Morning Star

This book was so emotionally difficult for me to read yet so worth pushing through to reach the conclusion. There are so many scenes that will live in my head forever. It was a non-stop testosterone-packed rollercoaster that starts with Darrow being tortured and kept in a box by the Jackal for a year and spins into a series of battles and incredibly hard choices that show how there are no clear-cut good guys and bad guys when it comes to war. Each choice makes you question how to balance ideals with the cost of making those ideals a reality.“How many mothers have prayed to see their sons, their daughters return from war only to realize the war has kept them, the war has poisoned them, and they'll never be the same?” There was so much emotion because these characters are unbelievably real. Over three books, you love them and know them deeply. I had to stop reading for a week after Ragnar died. They are imperfect and morally grey and packed with breathless courage and reckless stupidity, selflessness and greed. Pierce captures the worst and best of humanity in every character. Forever a Howler <3Ragnar's Death“I will give Eo your love. I will make a house for you in the Vale of your fathers. It will be besides my own...“Ragnar and Darrows' friendship was a symbol of hope and change. Ragnar himself became a good and inspiring man. This made his death extra heartbreaking, it felt like a loss of hope. But he died reunited with his sister. He died a free man and a hero to his people. He died with the message to his people that they could be more than war and violence. Roque's DeathI will never stop wishing that Roque could have been different. His death broke Darrow's heart because Darrow never let go of his friendship, even through torture and attempted murder. I struggled with this tendency at first, but I think it demonstrated Darrow's ability to see multiple viewpoints and his ability to love unconditionally.The Mob and The Hanging“My name is Sevo Au Barca, and I am a murderer. And what do we do to murderers?”For me, this is the most poignant scene of the book, I can't stop thinking about it. Darrow's uncle is murdered by the Jackal and it leads to a fracturing of the rebellion's forces as low colors begin killing golds on their own side of the war. Darrow and Sevro get there just as Cassius is to be executed by the mob. Sevro breaks to the front and claims Cassius as his property because Cassius murdered his father. He announces to the crowd that Cassius is a murderer, yelling “...and what do we do to murderers?” before dropping Cassius to hang as the mob cheers. Then he lists how many people he, their leader, has killed. The mob cheers again as he counts off how many golds and other colors he's killed. But they begin screaming when he repeats “...and what do we do to murderers?” before putting the rope around his own neck and jumping. WOW. The power of that repeated phrase and the way it broke through the mindlessness of mob mentality. I was so proud of Sevro in that moment.The Final StandThe way my heart stopped when I thought Sevro had been murdered by Cassius and they were defeated. This was such a powerful ending because it's often seen as a weakness that Darrow won't give up on his friends even when they betray him. When Cassius kills Sevro, you think that has caused his downfall. But then the twist - Cassius and Darrow reveal that they are working together and Sevro's alive. We see that Darrow's ability to keep loving his friends and show mercy is his strength in this rebellion. 

If your heart beats like a drum and your legs a little wet, it's because the Reapers come to collect a little debt