Morning Star
Morning Star (Red Rising Saga #3)
By: Pierce Brown
[Fulfilled ‘Book by an author with a color somewhere in their name’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2024 Reading Challenge]
“Slavery is not peace. Freedom is peace. And until we have that, it is our duty to make war.”
The first book, Red Rising, ripped my heart out within the first 40 pages, Golden Son did in the last two, and Morning Star decided the middle was the best place to do it!
[I’ll write this review with the assumption you’ve read the first two, so if you haven’t, this review will probably confuse you and give you spoilers.]
Morning Star is the climactic ‘final battle’ between Darrow and his Rising tide and the powers that be: the Sovereign and the Jackal. Do they have what it takes to fight against and beat a larger army with more resources and no moral code?
This was another intense read with a lot of violence— after all, it is war—but also more bravery, courage, wit, friendship, and the hope of something more.
My husband and I watch a lot of action movies and we often comment about the ‘bad guys’ that don’t seem very formidable. Or the ones that seem way too powerful to ever be beaten— which of course, they are beaten but the way they are beaten often feels contrived because they were so powerful. Pierce Brown did a fantastic job of creating evil and formidable opponents in the Sovereign and the Jackal but also writing the final showdown in a respectable way that made sense and didn’t diminish either side’s power.
(Although it was unclear whether any of the females had their hair in ponytails which is essential for realistic fight scenes.)
Because we are often kept in the dark of Darrow’s plans, we don’t always know if there IS a plan or if it will work. The tension is great and the pages turn fast.
I also appreciated the humor Brown manages to tangle into the gruesome tale; it’s a heavy book that needs a little levity. Sevro’s character plays a big role in that, but the other characters have their lines too. I had to laugh that he even squeezed in a subtle ‘bye Felicia’ in this one.
I have voiced that I don’t intend to read the rest of the series unless someone can convince me that it’s worth it, and now having finished the original trilogy, I uphold my decision. I feel good about where Brown took this saga and how this book ends. It is a little open-ended and not everything is figured out, but I worry that the rest of the books will undo that satisfactory feeling and just twist it into more turmoil and hopelessness. Which, truly, is inevitable because humanity is a constant cycle of shifting powers, morality, and utopia-quests.
Where Are We?
The previous book ends with the worst betrayal of the series: Roque. At Darrow’s triumph, Darrow is exposed as a Red, and a massacre occurs including the deaths of Lorn, the Son of Ares, and more. We were thrust into darkness. How can the Resistance prevail now?!
Morning Star opens with the dire circumstances Darrow has found himself in. Captured by Jackal, he spent 3 months being tortured for information and then 9 months held in a dark box. He is physically and emotionally drained and traumatized— hardly the Gold/Red hero that could lead an army.
“‘This is always how the story would end. Not with your screams. Not with your rage. But with your silence.’ Let him do his worst. I am the Reaper. I know how to suffer. I know the darkness. This is not how it ends.”
First things first— Darrow needs to be rescued. But he has a long road ahead of him. He is a shell of his former self and must be reminded what this has all been for. Why fight? Why try? What’s left? The people’s hope and expectations of him are crushing.
But, to no surprise, Darrow remembers. He may not have Roque, Lorn, Quinn, Mustang, or the Son of Ares by his side, but he still has Sevro and he still has a dream that needs to be realized:
“Karnus was right when he said that all we have in this life is our shout into the wind. He shouted his own name, and I learned the folly in that. But before I begin the war that will claim me one way or another, I will make my shout. And it will be for something far greater than my own name. Far greater than a roar of family pride. It is the dream I’ve carried and shepherded since I was sixteen.”
I love that message! We find true meaning when we realize there is something bigger than ourselves. Darrow doesn’t quite get to the Gospel but he is right to say that shouting our own name is folly. He is right to know that we can’t just believe in ourselves. It is an empty, foolish, and aimless existence.
“I wish [redacted] would have thought he was going to a better world. But he died believing only in Gold, and anything that believes only in itself cannot go happily into the night.”
Ragnarok: The End of the Gods
Sevro was one of my favorite characters in Golden Son, but while Darrow was captured and everyone thought him to be dead, Sevro took over his dad’s role as Son of Ares, leading the Resistance himself and becomes a bit of a stupid jerk in his new role. He was far from diplomatic. His efforts were vicious and vindictive and not overly effective. There is much to be done to correct the order of things and make their plans.
