Title: Morning Star
Author: Pierce Brown
Publisher/Year: Random House Publishing 2/9/16
Length: 550 pages
Series: Red Rising #3
Overview
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.
My Thoughts
I’m actually quite a bit sad right now that this series is over and it’s been a while since i’ve truly been able to say that. We had been on this complex journey of a group of 20 somethings who were living in a world and time that we can’t even begin to imagine since life was forced onto every other planet and moon in our solar system.
Where we were left off after Golden Son, we saw Darrow’s rise back into a position of power, however after their Iron Rain, and their attempt at taking over control of Mars along with trying to capture the Sovereign and The Jackal and any number of other folks, Darrow finds himself captured and watches some of his best allies die.
So we pick up in Morning Star at a point where we’re uncertain who’s still alive, who’s going to be able to help Darrow if anyone, and what that means for the Rising. We see the true colors of the Golds come out – by Jackal’s capture and torture of Darrow for the better part of a year, of Victra being paralyzed and really no hope in saving not just themselves but the future for everyone in the system. It’s only through the smarts of some friends who wouldn’t ever give up, that we see the saving of Darrow and Victra, and a chance to really take back what’s theirs.
Throughout this story, similar to the other installments, we see a series of lies, fake alliances and people turning on one another in unexpected places. We also see that there’s a fair share of ‘acting’ going on which works to the betterment of Darrow’s plight.
Darrow and Mustang take to the polar caps with Ragnar to overthrow his mother’s reign and we see much more death there than ever expected. Along with the capture of Cassius, the escape of Aja, we see death come to the Obsidians, and i for one had to take pause because a great friend was lost, but a partnership was formed from that. We meet Sefi, who becomes the new Queen of the Obsidian, and we see that while she’s not sure she’s going to trust Darrow and crew, she’s going to unite her color in the hopes that something better can come.
They prepare again for a great battle, one that they can’t truly anticipate the outcome since they are continuously being out numbered, out planned, out schemed, and there is always a friend who turns sides that makes things all that more complicated. Sevro is caught in the middle of what’s supposed to be a friendship being reuinited, and well, we see that it has horrible outcome, which is even more painful as he’s just married someone unexpected.
Yes, there’s even been a fair share of romance, and to be honest, something that’s happened and revealed in the epilogue that i knew was bound to happen. To me, there had been the question throughout the first 2 books on whether Darrow would ever let go enough of Eo to love Mustang again, and when he chose to reveal himself as a Red to her, i had truly hoped, but we spend much of this final book wondering if love can bring them back from all that they’ve gone through. We also see Sevro take a chance and see it pay off. We also see that the love of family takes an even bigger role, both in real birth family and the family that they built together among friends – and it’s a truly sweet thing to see flourish.
The world that is left at the end of this trilogy is one that no one knows what it will become. While there were lofty goals that the system of society would be completely changed, only those that remain at the end of all the warring and fighting know that it’s not something that they can change overnight, and that those that passed during the fighting were perhaps some o the people that had the best chance to make an impact. I’d love to see what this environment would look like decades in the future and i think that our lovely author should write us a novella that takes the jump. but…i doubt that will happen so i’ll just have to be content with how everything resolved.
have a great weekend everyone!