Red Rising – Grab This Book

Morning Star (Red Rising Trilogy 3) – Pierce Brown

Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars, generations of people who spend their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that, one day, people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left.

Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. That Mars has been habitable – and inhabited – for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down at Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.

Until the day Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their society.

My thanks to the Hodderscape team for my (treasured) review copy.

It started with Red Rising. It continued with Golden Son and now FINALLY Morning Star has arrived and Pierce Brown’s epic trilogy is complete. Epic. Not a word to be used lightly but wholly justified in the case of the Red Rising trilogy – these three books are outstanding examples of storytelling.

Picking up the story after the traumatic Golden Son cliff-hanger Morning Star reunites us with Darrow (The Reaper) and his seemingly failed mission to bring down the elite Golds. Confused? Well it is book 3 of a trilogy – you really MUST read the books in order to appreciate the scale of the story which Pierce Brown has woven.

It was a long 12 month wait for Morning Star but it was absolutely worth it in the end. I cannot tell you WHY, nor can I reveal who is still standing at the end of the book or even if Darrow and his allies manage even a partial success in their mission. What I CAN tell you is that Morning Star is the finale that you hoped it would be.

Tears, cheers and trauma. Twists, shocks and tragedy…Pierce Brown nails them all and keeps you flicking the pages long into the night. It is the story you never want to end AND the story you simply must finish!

Morning Star is waiting for you – if you have not yet met Darrow you can order a copy of Red Rising HERE and start the journey. If you have finished Golden Son then you owe it to yourself to find out what happens next – get your copy of Morning Star right this bloodydamn minute – things will never be quite the same again.

Morning Star is published by Hodder & Stoughton and is available in Hardback and Digital Format.

You can order a copy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Morning-Star-Red-Rising-Trilogy/dp/1444759051/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455576722&sr=8-1&keywords=morning+star

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

January 21

Golden Son – Pierce Brown

‘I’m still playing games. This is just the deadliest yet.‘

Darrow is a rebel forged by tragedy. For years he and his fellow Reds worked the mines, toiling to make the surface of Mars inhabitable. They were, they believed, mankind’s last hope. Until Darrow discovered that it was all a lie, and that the Red were nothing more than unwitting slaves to an elitist ruling class, the Golds, who had been living on Mars in luxury for generations.

In RED RISING, Darrow infiltrated Gold society, to fight in secret for a better future for his people. Now fully embedded amongst the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his dangerous work to bring them down from within. It’s a journey that will take him further than he’s ever been before – but is Darrow truly willing to pay the price that rebellion demands?

Hic sunt leones.

Thanks to Hodder and Bookbridgr for my review copy

Last year I reviewed Red Rising – the first in Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Trilogy. It was a stand out book for me, one of the best I had read for quite a few years and it made me crave more fantasy novels (a genre I have kept away from in recent years). More specifically, however, Red Rising made me crave a novel called Golden Son –the sequel to Red Rising.

On the plus side, I was quite late to the party for Red Rising so the wait for Golden Son was not too long to bear, the wait for the third novel may seem eternal though. The reason for my impatience is that Golden Son is majestic and finishes with such a climax that there was almost a howl of frustration as I read the last page. Few authors have ever managed to evoke such a sense of anticipation from me.

As Golden Son is the second in a trilogy it is necessary to have read Red Rising. Darrow, Mustang and their allies are back. However, so too are Darrow’s enemies – and there are many of them. The alliances which were established in Red Rising are tested time and again in Golden Son. The stakes have been raised and Darrow cannot be sure who to trust as he battles for his position in the ranks of the Golds and battles for his life as others plot against him.

Having reached an elevated position at the end of Red Rising we rejoin Darrow just as his status is facing its greatest challenge. The privileges he has enjoyed are to be taken away from him when he falls victim to a very public failure. His secret mission (set by the anarchist group Sons of Ares) may become unachievable if he cannot find a way to restore his position, however, Darrow is to find that it is not easy rebuilding a reputation when you fall so far from grace.

