Zachary Jul 17, 2016

it was amazing bookshelves: my-books, science-fiction

's review

** spoiler alert ** I finished this book a week ago, and haven't had a chance to write a review until now.



4.75/5



This book was excellent, and I would probably have given it a perfect score if it had not followed Golden Son which was just incredible. There was nothing about this book that I disliked, but it didn't quite reach the heights of tension that the previous book did.



Ragnar... I wish you'd made it though buddy. For a character that was really only in about .75 of a book total you were pretty excellent. Part of me hopes that if Mustang and Darrow have a second they'll name it after you.



I wanted so badly for Roque to have a change of heart, but I had a sense through the entire book that that wasn't going to happen. If only one character, either Roque or Cassius was going to come around to the right side of things, I'm glad it was Cassius who did. Still, the final scene with Roque was done so perfectly, because it would have been so easy to cast him as a villain in this book and make him totally unsympathetic, but Pierce Brown restrained himself from doing that. Instead, Roque is a heartfelt and sincere boy, who grew up into a heartfelt and sincere man, who truly believed what he was doing was right. He regretted the actions he'd had to take, but believed with all his heart that it was for the greater good. In the end, I feel much the same for him as I did for Nero at the end of Golden Son. A sincere man who did terrible things for what he believed in, but who could be sympathised with because of his viewpoint. Even Octavia falls into that category. Every villain in this book had multiple sides to them. Including the Jackal.



Oh the Jackal, how I hate you! You are possibly the most sadistic psychopathic freak in any novel I've ever read. I really wanted to trust you in Golden Son, and was legitimately heartbroken when you turned on Darrow. The scene where you tried so hard to save Quinn's life won me over to you. I though you'd had a change of heart. And then it all turns out it was an act, a lie!!!! "F" you sideways you bloodydamn bastard. You deserve everything you got! You deserve to know that you had people who loved you just as you died. You deserve that moment of self doubt.



Overall, I loved this book and the entire series. My only complaint is that I wish the books were longer, because I breezed through them all in a week, which I am never able to do, what with working full time and having two young kids.