If you like space battles, you'll probably enjoy this book... more than I did anyway. I prefer the medieval/Roman house warfare of the first book.
Summary:
After Darrow has successfully infiltrated Gold society from this humble Red upbringing and won their Institute (see Red Rising), he is so close to achieving his goal of becoming second in command to one of the most powerful men in the galaxy. But when his fate takes a turn for the worse, there's only one way that Darrow can put himself back in control and weaken the Society enough to be overthrown by his rebellion: civil war. Now two of the grandest families are at each other's throats and all of space must choose sides. All while the Sons of Ares work to destroy the class system. Not only must Darrow survive and win the war, he'll have to tear down the Society itself in the process.
Verdict: 3/10
This is my problem with sci-fi: I don't find battles with spaceships all that appealing. There's no people to really root for when all that's being described is this RipWing destroyed this carrier leechCraft or starShells getting hit by missiles. None of these words or descriptions really mean anything emotional to me so I tend to disconnect from the plot of it. It's not like the medieval type of Institute where you battled for castles and planned ambushes. That I could latch onto and get excited about. I think Darrow describes it best:
"War is chaos. It always has been. But technology makes it worse. It changes the fear. At the Institute, I feared men. I feared what Titus and the Jackal could do to me. You see death coming there and can at least struggle against it. Here you don't have such luxury. Modern war is fearing the air, the shadows, fearing the silence. Death will come and I won't even see it." (Brown, pg. 330)
While this second installment was less predictable and cliche than the first, it was far less relatable. In a world you can't relate to, an author has to rely on relatable characters to keep the reader grounded and engaged. Yet throughout most of the book, you see Darrow isolating his friends, being betrayed by countless others, and almost losing himself.
I couldn't even side with the characters that were my original favorites as there were too many doubts about who you could trust. And Darrow, the story's main hero, looks more like a villain as he eggs on his former best friend and kills hundreds and thousands by starting this war. Granted, it's all to save his family and his people, but the moral dilemma makes it harder to sympathize with him and his choices. I know that's part of the theme, but it's not one that I enjoy.
Overall, I think I would have liked the abridged spark notes of this better than all the galactic description. But Brown did a good job introducing some personal twists. And the ending really caught me off guard so it wasn't a total loss.
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