If I tried to outline some of the highlights from Golden Son I would be here for days. If I tried to explain some of the plot I would run the risk of revealing spoilers. What I am comfortable revealing is that Golden Son is bigger, louder and more staggering than Red Rising and I absolutely loved it.

Pierce Brown has created a phenomenal story. It is action packed, political, shocking and engaging. A must read masterpiece!

It may only be January but I think I have already read one of my favourite books of the year.

So it was 5/5 for Red Rising and now 5/5 for Golden Son – Pierce Brown is now scoring a perfect 10. Bring on the finale!

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

December 23

2014 – My Magnificent Seven

Although I have only been actively blogging for six months it is time for my end of year round up. A quick check of my blog finds that I have reviewed around 50 books in the last 6 months of the year. To select a top 10 from 50 seemed too many so I was going to do a top five. Until I started my list and I discovered that I wanted to include one or two more: Grab This Book’s Magnificent Seven was born.

So in no particular order I present the seven books that I enjoyed reading most (and the reasons why) during 2014.

Stalkers – Paul Finch

I was late to the party on Paul Finch’s brilliant Mark Heckenburg novels. The good thing about this was: by the time I read Stalkers there were two sequels and two more on the way.

Stalkers is a compelling thriller which pulls no punches and delivers shocks and twists in equal measure. I have probably recommended Paul Finch’s books to more of my friends than any other author this year – thus far I have had nothing but positive feedback from those that took my advice.

Stalkers Review

Doctor Who: Engines of War – George Mann

Cast your eye over my blog and you will find that Doctor Who books crop up fairly frequently. I make no apology for this, I have been a fan of the show for 35 years and I have been reading Doctor Who novels since the 1980’s. Not counting the books I read more than once, or the many audio plays, I think I have read around 350 different Who novels (although it is probably more).

For me, George Mann’s Engines of War stands out as one of the best that I have read. Ever. It features the Daleks, a new companion (Scarlet) and even better – The War Doctor. The Doctor has been fighting in the Time War, the Daleks fear him and the Timelords still cannot control him. His weariness of the War is telling and this is not a Doctor that can solve all the problems and just disappear in his TARDIS waiting for the next adventure. Mann catches the fatigue and frustration of the Doctor brilliantly.

If you enjoy Doctor Who and have seen John Hurt’s War Doctor in action then this is a must read. If you like an exciting good guy/bad guy story this is also for you, there is a great adventure to share. If you hate all things Doctor Who, this may not be the book for you. But I loved it!

Engines of War Review

Vendetta – Dreda Say Mitchell

Some books are in my list for personal reasons and some are here as they are stand out reads. Vendetta falls into the latter category. It was (without any doubt) one of the most entertaining books that I have read in recent years.

I cannot say enough good things about Vendetta and was thrilled to be able to participate in the Blog Tour when it was published. Dreda Say Mitchell penned a fantastic article Heroes to Die For which featured on my site. The combination of hosting the tour, having an exclusive article to feature and the book being one of my favourite reads of the year made this a memorable title for me.

Vendetta Review

Digital Circumstances – Brian Stewart

Summer 2014 was an amazing time to be in Scotland. We had the Edinburgh Festival (as we always do), the Book Festival (as we always do) but we also had Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games and the small matter of the Indy Ref – the world was watching.

Three out of the four events were spectacular successes – the fourth is subject to ongoing debate but 55% of the people were happy at the time!

During the height of all things Scottish I started reading Digital Circumstances, written and self-published by Brian Stewart. The story is (mainly) set in Glasgow and had a great mix of cybercrime and gangsters. As Glasgow is a city I know well and was very much in the public eye as I was reading Digital Circumstances – it just seemed a perfect read at the time.

A fun read and worth seeking out.

Digital Circumstances Review

Someone Else’s Skin – Sarah Hilary

A debut novel and the introduction of a principle character (Marnie Rome) which the author is planning on developing into an ongoing series. I have included this book in my top picks of the year mainly because it was a brilliant story which I got totally drawn into as I read.

However, Someone Else’s Skin holds the honour of being the book in 2014 with the best plot twist. It totally floored me and had me re-evaluating everything I had read up to that point in the story.

