Jake Wood

An incredible book of importance. It's the type of book that should be read in schools everywhere, from freshman on. Omar El Akkad brings his lived in experience to describe so many vital understandings.

5 stars, full stop. Pierce Brown takes a different trail for Morning Star than he did Golden Son. While the second in this series was nonstop, this felt a gradual piece to two outstanding pieces of excitement in the end. SO MUCH happens in this book, and a couple points make me cry. It's a very emotional tale, and I could easily have seen this be the actual ending of a stellar trilogy, but it is very exciting that there are 3 (soon to be 4) books to go.

Of course Imma take a bit of a breather. This series is quite grimdark and I need something different for a couple weeks.

Okay, this was very good. I don't mind love stories as a man, and the twists that came in this story felt good and a more modern adaptation of this story is welcome. The ending brings things around from the beginning of the story which is nice, but the spot this first book of the trilogy ends is... less than desirable? Not supremely exciting, but I am interested in the sequel. Hopefully Paula Lafferty can improve her writing even more.

Darrow is an amazing main character, and this world of rich, arrogant rulers biting off more than they could chew in a revenge tale is so good. This is right up my alley for a story, and what a way to start. A book I breezed through in excitement in four days, filled with tension, betrayal, twists that were so fun to read.

I gave RED RISING 5 stars, and I didn't quite say the appropriate rating but after reading GOLDEN SON I can comfortably say it was 4.5 for the first book, full 5 stars for this one. Pierce Brown immediately levels up his writing in a way that's pretty staggering, writing a book that DOES NOT LET UP. Sure there are calm, breathing, simple moments but the overarching story from beginning to end is GO GO GO and it doesn't stop. The world opens up, we meet new characters that immediately become our favorites, and it makes me immediately want to read the third book of this series. Like immediately.