: Pierce Brown
Series: Red Rising #2

Pages: 464

Publication Date: January 6, 2015

Source: Library

I’m rusty at this review thing but I’m going to try for Darrow.

With the exception of Harry Potter, Outlander and maybe the Lumatere Trilogy, Red Rising is the absolute epitome of all the books I’ve read.

There is this chill that goes down ones spine when they know they are reading a great book. I felt that with Red Rising and the feeling was intensified in Golden Son, which was so much more complex and dramatic than its predecessor and if you’ve read Red Rising you’d also know that that’s quite a feat in itself. Pierce Brown has outdone himself.

The world is ten folds that of what we saw in Red Rising and so are the friendships, betrayals and action-drama sequences. I took a 3 day break because I couldn’t deal with certain revelations and other possible outcomes. This series has broken my heart so many times thus far and all that’s keeping me going is Darrow’s hope. It takes a moment to realize that his problems aren’t mine and his world is not real, however, Brown’s Martian society very closely resembles our own and its hard to not be fascinated and horrified by this paradigm.

Golden Son begins with a 2 year leap, Darrow begins the novel at age 18 commanding fleets at the Institute fresh and yearning for action, but finishes the novel as a full fledged man of war at age 20. I loved the subtle yet continues passage of time. A war doesn't happen in a month, it takes years and a lot of manpower something Pierce Brown made sure to address.

Darrow is a fantastic character to be inside the head of. His faith in humanity and capacity to love is heartbreaking given what he went through and continues to go through. It does help that he has some wonderful friends like Sevro and Ragnar. Sevro's sailors-mouth was always a welcome reprieve. This midget in wolfs clothes has really grown on me. On the other hand Ragnar was newly introduced in Golden Son and his relationship through not too deeply explored foreshadows to the future Darrrow's been working on and I'm so excited to see more and learn more about Ragnar's sisters and family. Also, special mentions go to the Telemanus's and Lorn of Arcos. Pax was my teddy bear in Red Rising and I'm glad there was more of the Telemanus's in this book.

“Rise so high, in mud you lie.” So many left in the dirt and now I have a sopping month to wait for the conclusion.

-MARI