#Monday Review - Morning Star by Pierce Brown (Science Fiction)

Series: Red Rising # 3
Format: Hardcover, 518 pages
Release Date: February 9,2016
Publisher: Del Rey
Source: Library
Genre: Science Fiction

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. 

Morning Star is the final installment in the Red Rising Trilogy by author Pierce Brown but don't cry just yet. There is a surprise coming at the end of this review. For those who have read the series from the beginning, this is the battle we've all been waiting war. The War between Darrow/Reaper's allies called the Rising, and the Gold masters who want to keep the rest of society under their thumbs. Morning Star actually picks up nearly a year after the ending of Golden Son. 

"Government is never the solution, but it is almost always the problem." p.163

Darrow, who was once a lowly Mars miner and watched as the Golds hung his wife Eo, has joined the Sons of Ares and became a Gold known as the Reaper. He has made a name for himself, and has also been exposed for who is truly is thanks to being betrayed by those he trusted. In the year that Darrow has spent being tortured, and torn apart piece by piece by Jackal, his friends (Sevro and his Howlers) have been either killed, or are missing. 

"When you have a chance to waste your enemies, you do it."

Darrow catches a break when he is rescued by two new allies in Holiday and Trigg ti Nakamura. Love Holiday just so you know. She's a total bad-ass like Victra who they also rescue. Victra has her own desires for revenge on her sister Antonia and those that tried to take everything away from her. This is a series where anyone can destroy, or betray, or die, or kill someone you love, or end up being a major villain, or getting a chance to seek redemption and forgiveness. 

Darrow a troubled, yet complex character who really needs a break. Sometimes his actions cause this reader to cringe, often times, I want to slap him silly over his choices, and decisions. But, that is what makes him the character you want as your lead protagonist. It's what makes him human, and not a God-like prop who is too pretty and amazing for his own good. Darrow does some things in this book that might be considered crossing the line from which he can't return from. 

"And it beats inside me, this terrible hope, as I know that the end has begun, and I am finally awake."Break the chains," I roar. And my people roar back. 

This book has a whole lot of action, humor, and some delightful reunions I honestly didn't imagine happening after everything that has happened over the first two books. Darrow and friends travel to places like Asgard (where we meet Ragnard's family and gain Valkyries as allies). We get a lot of suspense and bloody damn if there weren't a whole lot of violent battles that take some really good characters away before the series ends. 

"The moment a child thinks it is entitled to anything, they think they deserve everything." 

I loved that Brown went to as far as labeling the Golds as vampire kings who suck on the blood and life force of others while romping all over the known universe. One could also call them parasites since they take and take and never give back enough to keep the populace happy. There are plenty of villains in this book from Roque, to Jackal and Cassius (or is he?), to Aja, Antonia, and of course, Octavia the sovereign who has ruled or 60 years.

I have some minor issues with towards Mustang. There was just something about the way she puts Darrow through the ringer first before revealing a stunning revelation that could change Darrow's entire life. One could say that Mustang is a character who knew exactly what she wants and how she wanted to do it no matter who she pissed off, or offended, or had sex with, or stabbed in the back when the chips were on the table.

Oh, did I say I had a surprise? Brown has announced that he is coming back to the same universe with another trilogy with the same characters, and the same universe. It's called Iron Gold, and releases sometime in 2017. Apparently readers will find out what happens after the end of this book to the Golds, and the rest of the known universe.

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