Golden Son: Book II Of The Red Rising Trilogy

"Last year Pierce Brown wrote a book called Red Rising that was like The Hunger Games with real blood under its nails. The second novel in his trilogy is like a space opera in the best possible way, full of ships and ray guns and rocket boots. It’s kind of a YA series (in that the protagonist begins in his teens), but owing to some wild streak of honesty, Brown writes characters who actually behave like the murderous, entitled, terrified, insane, bestial kids they are. Brown’s command of plot (and director’s eye for dramatic, explode-y set pieces) keep the story surging forward, and the path he carves across space, the moon and Mars is bloody in the extreme."