Golden Son is the second book in the Red Rising Trilogy. The book opens up shortly after the events in Red Rising. Darrow has pleased the Golds and is being trained under the most prestigious house on Mars lead by Nero Au Augustus and is almost ready to claim victory of a fleet battle until he is tricked and through a series of events dismissed by Nero.
The second book in the series is much stronger then the first in my opinion. While the first novel had many strong points it was in a way an origin story and had to deal with all the baggage that comes along with that. Darrow had to be trained and implanted into the Gold lifestyle and his plan had to be well laid out.
This second novel reads much faster then the first. Everything that takes place through plot happens for a reason and the action seems so natural. Never while reading the book did I feel like anything was forced. The dialogue was great and the characters all seemed pretty unique. They all had their own voice and motivations.
One of the great things about this series of novels is that since it's written in the first person we really see inside Darrow's mind, but we are not so lucky with the people Darrow is trying to control. This makes for a lot of tension in the novel and in Golden Son there is even more because you feel like Darrow's plan could crack and he will be discovered any minute.
I recommend reading Golden Son. The story moves quickly and is incredibly entertaining, not to mention the great world building that Mr. Brown has put in these books. More of it is on display in the second novel. If you enjoyed the first novel then you will have to finish the series. The second novel leaves off on a cliffhanger so it's really hard for me not to read the last novel.