Morning Star (The Red Rising Trilogy) Hardcover – Large Print, February 3, 2016

I do not write may reviews on Amazon, but I wanted to write a review for this book because of how in love I am with the plot and the characters in this series. I read the entire thing in 4 days despite its 450 or so pages length, once you start reading, you cant put it down. So what makes this book and the red rising series so special? A lot actually. The story starts out simple enough, a standard sci-fi revenge epic about a man trying to lead a revolution and avenge his murdered wife. However by the time you are done, the story is transformed into something much more complex. The closest book in complexity would be Dune, however the pace of this book is much faster than that classic of sci-fi, and I got the distinct feeling that the author worked in movies and production. The author writes very descriptively, you can vividly see the action, and that makes for an amazing story. Speaking of the story, without giving too much away, the protagonist of the story, Darrow, goes from a man seeking revenge, to a man following a revolutionary, to a man realizing that the revolution wont work as he imagines, to a man actually leading the revolution itself. That progress and evolution in Darrow's understanding of the politics and realities of changing a corrupt and powerful society ruled by the nearly invincible "Golds" is what makes the story so interesting intellectually. In terms of overall character development, the book also does not fail. While the story always focuses on Darrow and his feelings and reflections, the story also builds up a lot of very complex characters and relationships around Darrow, that makes for very interesting story telling. It also helps, that the author does not shy away from killing characters when the plot calls for it. This third installment of the story, concludes the Red Rising arch. The revolution happens, and at least some resolution occurs. having read the prior books, I was afraid that the author might botch it. As we have seen with many other series including: Foundation, Dune, game of Thrones, etc, it is all to easy to create a universe so complex, that it is impossible to create a satisfying conclusion. Thankfully, the book in this case stays on a narrow path, killing of characters when necessary and resolving the major plot issues before coming to its conclusion. Pierce Brown, well done! For anyone that likes sci fi or fantasy, I would very highly recommend not just this book, but the entire trilogy, with the caveat that you will not understand much of what is going on without reading the first 2 books first. I hope and look forward to the author expanding this unique universe he has created with the 3 books. A story line going back to the age of the "Iron Golds" and the conquering of earth could itself make for an amazing story if the author ever chose to undertake it.

This is great SF. The ideas are not original but are told in an original way. Darrow, the protagonist, is born, marries and lives the life of a young miner in the deep tunnels of Mars, believing, as do all his co-habitants, that the surface of Mars is uninhabitable. But this is a lie, cruelly foisted on the exploited miners for the purposes of the ultimate ruling class of the solar system, the Golds. Darrow and his people are lowColor Reds. There are numerous other colors in this highly rigid society most of whom are equally exploited. The Golds believe they rule by divine right as they are eugenically superior in intelligence, strength, education, and training. However, through character and bitter circumstance, Darrow comes to join the shadowy resistance, the Sons of Ares who transform him into a Gold to subvert the ruling order. Like the Manchurian Candidate in reverse, Darrow is charged with infiltrating the most elite of Gold society in order to bring it down. But in his journey his intense interaction with other Golds force him to accept them as human beings and to grow in his own understanding of what kind of society should come after, if he should be able to overthrow it, a dubious proposition. The major relationships he forms around him include many close male friends and also the beautiful and very intelligent Virginia au Augustus (Mustang) with whom he falls in love but must continually hold back his feelings because of the enormous secret he hides. This is a trilogy of three quite long books that are really one long novel. The characters, the relationships, and the ingeniously strategic battles fought every step of the way are quite extraordinary and written with such energy and tension that I was propelled to read the entire trilogy before I even had time to reflect. I found Book 1 the most intense and satisfying followed closely by book 2 and somewhat further behind, book 3 where Darrow’s character loses a little focus. While the writing in book 3 remains amazingly vivid, and the plot twists, if anything intensify, I found that the love affair, always somewhat coy for various ostensible reasons, could use some sexual chemistry. But then SF was never very sophisticated when it came to love interest. Nevertheless, I would rate the first two books as solid 5s and the third for reasons mentioned a 4 for an average rating over the trilogy of above 4, quite a feat for an author’s first published book. If he can equal it again I would be amazed and delighted.