[AD] Morning Star by Pierce Brown

Morning Star is the third part of the Red Rising trilogy written by Pierce Brown. This is a dystopian science fiction series set in the far future inspired by Roman mythology. Please note that Hodder sent me a copy of Morning Star to review.

MORNING STAR SUMMARY

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 honour 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.

A NOTE ON MORNING STAR

I’m going to start off this review by saying if you haven’t read the first two books in the Red Rising series please go read them. Red Rising is basically what would happen if Ender’s Game and The Hunger Games had a very violent baby.

It’s the story of a teenager working in the mines of Mars (basically as a slave) and is taken and sent to a school for the most elite warriors of this universe to try and overthrow the regime from within. Golden Son is the continuation of his story, basically it’s Star Trek with Roman gods.

If I were to sum up Morning Star in one sentence it would be something like “your favourite character is probably going to die but it will all be okay in the end“.

MY THOUGHTS

Now onto the proper review. I really enjoyed Morning Star, I think it did a fantastic job of wrapping up the trilogy and the story as a whole. The world and the characters actually feel real. I love that I was able to follow along with the plot and not get confused even though it’s been a year since I read Golden Son (this was a big deal to me because my memory is terrible).

One thing I love about this series is the ridiculous number of epic moments. My favourite one being:

“In mine, in space, in city and sky, we have lived our lives in fear. Fear of death. Fear of pain. Today, fear only that we fail. We cannot. We stand upon the edge of darkness holding the lone torch left to man. That torch will not go out. Not while I draw breath. Not while your hearts beat in your chests. Let others dream. Let others sing. We chosen few are the fires of our people.”

AN EPIC SCALE

That whole scene was epic on the scale of Theoden-on-the-walls-of-Helm’s-Deep epic. I could picture it happening like it was a movie. And there was so many more moments like that (most of which I couldn’t share because they involved certain people dying).

One thing I didn’t love so much is how Darrow didn’t make any mistakes. There would be so many plot twists where it looked like everything was going wrong and it would turn out that Darrow had planned it like that all along. It was a little annoying.

It got to the point where I wasn’t shocked by the twists at the end because I knew there was going to be some way around it. Maybe this was done on purpose to contrast with Golden Son but I still got tired of it.

Basically I really enjoyed this and if you like sci-fi it’s a must read. Pierce Brown is also working on another trilogy set 10 years after Morning Star, according to Pierce Brown it will be about the two characters that survive (actually I think he was only joking when he told my sister that (or was he….)).

FAVOURITE MORNING STAR QUOTE

And when all that remains of us is our steel monuments and plastic idols, her winds will whisper, her sands will shift, and she will spin on and on, forgetting about the bold, hairless apes who thought they deserved immortality.