With Morning Star, Pierce Brown sticks the landing as gracefully as it is violent; there is nothing but elegance in this razor-sharp conclusion of brutal and agonising hope. 

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Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy

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Rating: 5/5

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“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.”

In my previous review of Golden Son, I said that it was a huge, almost unimaginably so, improvement from the first book. It was more violent, more emotional, just more refined. And as difficult as it is to believe, I must say the same exact thing for Morning Star. It is simply astounding how Pierce Brown builds upon an existing foundation and creates a story that does not topple the whole tower because of its weight, but reinforces the strength of everything below. He is truly an architect, a master of plot and design. 

One thing that impressed me in particular was the delicacy in which Brown balances violence with hope in this book. The world of Red Rising relies on control, a systemic attempt of the Golds to assert inhuman dominance over the lower colors. And Darrow and his friends’s journey for justice and equality requires breaking that centuries old paradigm itself. Their enemies would do anything, even the most extreme cases of death and bloodshed, to cling on to their place in the world and not face change. Their perspectives have been warped by this elitism and hunger for perfection, and it can get pretty bleak when our protagonists are constantly being defeated and hurt. 

“Forget a man’s name and he’ll forgive you. Remember it, and he’ll defend you forever.”

Brown, knowing this, never fails to create this emotional current undulating below the surface; while there were certainly moments when they lost battles, I could still hold onto the conviction that they would win the war. It’s unrelenting, our character’s dreams, and the resistance they meet even heighten their commitment. Brown masterful creates a story not of perfect victory, but of broken and human courage. Even Darrow’s torture by Adrien at the very beginning of the book is immediately accompanied by a rescue mission led by a Gray twin, and the introduction of Son of Ares’s towering city hidden from the Society. It truly represents how hope means so much more when it defeats devastation. 

“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 want to end off my review with how beautiful the ending was, when Darrow meets his son for the first time. It kind of broke me, how through all the fighting and blood, there was something so incredible waiting for him. I couldn’t have been happier, to see a new age of youth and hope, where a boy or girl could dare dream. 

Overall, Morning Star was an electrifying conclusion to this trilogy that brought out so many emotions from me. Even when I continue reading the next set of books, the moments of these first three books will forever stay true in my heart. 5/5.

“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.”