Morning Star by Brown
Ref: Pierce Brown (2016). Morning Star. Hodder Paperback.
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Darrow is a prisoner of the Jackal on Mars
“And I wonder, in my last moments, if the planet does not mind that we wound her surface or pillage her bounty, because she knows we silly warm things are not even a breath in her cosmic life. We have grown and spread, and will rage and die. And when all that remains of us is our steel monuments and plastic idols, her winds will whisper, her sands will shift, and she will spin on and on, forgetting about the bold, hairless apes who thought they deserved immortality.”
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2. Darrow is rescued by the Son of Ares
“A man thinks he can fly, but he is afraid to jump. A poor friend pushes him from behind.” He looks up at me. “A good friend jumps with.”
“You know a people have given up when they stop teaching their children.”
“But they shared a dream. One of a free world. Not built on corpses, but on hope. On the love that binds us, not the hate that divides. We have lost many. But we are not broken. We are not defeated. We fight on. But we do not fight for revenge for those who have died. We fight for each other. We fight for those who live. We fight for those who don’t yet live.”
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3. Darrow recovers with the Sons of Ares
“Justice isn’t about fixing the past, it’s about fixing the future. We’re not fighting for the dead. We’re fighting for the living. And for those who aren’t yet born.”
“I thought being a man was having control. Being the master and commander of your own destiny. How could any boy know that freedom is lost the moment you become a man. Things start to count. To press in. Constricting slowly, inevitably, creating a cage of inconveniences and duties and deadlines and failed plans and lost friends.”
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4. The Sons of Ares fight in the Moons of Mars
“Lorn once told me if he had been my father he would have raised me to be a good man. ‘There’s no peace for great men,’ he said.” I smile at the memory. “I should have asked him who he thinks makes the peace for all those good men.”
“You and I keep looking for light in the darkness, expecting it to appear. But it already has.” I touch his shoulder. “We’re it, boyo. Broken and cracked and stupid as we are, we’re the light, and we’re spreading.”
“We chosen few are the fire of our people.” I beat my chest. “We are not Red, not Blue or Gold or Gray or Obsidian. We are humanity. We are the tide.”
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5. Darrow, Mustang, and fight Cassius and Aja after crashing
“Because honor still matters. Honor is what echoes." His father's words. But they are as empty on his lips as they feel in my ears. This war has taken everything from him. I see in his eyes how broken he is. how terribly hard he is trying to be his father's son. If he could, he would choose to be back by the campfire we made in the highlands of the Institute. He would return to the days of glory when life was simple, when friends seemed true. But wishing for the past doesn't clean the blood from either of our hands.”
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6. Darrow and Mustang free the Valkyrie and the iron stained
“They call me the Morning Star. That star by which griffin-riders and travelers navigate the wastes in the dark months of winter. The last star that disappears when daylight returns in the spring.”
“All that we have is that shout into the wind--how we live. How we go. And how we stand before we fall.
“All deeds that last are painted in blood.”
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7. Darrow convinces the Moonlords to fight Roque’s fleet with the Sons of Ares
“This is war. And victory is the only nobility.”
“And as we pretend to be brave, we become so.”
“The moment a child thinks it is entitled to anything, they think they deserve everything.”
“No child in my family watches holos before the age of twelve. We all have nature and nurture to shape us. She can watch other people’s opinions when she has opinions of her own, and no sooner. We’re not digital creatures. We’re flesh and blood. Better she learns that before the world finds her.”
“How many mothers have prayed to see their sons, their daughters return from war only to realize the war has kept them, the world has poisoned them, and they’ll never be the same?”
“What is pride without honor? What is honor without truth? Honor is not what you say. It is not what you read.” Romulus thumps his chest. “Honor is what you do.”
“In his eyes I glimpse the loneliness, the longing for a life that should have been, and the glimmer of the man he wants to be underneath the man he thinks he has to be.”
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8. The Sons prepare for war on Luna
“Mobs are soulless things that feed on fear and momentum and prejudice.”
“Government is never the solution, but it is almost always the problem.”
“Battles are won months before they are fought.”
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9. Darrow, Cassius, Mustang, and Sevro kill Augusta, Aja, and her knights
“Forget a man’s name and he’ll forgive you. Remember it, and he’ll defend you forever.”
“Everything is cracked, everything is stained except the fragile moments that hang crystalline in time and make life worth living.”
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10. The Jackal detonates nuclear weapons on Luna before Darrow rips out his tongue
“How do sheep kill a lion ? By drowning him in blood.”
“This is always how the story would end, Adrius,” I say down to him. “Not with your screams. Not with your rage. But with your silence.”
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11. Mustang becomes Emperatus and a fragile peace ensues
“I can be a builder, not just a destroyer. Eo and Fitchner saw that when I could not. They believed in me. So whether they wait for me in the Vale or not, I feel them in my heart, I hear their echo beating across the worlds. I see them in my son, and, when he is old enough, I will take him on my knee and his mother and I will tell him of the rage of Ares, the strength of Ragnar, the honor of Cassius, the love of Sevro, the loyalty of Victra, and the dream of Eo, the girl who inspired me to live for more.”
“And when all that remains of us is our steel monuments and plastic idols, her winds will whisper, her sands will shift, and she will spin on and on, forgetting about the bold, hairless apes who thought they deserved immortality.”
“Man is no island. We need those who love us. We need those who hate us. We need others to tether us to life, to give us a reason to live, to feel.”
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