5 Star Book Review: Morning Star (Red Rising, #3)

Author: Pierce Brown

Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Edition: kindle eBook

Buy Links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository

Goodreads

Related Reviews: Red Rising, Red Rising (audiobook), Golden Son

Rating: 5 Stars

SPOILER FREE

In case it wasn't clear, this is one of my absolute favorite series.  And now, it's over.  It was surprisingly satisfying and rather overwhelming.  Which makes it hard to review.

The characters continued to grow and each reached the peak of their characterization- oftentimes in unexpected ways.  There's a particular scene between Sevro and Darrow within the first act of the book that is a prime example of this.  Characters continue to keep their morally ambiguous status for the most part, as well.  However, we get less of an insight into the villains in this one as we have in past books.

The plot was rather straightforward, though there were enough twists to keep me on the edge of my seat.  The deaths in this book, too, had me losing my mind.  There was a point where I actually had to put the book down for a day because every time I picked it up I would cry over the passing of a certain character.  But it was all in good taste and no one died just to die, which is what I worried might happen.

I wish I could talk in depth about the actual events of the book, but then you would just have me going on about how awesome this scene or that scene was and not a proper review.  If you're interested in such a thing, let me know in the comments.  I plan to reread this series at some point this year and afterwards I probably will post an in-depth spoilery discussion of it.  All you need to know about this book, though, was that it was the perfect ending to a fantastic trilogy.

February Pre-Orders

As you may realize by now, I have this thing where I pre-order way to many books.  So, I thought, at the beginning(-ish) of each month I'd talk about which ones I have preordered.

Stars Above

by Marissa Meyer

released February 2nd

This one already arrived and I'm itching to start reading it, but I must restrain myself until I finish Winter later this month.

A Criminal Magic

by Lee Kelly

released February 2nd

This was a digital preorder and I'm so glad to be able to start this soon.  I've heard some really great things.

QQ Sweeper Vol. 2

released February 2nd

This will probably be the next manga I read since it just arrived in the mail.  I'm excited to see where it leads after that cliffhanger at the end of volume one.

Morning Star

by Pierce Brown

releases February 9th

JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS ONE GIVES ME SO MANY FEELS!  Thank goodness I don't have class on Tuesday and Wednesday off.  I will be reading this like crazy and fully expect me to spaz out whenever I talk about it.

Calamity 

by Brandon Sanderson

releases February 16th

So, I still need to read Firefight, but I loved Steelheart, so I decided to pre-order this and support one of my favorite authors.

A Gathering of Shadows

by VE Schwab

releases February 23rd

Another book I'm absolutely dying to get my hands on.  You may have noticed that I don't plan to read this one this month... well, that's because I plan to reread book one next month and this one either next month or the month after that.  I'm very eager to return to this world but I really want to take my time and ease into it.

Noragami Vol. 11

releases February 23rd

Every time I type out Norgami vol (insert number here) I can't believe how long I've been reading this series and how much I still absolutely adore it.  This cover... well, this cover gives me a lot of stress (and I can't say why because spoilers) and it will break my heart completely.  It's also, I believe, going to be the first volume past the story that the anime told, so I have no idea what's in store for me.

Batgirl Vol. 2

releases February 23rd

So, I loved volume one dearly, and I'm assuming this one will live up to it.  Eager to dig into it, honestly.

Have you preordered any books this month?  Are there any you're looking forward to?  Let me know!

February TBR

We're officially a month into 2016!  Wow, that's really crazy to think about.  I haven't had such a hard time writing 2016 instead of 2015 as I thought I would, but I am having trouble getting over the fact that 2006 was SIX YEARS AGO!  I mean, that feels like two years ago, honestly.

Anyway, this month I'm super excited for the books I'll be reading.  One of them is particularly exciting and will absolutely break my heart and put me into a book hangover, I expect nothing less.

1. Six of Crows

So, originally, I was going to finish the Grisha trilogy before reading this one, but you know what? I know that you don't have to read them in that order and I just don't want to put this one off anymore because I every day I wake up and stroke it for a few seconds.  So, yeah, I'm super ready to read this one, and I'll be starting it ASAP.

2. Passenger

I wasn't a huge fan of the Darkest Minds, but I've heard really great things about this one, and also, time travel (my favorite genre).  So, yeah, this is going to be an awesome read and I'm super ecstatic to get to it!

3. Morning Star

This is the book that will leave me absolutely heartbroken and torn to pieces and with such a book hangover that I'm a little afraid to start it, actually.  I thoroughly expect to have to skip classes to get over this one.  We'll see how hard it hits me.  I've already read the free preview which was the first five chapters (I think) and I was a puddle of feelz after page one.

4. Tell the Wind and Fire

I received an ARC of this one from Netgalley and I'm rather excited to read it, since it's one of my most anticipated of the new year!

5. Winter

I'm going to finish this series guys and I don't think I'm ready!  I've heard great things about this conclusion (and I've managed to avoid spoilers!) and I cannot wait to finally take the plunge.

6. Words of Radiance

I've been "currently reading" this one on Goodreads for several months and I really need to finish this.  I love what I've read of it, but the size has just daunted me.  I need to sit down and just finish it at this point.

So what are you guys planning to read this month?  Let me know in the comments!