Morning Star (Red Rising Trilogy #3)by Pierce Brown
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Synopsis:
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.
So let him do his worst.
I know how to suffer.
I know the darkness.
This is not how it ends.
You know those books where, even though you know it will be cemented into your favorites list until the end of time (the whole series, for that matter), words just don’t describe how you feel?? Like, no matter what you say, everything will seem like useless drivel that couldn’t possibly compare to what you felt while reading that novel?? Well…this is one of those books-One of those books where you have intense emotions throughout; One of those books where you don’t know what to think or say or do the entire time; One of those books where you put it down at the end and go…Holy fucking shit. Well, that was me. I finished. I put the book down. I crossed my hands. I sat there. And I thought….what did I just read?? And I just now have a word that might just capture the essence of this series without selling it short. I may be off, I may be wrong…but this book?? It was magnificent.
And I wonder, in my last moments, if the planet does not mind that we wound her surface or pillage her bounty, because she knows we silly warm things are not even a breath in her cosmic life. We have grown and spread, and will rage and die. 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.
There wasn’t one moment throughout the entirety of this story where I felt like I could comfortably put it down and be able to breathe. How does an author do that? How can they make a story so intense, so compelling, so bloodydamn addicting, that you feel like you can’t breathe without it? I’m telling you, guys, and you can ask any one of my best friends on here-I read this book through thick and thin, night and day, at the cost of sleep, and with a perpetual migraine that I STILL don’t think has disappeared. This book, this series, this author…are absolutely unforgettable.
“You and I keep looking for light in the darkness, expecting it to appear. But it already has.” I touch his shoulder. “We’re it, boyo. Broken and cracked and stupid as we are, we’re the light, and we’re spreading.”
I laughed. I cried. I gasped. I cried again. I lost any sense of a coherent thought. I became a walking, talking, barely breathing zombie (wait, do zombies breathe?? How the hell does that work??). Very few series keep my attention from beginning to end. Very few series are good enough for me to say, ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’. But this is probably one of the first and only series where I said just that-I didn’t like it sometimes, and my heart was torn to shreds time and again…but I wouldn’t. I really wouldn’t. I can’t imagine a single thing being different.
Fear is not real.
If you’re watching, Eo, it’s time to close your eyes.
The reaper has come. And he’s brought hell with him.
Pierce Brown isn’t a stranger to killing off your favorite characters. You know in your heart of hearts that if you get attached to yet another person, it’s just another gamble that your heart might find itself broken. Yet, with each new installment, each new page, each new paragraph, you find another person to love, another person to admire, another person to respect, and another person you can’t imagine this story being without. And you know, as I stated above, that you have no way of knowing what will happen in the end. You have no fucking clue, to be honest. But, as you weigh out your level of awe and love and undying obsession of the series, you realize something that makes you want to punch yourself in the face: You damn well don’t care and you are willing to risk it all, going along for the ride and hoping for the best even though you know not everyone will make it out alive.
What an inevitable waste it seems. Death begets death begets death.
And death?? What is death, really, when you’ve been betraying your friends, posing as the color they despise? What is death, honestly, when it would almost be better than the knives repeatedly rammed into your back? What is death….when you can’t even trust your best and kindest friends? Darrow has made a list of enemies so long that I can’t even begin to name them (Even if it wouldn’t cause an uproar because of spoilers). Everyone wants a piece of the Reaper; everyone wants his head on a stake. But this series is one that I can honestly say, and this doesn’t happen often, I never could predict. I didn’t know who to trust, who would stand by Darrow’s side in the end, and who would redeem themselves-if anyone. I longed for broken friendships and love lost. I longed for happiness among a group of friends that never had a chance. I longed for Darrow to finally find his peace…even if it meant losing his life.
If this is the end, I will rage toward it.
Darrow’s journey was one forged from the bowels of hell, beginning as a lowly Red helldiver who wished only to love his wife, Eo, and stay on his knees so they could live their lives to the fullest with children and a family surrounding them. But, even then, before the spark of revolution and war, Eo pushed for Darrow to live for more, to break the chains, to make a difference in a world forged by hatred and color superiority. It cost her life, and it broke Darrow beyond repair….or so we (or I) thought.
“A man thinks he can fly, but he is afraid to jump. A poor friend pushes him from behind.” He looks up at me. “A good friend jumps with.”
Darrow’s mind became something absolutely wonderful to behold in this installment. I have always loved Darrow, I made no secret about that, even when people labeled him things I never agreed with. But I really feel that he became someone that every person could love. He was strong-minded, but pig-headed. He used his strength, but didn’t force. He thought with his mind and not only his heart. He developed a sense of empathy he once thought extinguished, wistful in ways he dare not utter to another soul. He loved his Gold friends-almost all of them-and the loss of some of them over the years has killed him inside-he is hurt. He is wounded. And he can finally see-He knows what must be done to lead his Howler’s to victory and a better world…but it pains him to know the lengths he must go to.
