One of the great joys for a bookish father is to have a son who’s willing to read your book recommendations – and most of the time he’s even liked the books I’ve suggested he read.

So when Matthew asked me to read a book that he had read, I obviously had to read in kind. The book was Red Rising and he had loved it.

Reading it myself, I could see why he loved Red Rising so much. It is the perfect book for a young man setting out in life and ready to take on the world. But for an old man beaten down by the world, it resonates somewhat differently. For me, it’s a book suffused with regret for the passing of the vigour and energy of youth which, at the time, I thought was mine forever rather than loaned to me at my start. Now, the energy I have left is leavened with thought; something to be held onto and spent wisely.

The struggle of Darrow is the struggle of a young man against a foe that he does not even realise yet can never be beaten; it gave me great satisfaction to read and be, for a while, young again.