On my journey as a reader, science-fiction is admittedly a genre I rarely pick up. I've only recently welcomed it with open arms since the end of last year so in a way you can call me a newcomer.
With that in mind, it's understandable that Morning Star by Pierce Brown makes the list of the first ten sci-fi books I've finished so far. While I could still be considered a baby in regards to this genre, I wouldn't say the same thing about the book I recently finished. Without taking Iron Gold and Dark Age—which I haven't read yet—into consideration, Morning Star may have been the most intense book I've read this year. In other words, this book was an epic conclusion for all the wars we had been dragged into in the first two installments. As a finale, I think Morning Star is certainly a hit and therefore deserves all the hype.
Disclaimer: My review below will contain spoilers of the first two books, Red Rising and Golden Son. Be sure to avoid it if you haven't read them or you can find my reviews here and here.
Morning Star follows the story of a now-captured Darrow who is helplessly tortured by the cruel Jackal for nine whole months in Attica before being dragged out to be tested by a Yellow doctor in a lab. However, something weird suddenly happens when everyone there is shot to death: two Son of Ares' members try to help Darrow escape no matter the cost it may take.
Although their attempt to escape isn't as easy as it has been planned, Darrow successfully reunites with his family and friends. Once again, they plan to break the chain, to fight for not only his people's justice but also Eo's dream.
It was honestly hard to decide what to do after I finished this trilogy: should I be wanting more or just stop when the conclusion was satisfying? After being led to believe that there would be something huge revealed in this finale, the anticipation didn't disappoint at all. Morning Star was a brilliant read and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this fandom.
Dare I say, this book started out even more amazing than the previous two books. If it was hard for me to put down Red Rising and Golden Son once I had picked them up, I didn't face the same struggle with Morning Star because of the same reason it had gripped me to keep going onwards in the first place: this book was amazing as well as brutal that I couldn't avoid the need to take a break after facing some major twists.
From the very beginning, the flow and intensity had drawn me deeper into the heart of the conflict. In addition to being great, the twists were very well-written too. Even though I still stumbled upon some paragraphs which felt too long thus could be cut short, it was not big of a deal. Overall, Morning Star was still interestingly fast-paced, jam-packed with actions, and the same old gory and bloody.
My favorite characters were still the same also: Mustang, Darrow, Sevro. Aside from being even cleverer and more badass, their development progressed significantly great while Sevro was still being his old self though crazier. However, there was a short period of time when I was honestly a bit mad at Darrow for being too idealist (and with that foolish too). But I know I should've remembered that Darrow was full of tactics and far cleverer than I gave him credit for—my opinion turned out to be quite groundless so I genuinely wanted to congratulate all the characters.
All things considered, Morning Star had everything I looked forward to in a series finale that made my feeling crumpled like a piece of paper. In the middle of the last few chapters, I even ran out of my room to scream, "This book is so good!" to my mom and sister before going back and picking up where I left off. I would be glad to resume my journey through the next trilogy of this saga later, but not now, not this year. For now, I still want to cherish the ending of Morning Star for how it is with its various possibilities and potential.
Actual rating: 5★
