Morning Star is another bombshell of a book, perfectly ending what original started out as a trilogy.

Golden Son ended with such a cliff-hanger, our main protagonist captured, half of his friends slaughtered, and the rest scattered to the wind. An impossible situation to start from, with Darrow stuck in a hole, being physically and mentally tortured. The chapter that describes his time there felt really depressing, his anger, sorrow very real and palpable, which is to the credit of the author.

Time is no river. Not here. In this tomb, time is the stone. It is the darkness, permanent and unyielding, its only measure the twin pendulums of life—breath and the beating of my heart.

Thank God there was a daring rescue on the horizon, one that felt almost ill-conceived but is pulled off nonetheless. Given that Pierce Brown has a habit of killing of characters, I was never sure Darrow wouldn’t just get killed and we would focus on someone else instead. It keeps you on your toes and makes the excitement of the escape all the more real.

Then we figure out what the hell happened in those months Darrow was stuck in his hole and the rollercoast continues, with plans and schemes. There’s plenty of tension and emotions to be.

The story keeps up with the same mad rollercoaster as the previous books, going from highs to lows and then back again. I liked that. Simple things turn out to be not what they seemed, missions go sideways, but just when everthing is about to implode, there’s another twist around the corner, and the mad dash forward continues.

Around the 87% mark, about 70 pages from the end, the author pulled the rug from underneath my feet. Cassius turning on Darrow and killing Sevro took me completely by surprise and was so out of character for him that I almost decided to DNF there and then. Everything goes seriously downhill from there, and I was beginning to wonder how this book was ever going to end the trilogy. It comes right up until the knife's edge, just as Aja's about the execute Darrow, before the tide turns and the plot twists again. I was overcome with joy, I had completely bought the trick and had fallen completely for the ruse, again, much to the credit of the author. I am glad that I was vindicated though, it WAS out of character for him.

I loved Morning Star, as much as I loved the previous 2 books, and this series will be added to my all time favorites, so if I push it into your TBR pile, I’m not sorry one bit.

I love the world (or should I say solar system? or maybe Society?) that was built, with all it’s gory details, it’s structure and it’s crazy don’t-ask-too-many-questions tech.

I love the characters, the care the author used to define their relationships and how sometimes nothing can save them. Roque’s story arc is a particularly interesting one, rife with sorrow and regret, but a sense of duty and honor. Very sad to see him go in the end, but it was also a very fitting end for him. The same can be said about Cassius, Mustang, Adrian, Victra, Servo and so many others. I will remember these characters long after this series ends.

I enjoyed Darrow’s attempts at fixing and maintaing his relationships, because he realises that in the end, it’s the people that surround us that make life worth living, make it something worth fighting for, something which greed and power can never live up to. As cliché as it is, it never feels forced but it underlines everything:

I’m actually quite happy that there’s gonna be another 4 books in this series and I can’t wait to get started on those.