Following Red Rising in much the same vein, Darrow is now out of school, has sworn himself to a new master, and is progressing his plan to gain power within the highest circles of the Golds. As we follow his attempts to command space fleets and redeem himself for some serious errors, it's fairly hard to like anything about the society or most of the people we meet in it, but there are a few exceptions and Darrow tries to surround himself with those.

Not to say too much about the plot because of spoilers, but it's pretty much more of the same from book 1 and I imagine will continue in the same vein throughout the series, ending with a terrible cliffhanger that will send you looking for book 3 right away.