Book Club readers! Today’s the day we review the last book in Pierce Brown’s Red Rising trilogy: Morning Star. This book was a fantastic finish to the story, I’ll start by giving a quick recap of where we’re at leading into this book. At the end of Golden Son, Darrow is betrayed by Roque and the Jackal and taken as prisoner. The third book starts there, let’s go!
Darrow has been tortured and held in the Jackal’s cell for over a year. He has lost every bit of muscle and is held bound in the dark. The Jackal taunts him and tortures him for any information he can get, Darrow is completely broken by the time this book starts. Cassius and Antonia arrive to escort Darrow to the Sovereign to be dissected by her carvers. Darrow is relieved when Cassius throws him a cloak for warmth, but the feeling quickly dissipates when he realizes that they just want him healthy for dissection. The public was shown a video of Darrow’s execution, leading everyone to believe he’s dead. Darrow has been told the Jackal also has his family captive.
Darrow is escorted by two soldiers, Holiday, and Trigg, to the shower where he is hosed down and cleaned up. Before leaving, the soldiers incapacitate the guards and tell Darrow they are with the Sons of Ares and are there to free him. Darrow hopelessly does not believe them but has no other choice to follow them.
When they’re almost to safety, Darrow realizes that Victra is still held captive and with the aid of a stim shot, he abandons the rescue to go save her. She is in about as bad shape as Darrow, and they spring her free. While fleeing, they are stopped by Cassius (now the Sovereign’s Morning Knight) and Aja au Grimmus. Trigg is killed in the fight, and they’re about to captured when Sevro and the Sons of Ares use a clawDrill to come up and save them.
They’re taken to the rebel Capitol of Tinos, an underground city where the Sons have made base camp. Sevro has taken his father’s place as Ares and is carrying out a series of attacks against their enemies. The Jackal has aligned with the Sovereign and Cassius with the goal to eradicate the Sons. He is happy to see that his family is safe there, having been rescued by Sevro during the Triumph. Darrow is re-carved by Mickey and trains with Victra for a couple of months getting their strength back. Sevro initiates them as Howlers, Darrow falls into line as one of them. Sevro also discloses that he released the video of Darrow’s carving, hoping to spark the revolution. Dancer is there, and he informs Darrow that Harmony was the one who sold him out to the Jackal when he wouldn’t bomb the gala.
One of Sevro’s missions involves ambushing Quicksilver, one of the prominent business members of the region. When they arrive, Darrow notices something is off, but Sevro pushes ahead. They encounter and kill Matteo, a Pink who was with Mickey when Darrow was first carved. They are stunned to find Quicksilver is meeting with members of House Telamanus with Mustang, and with Cassius representing the Sovereign. It’s chaotic and awkward, ending with an all-out brawl where Mustang fights Darrow until realizing he’s alive. They take Quicksilver and Dax Telamanus hostage, Quicksilver informs them that he started the Sons with Fitchner and has been funding it the whole time.
Mustang and Darrow meet up in Tinos, lots of tension and questions. They hatch a plan where they will take the moon Phobos to distract the Sovereign and go to the poles of Mars to recruit Obsidians to join their revolution. The plan goes well, and they launch their assault, temporarily giving the Sons control of Phobos and letting Mustang, Darrow, and Ragnar to go to the poles.
They are pursued and shot down by Cassius and Aja with their ship. The crew is killed while Darrow is able to save Ragnar who is wounded. Holiday and Mustang survive, but now they’re in a barren wasteland with no resources and minimal firepower while also fighting off cannibals. Ragnar was able to shoot down Cassius’s ship and the gang finds it empty. They fight off the cannibals and secure the remaining resources available.
They push on and find Cassius and Aja weakened. They take this moment to ambush them, but Cassius defeats Darrow and Aja mortally wounds Ragnar. Mustang takes out Cassius with an arrow to the neck. They turn to Aja, who has the ice break and falls away into the canyon below. They rendezvous with Ragnar’s mother Alia Snowsparrow, the queen of the Obsidian, and plead their case. They are crushed when she turns out to be a Sovereign loyalist and sentences them to death.
Ragnar’s sister, Sefi, hears Mustang and Darrow out once they’ve killed the “gods” that they all followed – Golds dressed as Freya and Thor lol. Sefi beheads her mother, and they spend the next couple of weeks unifying the Obsidian tribes to prepare their assault against the Sword Armada. Mustang is hesitant to unleash Obsidians on Mars, fearing that they will cause too much destruction that the people can’t overcome. They leave and set sail to the Outer Rim to start the next step of their plan.
