It starts badly by almost any measure: Betrayed at the end of the last book, Golden Son, and with all his victories turned to ash, Darrow begins Morning Star imprisoned.

And Brown's commitment to showing it all is both one of the beautiful strengths and most annoying failures of the third and final book in the series, Morning Star. Keeping together all the details of a massive, system-wide war with dozens of competing factions isn't impossible, it's just very, very hard. He got to be the clean and bright hero, never having to face the ugly realities of upsetting a massive bureaucracy, destroying vital infrastructure and all the other petty inconveniences that come with a war.īut Darrow, the hero of Pierce Brown's Red Rising trilogy doesn't get that hall pass. No, if you're Luke, all you gotta do is show up every once in a while, blow up a Death Star or have a lightsaber duel with your weird dad. The best thing Luke Skywalker had going for him in the original trilogy was that he never had to worry about who was going to feed the war orphans left behind by the rebellion, or rebuild trashed moisture farms. Time Machine 'Golden Son' Is Space Opera That Doesn't Forget The Opera

Morning star review pierce brown