Review: Morning Star

Title: Morning Star
Author: Pierce Brown
Genre: Science fiction

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Goodreads 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 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.

wow, this book was BRUTAL.

When I first started the Red Rising trilogy, I was blown away buy exactly how brutal it was. The story starts with a guy having to watch and even participate in his wife's execution, for god's sake! The thing is, it only gets more and more brutal from there. Just when you grow to love or trust a character, something happens that tears you apart. As strong and resilient as the characters of this series are, sometimes they crack. It's heartbreaking, and you know that not everyone is going to make it out of this war alive, but you can't stop hoping for the best anyway.

I think that's the mark of a really great book: even when you know that bad things are going to happen and you really shouldn't get attached to anyone, you can't help getting emotionally invested in every character anyway. Even the villains are complex, and while not necessarily sympathetic, you can still respect their cunning and unshakable conviction that they're doing the right thing.

The stakes of Darrow's war are extraordinarily high, and the plot never stops racing forward. There is a lot of complex political maneuvering and big battle sequences, but there are also many intimate moments with the characters as they grow to trust one another or are betrayed by those they loved. I felt like Morning Star really raised the stakes and had me guessing about how everything would turn out even during the final few pages.

Perfect ending to the whole bloodydamn series :)

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