Morning Star

“Morning Star” closes the first Red Rising trilogy on the scale the earlier books promised, with Darrow back at war and gathering allies. Some readers find that the first half wanders and the pacing is uneven, though the second half is markedly stronger. Brown is ruthless with his cast and the ending divides readers, so come prepared for losses.

Worth knowing Morning Star, from 2016, ends the first Red Rising trilogy. Darrow, taken at the close of Golden Son, spends the opening months in a box under the Jackal’s house, is cut out by the Sons of Ares and has to find out who among his friends is still his; the rest of the book is the open war of the Rising against the Society, fought from the moons of Jupiter to the skies of Luna, with Sevro, Mustang and Ragnar carrying as much of it as Darrow. Pierce Brown wrote the three books fast, between 2014 and 2016, and this one is the most assured. Iron Gold picked the story up ten years later in 2018, with new narrators and the costs of victory, so the trilogy stands on its own but the series does not stop here.

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