Leave it to the Prose – The Next Chapter: Golden Son by Pierce Brown
Episode 2 of our first Next Chapter arc we dive into the middle book of the original Red Rising Trilogy: Golden Son by Pierce Brown. The story continues Darrow’s story as he embarks in his ambitious goal of overthrowing the oppressive Gold rulers.
Episode Discussion:
- Tone and the reign of the Golds. Through this book we get several different perspectives (Nero, Octavia, Karnus) of what the goal of Gold is, and how pride and achievement in this momentary life is all that there is. How the Golds are conditioned to believe in power and rulership, and as the Golds manipulate the other colors they do not see that they have been manipulated to believe their own story.
- Character discussion of Mustang (Virginia), Tactus, Roque, Victra; and how each of these character’s upbringings define who these characters grow up to become.
- Mustang’s devotion to her family, and the lengths she will go to defend her family.
- Tactus’s devotion to power, and his deprivation of a redemption arc.
- Roque’s devotion to the Society lie. How he wants to be Darrow’s best friend, but will always choose the Society above
- Victra’s devotion to breaking her family’s traditions of being the backstabbers; and how Victra seeks to be a decent person in a decent world.
- Deep dive into the scene of Darrow’s identity reveal to Mustang.
- How Mustang is characterized and “not being like other Golds.” Her Demokratic compassion. But she is also an established Gold, a child of the ArchGovernor, and if she acted upon her compassion she would lose a lot; so ultimately her decision is unknown. There is a mystery on in how she would act.
- The setup of “should we shoot down her ship?”. How the stakes a built up. How if Darrow’s identity gets out, then it means the end of Darrow’s mission. How the story requires Mustang to be told.
- Give both sides a voice: Ragnar and Sevro are on the side opposite Darrow.
- Give Darrow, the main character, the ultimate choice: will he give the order to shoot down Mustang’s ship?
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