While I did enjoy Kavax and picturing him and his jovial morbidity like that of Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, my favorite character in this story was probably Ragnar. After Darrow had given him his freedom, he was a loyal brother to Darrow. Part of their plan involves trekking to the dangerous land where Ragnar’s from to try to accumulate an Obsidian army to join them.
You can’t help but think of ‘Ragnarok’ when you think of Ragnar’s name. It is fitting, and I’m sure intentional, then because in Scandanavian mythology Ragnarok “is a series of events and catastrophes that will ultimately culminate in a final battle between the gods and the demons and giants, ending in the death of the gods. The world is then reborn.” ‘Ragnar’ meaning ‘gods,’ ‘rok’ meaning ‘end.’
The Obsidians are taught to believe that the Golds are gods. Ragnar has since learned the truth and desires to share that good news with his people— the Golds are not gods and the Obsidians are not indebted to serve them. The Golds are, in fact, far from being gods, because although they rule, they are not immortal or undefeatable.
Morning Star depicts this final battle between “gods” and non-gods, the precursor to a rebirth. It is also a sobering depiction of the instability and failure of man-made gods. Unfortunately, because the gospel doesn’t exist in this fictional realm, this cycle is sure to repeat because the created cannot be ultimate. The Creator is. The more we put our hope in the created, the more we will experience corruption, defeat, and failure.
Darrow and his followers know what they are being saved from: false gods and slavery and a meaningless existence. But they do not know what they are being saved to. They will try to create a better world, but they have no standard for what that looks like. They have hope in something better, but hope and faith are only as good as the object its put into.
Thankfully, we don’t live in Darrow’s fictional world, but we live in the real world where there is real hope. Real deliverance from the ‘gods’ of self-worship. Real deliverance from the evil one who is set on corrupting all that is good and true and spreading his lies. And we are being saved to something greater: a life of freedom from being controlled by the desires of our flesh; a life where we experience all the blessings of following Christ; and a promise to life everlasting in heaven where there will be no more pain and no more tears. And what good is that hope? As good as the One who lived, died, and rose again to prove himself God. There is none like Him.
The Morning Star Rises
This book is called Morning Star because Darrow is given this nickname by the Obsidians.
“They call me the Morning Star. That star by which griffin-riders and travelers navigate the wastes in the dark months of winter. The last star that disappears when daylight returns in the spring.”
The first and last star to appear. The star that ushers in a new beginning.
I don’t know what beliefs Pierce Brown has personally, but many points of this trilogy point to a Savior. A lot of sagas like this do. God put eternity on our hearts and we know he created us all with a longing for rescue to that place. Jesus was the first, last, and only Savior. All other saviors are shadows.
‘Morning Star’ is mentioned in 1 Peter 1: “we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”
‘Morning Star’ is also the name Jesus gives to himself in Revelation 22:16: “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root of the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
It is the last ‘I AM’ statement of the entire Bible.
Andrew Wilson says it well [in this article] when he considers how Jesus called himself the Morning Star:
“The Morning Star, by contrast, is in a class of his own. Not only is he much brighter than his companions. Not only does he open and close the celestial symphony as both overture and finale. He is unlike them in his very essence, similar to us in ways we still struggle to believe, and far, far closer than we realize.”
In Darrow’s world, he is the morning star, rising in the darkness, ready to bring a new dawn, a new start, hope for a new day. The cover of the book shows the weapon symbolizing him as the Reaper. He was the hope because he came to kill the sitting Sovereign and the more evil aspiring Sovereign.
In contrast, in reality, Jesus is the morning star, rising in the darkness of our fallen earth, having already defeated death on the cross, he promises to return to usher in the New Earth.
The cover of his book wouldn’t show a scythe. It may show a cross, because instead of shedding the blood of others, he shed his own. But he also didn’t stay dead. He resurrected— not with the help of advanced technology like Darrow, but with his own divine power. He was truly God.
Jesus could not be defeated. He never feared defeat. He never had to hide his contingency plan in a horse carcass. His power is so far beyond Darrow’s saving power. His love is perfect where Darrow’s was tainted by selfishness, hatred, and vengeance. He is the Vale that Darrow aspired to enter.
His book cover might just be a bright light. Darkness cannot stand in His light.
“Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” — John 8:12
Break the Chains
I can appreciate a saga like Red Rising and its ‘Savior trope.’ I was drawn into this long battle for freedom and rescue. A good vs evil story; though Brown did not water down the tainted good of humanity that has mixed motives and complicated feelings. The ‘good’ in Red Rising recognized its own depravity, yet understood that the true good had to be outside of himself.
