Reviews - Morning Star | The StoryGraph

14.9k reviews for:

Morning Star

Pierce Brown

4.48 AVERAGE

slegardye's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

hforsythe26's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Whew! This is a big one, folks. I had read both Red Rising and Golden Son years before but recently was inspired to reread those two books and continue on with Morning Star. Because the three books feel like such a seamless story arc I feel the best review strategy is to review them together as one complete story.

The first time I read Red Rising, I enjoyed it. There's action, interesting plot, and cool sci-fi elements. But I got a little confused with all the names and got lost in the world building. Then I went to Golden Son and it didn't get easier. It was like looking at a painting and enjoying the colors (no pun intended) but not seeing what the artist had actually painted. Then along came my reread and everything changed. I was utterly engrossed in the story from start to finish. The characters are flawed to perfection, there are good people that are so easy to love, evil people who are even easier to hate, and those that fall somewhere in between. There's action, yes, but this is more than just a romp through space. Reading Darrow's story made me think. There are moral battles every bit as intense as the physical battles waged betwixt colors. What does it mean to be good? What are you willing to sacrifice for justice? How far can a good man go in the name of light before he is swallowed by the darkness? I flew through this trilogy faster than anything I've read in some time. The ups and downs had me biting my nails, I cheered at every inspirational speech, nearly bled my (figurative) highlighter dry on the wealth of quotable lines, and at the end of the final book, I wept. I wept for all the characters we lost along the way and I wept for those who survived to the very end but lost friends, family, and pieces of themselves to get there. Darrow, Sevro, Mustang, and the rest will stay on my mind for a long long time to come. Lo, Howlers, let fall the Iron Rain! We press onwards to Iron Gold!

radiohead98121's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

edot47's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

eapollo18's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

I struggled to get through Golden Son because of how political and action-y it was after all the personal interactions I loved about Red Rising. Morning Star made that more than worth it. The relationship-based tension and angst and humor is incredible. I love these characters.