The second book in Brown's Red Rising Trilogy, Golden Son dumps you right into the action with hardly a look backward to the events of the first novel. Those who read the first book a while ago should really re-read the first one, as I found it very difficult to remember the massive amounts of characters who reappear with hardly a summary paragraph in between. Also confusing is the many names some characters go by.

There is tons of action in this second book, but I was sad the story started two years after the events in the first, as it would have been interesting to see those chapters in Darrow's ascendancy.

I'm hoping that in the finished copy there will be a list of characters as a reference. Also, while this is being touted as a "Young Adult" novel, I wouldn't recommend for younger readers due to the amount of background knowledge you need to enjoy the story (Greek/Roman mythology, difficult vocabulary words, and massive sections of battle description and not much dialogue).

I'll give the series a re-try after the final book is published. This may be a series you want to wait and binge read to keep the characters fresh in your mind.

**Reviewed from a free digital ARC provided by www.netgalley.com and the publisher.