I don’t know if Pierce Brown wanted to share the gospel in his books. But I can’t read it without feeling compelled to fill in what Brown ‘left out.’ We devour these stories because it touches something inside our hearts for a reason.
We want to be rescued from our own chains. We want freedom from ourselves. We want something more than this broken world. We want our lives to mean something.
Brown shows us a fictitious battle and a fictitious victory (sorry if that’s a spoiler).
The Bible shows us a real battle and a real victory. A victory that is yours if you receive it.
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God… And not only creation, but we ourselves.. groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved… He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things… Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?… No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
— from Romans 8
Break the chains in your own life. The Vale is real for those who trust in the Lord as their Savior— a true God who is worthy of our praise, worthy of our trust, worthy of our love.
Be sure: there is a war right now for your heart. Everyone serves something or someone. Who will you serve?
Break the chains.
The End of an Era?
“I can be a builder, not just a destroyer… When [redacted] is old enough I will tell him of the rage of Ares, the strength of Ragnar, the honor of Cassius, the love of Sevro, the loyalty of Victra, and the dream of Eo, the girl who inspired me to live for more.”
I feel good about where this ended. We don’t get to know the plan for the new Society but we have a hope that it will be better.
Morning Star is not the end of the series. Brown wrote 3 more and a 4th to come out in 2025. The next book after this one begins ten years from this one’s end.
My fear is that the books will ruin the ‘happy ending’ I’ve settled myself with. A good book has to have conflict and I’m not sure I can handle everything getting ruined only ten years after it started getting good.
I’m not saying I’ll never read them, but I would need someone else who HAS read them convince me that it’s worth it. I’ve also heard they are just as or more violent and gory and I think three books of that is enough for me. The trilogy I got with these three books was good and I’m happy with what I’ve gotten, I don’t feel the need for more.
Recommendation
This has been an intense and complex series to read and again, if you can handle the violence, I would definitely recommend.
I usually would not recommend a book with the violence and swearing these books have had, however, I think in sci-fi saga like this, some of that hits different and because you are so immersed in the world, it’s not as jarring. I’m not sure how to explain it. I just know that it didn’t feel the same as if I were to read a thriller with the same amount of content.
What also overshadowed that was just the compelling story that Pierce Brown has woven across the three books. The character development was clear for so many characters. The struggle between good and evil and what means justify the end. The concepts that can be pulled from this story are intricate and relatable.
I’ve written a lot in my reviews about how the themes remind me of Christ and his sacrifice for us and the Gospel message. Reading these books actually do point me back to God because it reminds me of the depravity of mankind and the dangers of man-made gods. It reminds me that I have a Deliverer and a Rescuer. It reminds me that there is a better world than this and I can have confident hope that I will experience it. Darrow’s heart struggles written in this book are not new. They are conflicts we all face; things we all have to address in our own lives: the chains of sin and darkness that bind us all.
The Red Rising series can be a launching point for readers to explore the Creator of our world and the implications of a Savior who lived on the earth a couple thousand years ago. It can be the revelation that our ‘shout into the wind’ of our own names and our own kingdoms is empty and folly.
Pierce Brown doesn’t sugarcoat the darkness and tries to bring light into it. Hopefully you can read this series and look for yourself for that light in our world— not the gleam of light off a shiny scythe but the heavenly light of life and love in Christ.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” — Isaiah 60:1-3
[Content Advisory: 7 f-words, 106 s-words, 16 b-words (there are more swear words than the other books, and not that this excuses them, but a lot of them are in groups of five in an over 500 page book so they don’t seem super overbearing throughout and somehow the overall story makes them feel less prominent), the British use of the word ‘bloody’; violence, gore, war; cannibalism; reference to rape and children death]
You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
FUN FACT:
There is a board game out (by the same makers of Wingspan which is an awesome game) that is based on the book. It’s a fairly cheap game and for that price, it’s a great game to own. I purchased it recently and have played several times with my husband. We play with two players and it works but I’m guessing it might be even better with more (up to 6) but haven’t tried it with more players yet.
Red Rising Board Game
It is a hand management game where your turn is spent ‘deploying’ or gaining cards to accumulate points in your hand.
It doesn’t immerse you in the world as much as many reviewers had hoped, but as a fan of the books I appreciated the attention to detail they took in creating the character cards and their different abilities and point values that correspond to things from the books.
If you want to give it a shot, you can order from Amazon using my affiliate link below.
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