Obsidian will seek me, led by masters who promised them Pinks in exchange for my head. They will hunt my friends. They will say Sevro’s name, and Mustang’s, and Ragnar’s View Spoiler » They will hunt the Telemanuses and Victra, Orion, and my Howlers. But they cannot have them.
Today I take.
He knows, more than anyone, the lives that will be lost, the enemies-once old friends-he will have to eliminate. And before, when he was only the Reaper hell bent on vengeance, he only saw rage and justice and what had been done to him before. He didn’t use his wisdom or experience-he wished only to force his hand and to win by brute strength. He has grown, and he wants to do things as honorably as one possibly can during war. And, most shockingly of all, he finally saw Eo in a whole new light.
Death begets death begets death…
He will never forget the girl who began everything, the girl who’s death was a symbol for life and voice, but he now sees her for what she was: a foolish girl who couldn’t possibly know what was to come. And it shocked me. She no longer was the perfect martyr who could do no wrong in his eyes. She was no longer the only reason for breathing, for fighting and gaining something more. He knows he loved her, but he knows they were young and knew nothing of the world…and it’s something he touches on quite a bit. I don’t know why I loved this aspect so much-you know me, true love conquers all and all that shit, but maybe this is something I grasp more than I ever wanted to. I’ve grown as well-And no it’s not the same, PUH-LEASE. But….I feel that this was a strong bout of character growth. No matter how insignificant to others, it touched me deeply. It was sad, and it was raw, and it was real. I was a child, too, in high school. I loved my boyfriend to a point it was almost sickening….and I would tell you, even a year ago, that I still felt I was in the right in feeling all the bad and good and weird things I felt back then. And now, ten years later (yes, it’s been that long, SHUT UP) and in this moment in life…I think, what an effing idealized fool I was. We are married now, and we have our differences-boy do I ever know it-but life is so different than I ever imagined. And it makes me sick to admit that, because I just knew what I needed to do and how to be and how he would be. But life…it’s not as you plan it. It’s what you do to make it. And, again, this has nothing to do with a futuristic, mars-based, dystopian world…but it touched me deeply, all the same. Whatever. Go figure.
I’m in a dream. Unable to change the forces that move around me. To stop the sand from slipping though my fingers. I set this into motion but didn’t have the heart or strength or cunning or whatever the hell I needed to stop it.
The character growth in this book was just…it was the best. The good face decisions that make them evil, the evil stay evil, some evil are given chances for redemption…and only some are to be saved….whereas others are beyond saving. There are twists and lies and betrayals and death. There are secrets and battles and friendships tested. And, believe it or not, there’s love. Lots and lots of love. Love in the marches of loyal followers. Love between friends. Love from those saved and those lost. And lovers who should never had a chance.
Because I’m a sucker for a fucking wonderful quote
I dunno..I feel like this is a girly review for a brutish book, but I can’t change what I see and who I am. I see the best in everything, if at all possible, and I love a perilistic, death-tastic book. I am a walking, talking contradiction…..and I guess that’s why I will always love these magnificent, well-written, out of this world books. From the moment I pick these stories up, I am a slave to the writing. Beautiful, gritty, raw words sewn onto pages of dirty, rotten, deceitful fights for survival seep into my pores, causing me to always-IMMEDIATELY-take a picture of the first page (highlighted in a rainbow of color, by the way) and send it to all my non-participating friends, almost as if to say: ‘Na na na na boo-boo, stick your head in doo-doo….look what you’re missing out on-brilliance.’ Pierce Brown is just…he’s beyond words. The grit and hard work that was put into every single page of this series astounds me even now, even after finishing days ago. Authors like these are few and far between, just waiting to be found. I thank GR for pushing this on the side of their site as I searched for other books so that the red wing emblazoning the first cover seared into my brain, making it something I just HAD to read, even if this was completely out of my comfort zone. I’ve been with this book from the first year, from the first page, from the beginning. I walked alone, with no friends who really latched onto this series like I did (by the way, it is NOT for the feint of heart). I don’t quite know where he came from and where he might be going, but I do know this: I’d follow him anywhere. Congrats, Pierce-You’ve created a forever fan.
Oh, and Mustang…I will ALWAYS love you. No matter what. That is all. End of story.
I leave you with this. ♥
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AGHHHHHH!!!! Buddy read with Kat 😀 😀
It’s FINALLY HEEEEERRREEE!!!!
Now let’s just hope I don’t have a heart attack from all the epic feels lol
The Uprising (
When not visiting the imaginary worlds inside my head, I live in San Diego, California, with one husband, three children, two cats, and one dog. In addition to my day job as a technical writer and editor, I write young adult fiction. I love the intensity of teen emotions and the way they’re still figuring out life. When I’m not writing, you can find me with my nose in a book, hanging out with family and friends, hiking, or knitting. I’m obsessed with Facebook, young adult novels, bad lip reading videos, pumpkin spice lattes, microbrewed beers, and the San Diego Chargers.
Mockingjay (
Catching Fire (
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