Morning Star
2016
- franchise:red rising
- series:red rising trilogy
- series:red rising saga
- form:novel
- genre:science fiction
- resistance to government
- space colonies
- nyt:hardcover-fiction=2016-02-28
- dystopias
- fiction
The story
Born a lowly Red in the mines of Mars, Darrow lost his beloved wife to the treacherous Gold overlords. Vowing to fight for the future that his wife believed in, Darrow joins a secret revolutionary group and is remade into a Gold so that he can infiltrate the ruling class and bring them down from the inside. Now, after years of hiding amongst the Golds, Darrow is finally ready to declare open revolution and throw off the chains of oppression. Nothing in Darrow's world has been easily won, and this final fight will be the most harrowing of all.
What it’s like
Propulsive, cinematic prose moves between cramped, dust-choked tunnels under Martian rock and gleaming, marble-and-glass Gold halls, with the colour contrast of rust-red earth against polished gold doing much of the visual work. Battle sequences are staged like widescreen spectacle: vast fleets, scorched skies, close-quarters chaos rendered in quick, kinetic sentences. Quieter passages slow down for ritual, banquet manners and the cold calculation of court life, giving the book a restless, feverish rhythm. The mood is grim, determined and at times bitter, with flashes of defiant hope. Violence is frequent, graphic and often brutal, including deaths in battle and public cruelty; there is also sexual content and some abuse, so it is not gentle. It suits readers who want an intense, high-stakes sci-fi war story to tear through on a long flight or late at night, and who are comfortable with a hard, unsparing tone and a steady stream of bloodshed.
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