Morning Star (Red Rising, #3)

by Pierce Brown

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Red Rising thrilled readers and announced the presence of a talented new author. Golden Son changed the game and took the story of Darrow to the next level. Now comes the exhilarating next chapter in the Red Rising Saga: Morning Star.

ITW THRILLER AWARD FINALIST • “[Brown’s] achievement is in creating an uncomfortably familiar world of flaw, fear, and promise.”—Entertainment Weekly

Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society’s mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within.

Finally, the time has come.

But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—and too glorious to surrender.

Praise for Morning Star

“There is no one writing today who does shameless, Michael Bay–style action set pieces the way Brown does. The battle scenes are kinetic, bloody, breathless, crazy. Everything is on fire all the time.”—NPR

“Morning Star is this trilogy’s Return of the Jedi. . . . The impactful battles that make up most of Morning Star are damn near operatic. . . . It absolutely satisfies.”—Tordotcom

“Excellent . . . Brown’s vivid, first-person prose puts the reader right at the forefront of impassioned speeches, broken families, and engaging battle scenes . . . as this interstellar civil war comes to a most satisfying conclusion.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A page-turning epic filled with twists and turns . . . The conclusion to Brown’s saga is simply stellar.”—Booklist (starred review)

Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga:
RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE

• Publish Date: 4 June 2020 (first published 3 February 2016)
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton
• Edition: FairyLoot Limited Edition
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 518
• Language: English
• Special: Exclusive Design Signed Sprayed Edges

Reviews

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

I’d like to blame my lateness for this review on how long it has taken me to gather my thoughts on this book – which was an absolutely EPIC thrill ride of a conclusion to what has quickly proved to be one of my favourite science fiction series.

However, whilst the latter is true, I really have no excuse for how long it has taken me to write this other than I have not been particularly active in the blogosphere for the past few months (my list of currently waiting reviews is rather daunting). So I’d like to apologise to Hodder, who sent me an ARC of Morning Star, and were very careful about who they sent them to. When I received this in the post, I’m pretty sure I screamed, had a little celebratory dance and then immediately settled down to read it, because Golden Son left me with so many questions that HAD to be answered as soon as possible. So I actually finished this in February and planned my review around the release date – and never got round to it. So here we are.

Like Golden Son, Morning Star began a few months later than the previous book, and was completely brutal and action-packed from the very beginning. Pierce Brown excels at serious dramatic moments and action scenes, as well as humorous ones – basically he is one truly talented author. He writes characters so fantastically; the character development throughout this trilogy has been astounding, especially for Sevro. The friendships and complicated relationships shine through, and despite the fact that this is a book sent in space, far into the future, everyone feels so real. It truly makes you wonder whether Darrow would have made it this far without these friendships – I highly doubt it.

Expect more shocks, deaths and devastation from Morning Star than the first two books combined – all the more painful because the reader has now had the time to get to know these characters, has grown attached to them. Brown is unafraid to kill off major players, from both sides, and most of these are completely unexpected and utterly heartbreaking. However, this is war, and that’s what happens. The reader must learn to move on with the story and with Darrow, because death is just a part of war. Watching Darrow push on through all of the heartbreak and pain made for an amazing read that simultaneously made me want to cry, and cheer them all on even more.

The events of the story are made even more horrific by the fact that Darrow’s enemies were once friends and acquaintances. Friends who are now tearing each other apart in order to achieve their goals, some of whom do not care how many people they hurt or kill along the way. With so many twists and turns (in my notebook I just have written ‘THAT TWIST’, but I don’t want to add anything else for fear of spoilers!), Morning Star is sure to leave your heart racing, your hands shaking and your head pounding – for all its brutality and violence, it truly has heart. It provides a perfect, beautiful ending to a fantastic series that I have loved the whole way through, and am going to miss. I may have to do a re-read of all three books back to back…

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Morning Star. It blew my mind. My brain is scrambled. My heart is broken. My breath is taken.



Morning Star is dark, following several different characters, even if a lot of the narration is from Darrow's perspective. There is treason, suspected treason, politics, war, torture... and there is still a sense of hope in places, where the characters are ready to continue the war if that means the future will be better for those who come after them. However, there are also characters who are ready to continue the war for their own gain, for greed, to make sure the Golds stay on top of the societal pyramid.

The writing is beautiful, even when the subject matter is ugly. Brown paints his storyline in sweeping colors and large strokes, and it's impossible not to feel as if we're in the middle of it all, both the heartache and the triumph, the darkness and the possibility of light. I cried. More than once. And I also laughed. More than once. I held my breath, urging the characters I was cheering for to get it done, and to see the end-game. To counteract their enemies while still staying true to themselves.

And I think Morning Star wins the 'Most vague review' competition. There is not really a lot I can say without spoiling anything, but I can say I loved this story, it beautifully finishes a trilogy that has kept me thinking about it over the past two years. With characters who may lose themselves in the battle between good and evil, in all the gray areas of life, love and war. And it's a series I think I will re-read in full now that all the books have been released. Run! Run! Run! to get your own copy, and let yourself be swept into a dangerous world in which nothing can be won in advance.



I would have thought there to be worse fates than this, but now I know there are none. Man is no island. We need those who love us. We need those who hate us. We need others to tether us to life, to give us a reason to live, to feel.

I don't remember feeling so frightened before the Iron Rain. Was I braver then? Maybe just more naïve.

And Mustang has. More than that. She's proven Eo right. And it wasn't because of me. It wasn't because of love. It was because it was the right thing to do.