Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Morning Star by Pierce Brown

20 reviews

praaliine's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As a reader, there’s always that one book (or more than one) that you come across once in while that completely alters your perception of literature and storytelling. Morning star was it for me, the whirlwind of strong emotions aside, Pierce Brown continues to outdo himself and master his craft. There’s a big cast of characters and yet I can tell he’s given ample attention to each one, making them so complex and so real that I laughed and mourned with them. The character development (for Darrow, his friends and his enemies) is remarkable, it was so refreshing reading about these characters breaking out of the tired worn-out mentality that drove the corrupt Society. Sadly, there will always be those characters that are just unable to think beyond their status in the hierarchy and cannot move on, and there were. It was also interesting to read about certain eerie and deranged antagonists (oh and Pierce KNOWS how to write a psychologically sinister character), how they played the long game and their malevolent plans fell into place as they willed it, and how they were met with their due penalty. 

He’s done such an excellent job of capturing our own society, its so easy to read some of these characters and fell repulsed by them claiming we’re morally better than them, but this brilliant story forces you to reckon with the fact that all humans have these innate selfish ambitions and desires, and must seek to do better. This book has an abundance of found family like I’ve never seen before, it was fast paced, it was heavy and at some stages, thrilling and exciting. Plus the battle scenes were epic—as usual.This was beautiful and the ending was satisfying, but I’m definitely not stopping here, I intend to finish this saga and I have high expectations because bar has been set by Pierce himself.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, War, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, and Cannibalism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

bibliorama's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this boyo. <3 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Suicide attempt, Torture, Classism, Slavery, War, Death, Genocide, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

luxxltyd's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Vomit, War, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Self harm

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

lemonwrlds's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Death, Murder, War, Police brutality, Grief, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexual content, Slavery, Cannibalism, Body horror, Racism, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Classism, Colonisation, Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, and Abandonment

fierymoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

im mesmerized i cant form a proper sentence rn

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, and Colonisation

Minor: Cannibalism, Medical content, and Suicide

joshoonet's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

• A lot of fighting, as is to be expected of the last book in a YA trilogy
• All the battling wasn't as interesting as I hoped it would be, apart from a few notable exceptions
• Really liked the beginning and the end, but a lot of the stuff in between was just alright
• Maybe I was just burnt out on this series though? I read over 1200 pages of it in two days, wouldn't be too surprising

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Grief, Confinement, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, and Torture

Minor: Suicide attempt, Cannibalism, Child death, and Excrement

Confinement/Suicide Attempt:

the protagonist is confined to a tomb-like cell for 9 months in the beginning of the book without light or human contact. He tries to end his life before being abruptly liberated from his cell.

War, Grief and all Violence:

most - if not all - of this book is about war and trying to take over certain ships or planets. Close friends of the main characters die by violence throughout the book, as well as millions of unnamed characters.

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is my favorite installment in the Red Rising series so far. A lot of my previous complaints are less glaring here—the female characters are treated less like sexual objects (though, ultimately, almost every one invariably finds themselves smitten with a man and swayed by whatever he wants), the core of the book felt a lot stronger, and the stylized narration didn’t grate on me this time around. Pierce Brown’s strength certainly lies in his ability to create a sweeping, epic battlefield, with twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. I felt myself caring for the characters and their fates more than I had before, though I will admit some of the “twists” were unfortunately over-telegraphed. If you liked the last two installments, I see no reason why you wouldn’t enjoy this one!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Excrement, Genocide, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Blood, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Confinement

chris_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Colonisation, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Slavery, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Torture, Trafficking, and Vomit

grets_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Scifi and dystopia isn't really my thing and I didn't think I was that into this series... Until I couldn't stop listening. 

It kept me engaged and guessing the whole time - just when I thought I knew where it was going, it would go in a completely different direction (but in a completely plausible way). 
I'm fairly certain that a large part of my enjoyment was due to how well the audiobook was narrated. Would definitely recommend.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Physical abuse, Grief, Genocide, Police brutality, Murder, Kidnapping, Classism, and Confinement

Minor: Excrement, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Slavery, and Vomit

stacey332's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Reread April 2023 - Loved it even more this time around, such an amazing series!

Original read January 2021 - My Cawpile score: 8.07

A great conclusion to the original trilogy in the series even though it wasn't quite the ending that I was expecting! 

I wish that Darrow had a lot more introspective moments and that we got to be in on what was going on in his head more often and there were a few things that felt a little bit convenient or a little bit rushed but overall I'm really happy with soooo much of this book.  There were so many satisfying moments both character and plot wise!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Torture, and Gun violence

Minor: Excrement, Cannibalism, and Vomit