Morning Star: Book III of the Red Rising Trilogy
Read Morning Star: Book III of the Red Rising Trilogy Online
Authors: Pierce Brown
Tags: #Hard Science Fiction, #Dystopian, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Galactic Empire, #Colonization, #United States, #Science Fiction, #Adventure, #Literature & Fiction
Morning Star
is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Pierce Brown
Illustration copyright © 2016 by Joel Daniel Phillips
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
DEL REY and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
ISBN 9780345539847
eBook ISBN 9780345539854
Book design by Caroline Cunningham, adapted for ebook
Cover design: David G. Stevenson and Faceout Studio
Cover illustration: David G. Stevenson
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Contents
Chapter 22: The Weight of Ares
Chapter 45: The Battle of Ilium
Chapter 50: Thunder and Lightning
Chapter 54: The Goblin and the Gold
Chapter 55: The Ignoble House Barca
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THE STORY SO FAR…
Red Rising
Darrow is a Red, a lowly miner slaving away below the surface of Mars. He toils to make the surface of his planet habitable for future generations, but he and his kind have been betrayed: the surface is livable and ruled by the unscrupulous Golds. When they hang his wife for voicing rebellious ideas, Darrow joins a revolutionary group known as the Sons of Ares. With the help of the Sons, Darrow is physically transformed into a Gold and sent to take the Society down from the inside.
He enters the Institute, a training school for the Gold elite that turns spoiled teenagers into the best warriors in Society. There Darrow learns the ways of warfare and how to navigate through the often treacherous—but sometimes genuine—friendships and complex political climate of the Golds. Only
by changing the paradigm and relying on his new friends is Darrow able to best the Institute and all of its dangers.
Golden Son
From his victory at the Institute Darrow wins prestige and a position in the employ of the ArchGovernor of Mars, Nero au Augustus. However, he finds that it is difficult to live up to his own legend, as Darrow is unsuccessful at the Academy, where Golds train in ship-to-ship combat. Bested by a familial rival of his employer, Darrow’s worth quickly declines in the eyes of the ArchGovernor, until that is, Darrow gives the power-hungry Gold what he wants: civil war.
Playing the Augustus clan against the Bellonas, Darrow throws Society into disarray, sowing the seeds of chaos everywhere he goes. After amassing an impressive army and some dubious allies, Darrow leads a successful assault on Mars, ousting the Bellonas from control of the planet. But at the Triumph held to honor his military victory, betrayal once again rears its ugly head and all that he has worked for is undone. His friends and allies killed or missing, Darrow is captured and his secret identity is discovered; the fate of the rebellion balances on a razor ’s edge…
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Golds
OCTAVIA AU LUNE Reigning Sovereign of the Society
LYSANDER AU LUNE Grandson of Octavia, heir to House Lune
ADRIUS AU AUGUSTUS/JACKAL ArchGovernor of Mars, twin brother to Virginia
VIRGINIA AU AUGUSTUS/MUSTANG Twin sister to Adrius
MAGNUS AU GRIMMUS/THE ASH LORD The Sovereign’s Arch Imperator, father to Aja
AJA AU GRIMMUS The Protean Knight, chief bodyguard to the Sovereign
CASSIUS AU BELLONA The Morning Knight, the Sovereign’s bodyguard
ROQUE AU FABII Imperator of the Sword Armada
ANTONIA AU SEVERUS-JULII Half sister to Victra, daughter of Agrippina
VICTRA AU JULII Half sister to Antonia, daughter of Agrippina
KAVAX AU TELEMANUS Head of House Telemanus, father to Daxo
DAXO AU TELEMANUS Heir and son of Kavax, brother to Pax
ROMULUS AU RAA Head of House Raa, ArchGovernor of Io
LILATH AU FARAN Companion of the Jackal, leader of the Boneriders
CYRIANA AU TANUS/THISTLE A former Howler, now a lieutenant of the Boneriders
VIXUS AU SARNA Former House Mars, lieutenant of the Boneriders
Mid and LowColors
TRIGG TI NAKAMURA Legionnaire, brother to Holiday, a Gray
HOLIDAY TI NAKAMURA Legionnaire, sister to Trigg, a Gray
REGULUS AG SUN/QUICKSILVER Richest man in the Society, a Silver
ALIA SNOWSPARROW Queen of the Valkyrie, mother to Ragnar and Sefi, an Obsidian
SEFI THE QUIET Warlord of the Valkyrie, daughter to Alia, sister to Ragnar
ORION XE AQUARII Ship captain, a Blue
Sons of Ares
DARROW OF LYKOS/REAPER Former lancer of House Augustus, a Red
SEVRO AU BARCA/GOBLIN Howler, a Gold
RAGNAR VOLARUS New Howler, an Obsidian
DANCER Ares lieutenant, a Red
MICKEY Carver, a Violet
I rise into darkness, away from the garden they watered with the blood of my friends. The Golden man who killed my wife lies dead beside me on the cold metal deck, life snuffed out by his own son’s hand.
Autumn wind whips my hair. The ship rumbles beneath. In the distance, friction flames shred the night with brilliant orange. The Telemanuses descending from orbit to rescue me. Better that they do not. Better to let the darkness have me and allow the vultures to squabble over my paralyzed body.