Morning Star (2016) is the third book in the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. Before writing the Red Rising series, Pierce Brown studied political science and economics. His writing career has been focused on the Red Rising series and its spin-off, the Red Rising: Sons of Ares comic books. There are currently six books out of a planned seven in the series: Red Rising (2014), Golden Son (2015), Morning Star, Iron Gold (2018), Dark Age (2019), and Light Bringer (2023). They tell a continuous story of warfare and political uprisings within an inter-planetary, color-coded caste system, of which Golds are ranked highest and Reds lowest. The series has received widespread acclaim, and Morning Star reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list.

This guide is based on the 2016 Hodder Paperbacks edition of Morning Star.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide mention death by suicide, rape, and capital punishment.

Plot Summary

After Darrow, a Red miner turned Gold, conquered Mars he was betrayed during the celebration of his victory by Adrius au Augustus (also known as the Jackal) and Roque au Fabii. For a year afterward, Darrow is the Jackal’s captive and most believe that he has been killed until he is rescued by the Sons of Ares, now led by Darrow’s old friend Sevro au Barca. Darrow is taken to the secret, underground city of Tinos, where the Sons of Ares, a resistance group, have built a base from which they are fighting the Society, the harsh government. Darrow also learns that Virgina au Augustus, known as Mustang, leads a coalition of Gold families in a losing war against the Sovereign.

Months later, Darrow joins the Howlers (a misfit group of Golds) on a mission to the city-moon of Phobos. The plan is to kidnap the economist, Quicksilver. While trying to do this, Darrow and Sevro repeatedly clash over the purpose and conduct of their mission. When they find Quicksilver, they see that he is hosting a diplomatic meeting between the Sovereign’s representatives (including Cassius au Bellona) and Mustang (Darrow’s love interest from prior books). A fight breaks out in which Mustang realizes that Darrow is still alive and then flees. They later learn that Quicksilver was once an ally of the Sons of Ares and is willing to be again now that Darrow has returned. Darrow and Sevro settle the tension between them, and Darrow is officially placed back in charge of the Howlers.

Darrow sparks a revolt on Phobos by revealing that he is still alive and giving a speech about Gold tyranny. Meanwhile, Sevro prepares an ambush for the response fleet of the Society. While this is happening, Darrow prepares to leave the moon secretly with Ragnar, an Obsidian warrior whom Gold people previously enslaved, intending to cause a rebellion among the Obsidians on Mars’s pole. Before they can leave, Mustang finds them and insists that she is allowed to join. She is open to the ideals of the revolution but wants to see that Darrow is taking steps to build a better system after the downfall of the Society.

As they approach Mars’s pole, a ship starts to follow them, and they shoot each other down. They struggle across the snowy landscape until they find out that the ship belonged to Cassius and Aja au Grimmus, the Sovereign’s chief bodyguard. Ragnar and Darrow confront Aja and Cassius in a Razor battle in which they capture Cassius, but Aja kills Ragnar. Aja flees when Sefi the Quiet, Ragnar’s sister, finds them. Darrow convinces Sefi to join the Rising (the uprising against the Society led by the Sons of Ares) and they successfully lead the Obsidians into revolt.

After this, Darrow learns from Cassius that the Jackal stole a huge number of high-yield nuclear warheads. Darrow decides to use this information to his advantage. Combing the ships of the Rising with Mustang’s coalition, they go to the Rim planets where they intend to confront the Sword Armada led by Roque. They convince Romulus au Raa, leader of the Rim planets, to join their cause and battle the Sword Armada around the moon, Ilium. Darrow boards Roque’s ship and confronts him. At the same time, Sevro springs a trap on the rest of the Sword Armada. Roque dies by suicide once he sees that he has lost the battle, and Darrow uses Roque’s ship to destroy a key dockyard in the Rim so that they cannot threaten Mars in the future.

As the Rising ships move back toward Core planets, Darrow shows Cassius that the Sovereign and the Jackal were behind the deaths of his family. Soon after, the Jackal broadcasts out a video of him killing Darrow’s Uncle Narol—a beloved figure among the Sons of Ares. This leads to riots in the Rising ships and an attempt to lynch captive Golds (including Cassius), which is only stopped by Sevro risking his life. Victra, a wealthy Gold, and Sevro—who have struck up a romance—then decide to get married.

Darrow hopes that most will assume that he is sailing to Mars when in fact he plans to bring his fleet to Luna to strike at the Sovereign. He schemes with Mustang, Sevro, and Cassius to get access to the Sovereign’s bunker by pretending that Cassius has managed to capture them. They find out that the Jackal is also on Luna and was preparing an ambush for Darrow’s fleet. The Sovereign orders Darrow’s execution, at which point Cassius reveals himself to be working with the Rising. Together they manage to kill the Sovereign and Aja, but they learn that the Jackal smuggled the nuclear warheads onto Luna. The Jackal is able to detonate several of these before he is stopped. In the chaos that follows, Mustang is appointed Sovereign of the Society. She begins to institute reforms that dismantle the hierarchy and hangs the Jackal for his crimes.

Mustang then shows Darrow that during the events of Golden Son, they conceived a son whom she has named Pax. Darrow promises to tell his son the stories of his friends.