I read well over 100 novels this year, it would be very remiss of me to exclude the year’s ‘Jaw Drop’ moment from the list of my top books.

Someone Else’s Skin Review

An Evil Mind – Chris Carter

A fellow blogger contacted me asking if I could help him by reading a Chris Carter book (a task I felt reasonably comfortable accepting). He had been set a mission by the publishers: to find readers who had not read Chris Carter’s work and see if he could turn them into fans. I agreed to help and duly received a copy of An Evil Mind.

Click through to check my review for a more comprehensive summary, however, the addition of four new Chris Carter novels to my bookcase in the last few weeks should give a fairly big clue as to how much I enjoyed An Evil Mind. When drawing up a shortlist of possible titles to include in my Magnificent Seven, nothing came close to dislodging An Evil Mind from the list.

My thanks to Shaun on this one – take some time to visit his blog at: www.bookaddictshaun.co.uk

An Evil Mind Review

Red Rising – Pierce Brown

The book that broke my rules. Don’t get drawn back into Fantasy novels. Don’t start a series of books if the last books are not published yet. Don’t lend out your copies of your favourite books to friends as you know they will love it. Three copies of Red Rising later I currently only have my digital copy left – I MAY get some of my paperbacks back (eventually)!

This book made me want to read Fantasy novels again – this is after an 8 year hiatus where I have only really read crime and thrillers. A must read novel and worthy for inclusion in ANY list of recommended reads.

Red Rising Review

So there we have it – my best reading memories from 2014 and a brief explanation as to why these books stood out for me.

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

September 2

Red Rising – Pierce Brown

I have to thank Bookbridgr and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this book. I am happy to provide an honest review and will happily tell everyone that this book is brilliant!

Red Rising Trilogy - Part 1 — Red Rising Trilogy – Part 1

I have not read a fantasy novel for several years and I forgot my golden rule…never start a fantasy saga until all the books have been written. Red Rising is the first in a trilogy and I need parts two and three NOW!!!!!

Neither are available yet, Pierce Brown has promised that book two will be out in January 2015 – it already seems a long wait!

I tried to explain to a friend what Red Rising was like…Lord of the Flies with some 1984, a bit of Running Man but set on Mars. That does not do it justice, it is all of those yet more.

Just to clarify, I loved Red Rising!

Red Rising follows the story of Darrow. He is a Red, a miner on Mars. Generations of Reds (the lowest class of society) have been mining deep below the surface of Mars to help the Golds (the Society Elite) to terraform the planet and bring them a new world to live in. Unknown to Darrow and the Reds, the terraforming completed several generations ago and the surface of the planet houses a civilisation that live a decadent lifestyle while the Reds continue to work themselves to death below ground so the elite can party.

Darrow gets a glimpse of life above the surface of the planet and his life is turned upside down, his life is a lie. Everything he believed and worked for was a sham. He gets offered the chance to change things – can he become one of the elite? Can he become a Gold and then crush those that perpetuate the lie? Can he bring down the elite Golds and the life that they have built for themselves?

We read about Darrow as his life is rebuilt. His appearance is changed (bones smashed and flesh carved). He learns new skills, adopts a new identity and has to undergo the trials that will deem if he (and hundreds of others) can be worthy to rise to the top of the pile.

The trial process most made me draw comparisons with Lord of the Flies – teams are formed amongst the students seeking to become the best ‘Golds’. They are thrown into an artificially constructed landscape where different factions are pitted against each other to see which faction can make best use of their resources and prevail. Each faction has a will to win and it soon becomes dog-eat-dog/kill or be killed. This is gripping story telling from Pierce Brown and the depths to which some of the trialists will stoop is terrifying. As a Doctor Who fan, my mental image of this part of the story was a battle playing out in the Death Zone on Gallifrey.

Darrow is a likeable hero. He has to become something that he hates, act in a way that is alien to his natural instinct and he does not always make the right choices. This is a hugely satisfying read but be warned – it is just the beginning of the story!

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off