They meet with Romulus au Raa, the leader of the Moon Lords after his family was killed the Triumph. They find Roque waiting for them, both sides are vying for the Moon Lords’ support. Cassius told Mustang and Darrow that the Jackal stole the nuclear armory, they trick the Moon Lords by telling them this is proof the Sovereign plans to use those nukes against them. This works, the Moon Lords temporarily align with them, and they go to war. Darrow agrees to turn over all Sons of Ares members from the outer rim and promises not to further the revolution there.
They launch an assault against Roque’s fleet, and a huge battle ensues. Eventually Darrow and team make it the Bridge, when Darrow’s revolution speech is released, and Roque’s Pink let’s them in. Darrow and Mustang allow Roque to kill himself when he wouldn’t join them – once again, just an enormous pussy. They have taken the Sword Armada and begin their assault on Luna. Antonia tries to flee, but Victra pursues and reclaims the entire Juuli fleet. Romulus realized he was tricked about the nukes but can’t admit that or face further war. Darrow instructs Roque’s ship to bomb the Moon Lords’ dock, which will cripple them for generations.
On the ship, they now have Cassius, Antonia, and former howler Thistle held captive and are trying to get information on the Jackal and the Sovereign’s plan. Darrow and Cassius reconcile a bit, with Darrow giving some holocubes to Cassius before the finish with some undisclosed information. Antonia murders Thistle, giving herself all of the leverage despite Victra beating her to a pulp. The gang agrees to free Cassius for his help, but he immediately disarms and shoots Sevro before releasing Antonia and taking Darrow and Mustang hostage.
They take Sevro’s body, Mustang, and Darrow to a waiting Sovereign and Jackal. They immediately have Antonia executed by Aja for fleeing the assault against the Sword Armada. The Jackal cuts off Darrow’s hand, and they run a victory lap on us. They start to broadcast what they plan to be Darrow’s actual execution.
Out of nowhere, Cassius cuts down the Sovereign’s guards and they being to take Aja 3 on 1. Darrow mortally wounds the Sovereign and pins the Jackal to the ground through his shoulder. They are about to lose when Cassius tosses Darrow a stim shot. He awakens Sevro, who used the same poison Darrow took before he was hanged so that no one knew he was still alive. They’re able to defeat Aja which leaves the Sovereign and the Jackal left. Before the Sovereign dies, she tells them to stop the Jackal. The holocubes that Darrow gave Cassius showed that his family was murdered by the Jackal and the Sovereign, not the Son of Ares.
Well, the Jackal armed the entire nuclear arsenal on Luna and threatens to blow up the moon. He was going to be named the successor to the Sovereign as a result of this leverage. He begins detonating the nukes, killing millions, and telling Darrow the only way to stop it is to kill himself and accept his reign. Darrow responds by ripping the Jackal’s tongue out. The sovereign’s young grandchild advises that he can call the Ash Lord to end this. They do, and the threat is dispelled.
Mustang is named the new Sovereign and will begin rebuilding society. She tells Darrow they had a son while he was locked away, and they begin their new lives. Cassius takes the Sovereign’s grandson, planning to raise him correctly and travel the universe. Sevro and Victra are happily married, and the story ends there.
This was an incredible saga. Maybe the best sci fi story that I’ve ever read. Pierce Brown never really gave away Mustang’s play. You spent three books hoping that she wouldn’t betray us, then are rewarded with an insanely satisfying ending. I’ve never read anything that kept me this “on my toes”. The devastating betrayals always had me waiting for the rug to pull. But it wasn’t cheap, every twist and development were earned through excellent characterization.
Speaking of, let’s talk about Cassius. Maybe one of the best written characters I’ve ever read. He goes from being a magnetic ally, to a hated villain, to a lost mystery. Hand up, I wanted him scalped. Darrow kept giving him chances, and when he shot Sevro I fucking lost it. But the turn. Oh, the turn. Absolutely incredible stuff that had me on my feet cheering. I guess that was theme of this series, trust. Darrow was betrayed so many times and still tried to see the light in people. The lesson I took away here was that trust is earned, and those you trust should never be abandoned. Except Roque, fuck you Roque!
I can’t recommend this enough; this gets a 5.0/5.0 like the last two before it. I might have to revise the scale, can’t keep giving every book a perfect score. I’m going to read a non-fiction week before starting the sequel Iron Gold trilogy. Looking forward to it and thanks for reading!
