Trying to turn books into movies and having it work is really tough unless you use the book as a simple outline for the movie. The only way you can do it is if you do want Jackson did with the Rings books and make each movie 3 1/2 hours long and even then you have to chop a lot of stuff out. These stories are tailor made to be television series.
Just finished Morning Star after at least a year of trying, really enjoyed it, though I think I would have enjoyed it more had it not been such a big gap from the other two. Looking forward to starting Iron Gold soon.
If you find one, please link it here. I remember the major points with Darrow, but I'm a little fuzzy on a few of the new POV characters.
Ephraim kidnapped Darrow and Servo's kids for the Duke of Hands. Ends up rescuing the kids but as they flew off the Syndicate Queen took over the ship, they deliberately crash it in order to not be captured again. Outer Rim finds out Darrow was the one that destroyed the Ganymede shipyards. Cassius duels a bunch of people but dies. Lysander turns traitor and joins the war against the Republic. Those are the other 2 big plot points.
Spoiler Was the book ever definite that Cassius died? He died "off screen," and I cannot remember if the death was confirmed or not.
This book is absolutely bonkers. Through ch 55 Spoiler I’m loving this book. So much shit is happening it’s hard to keep up. Lillith not really being dead, fine, whatever. But now The Jackal is back as a clone? Idk that seems so cheesy. Now no deaths are that meaningful knowing they could come back. Edit - as i read more I didn’t realize he’s just a child and not an actual reboot of The Jackal. I’m ok w this Speaking of - still waiting for Cassius to pop up and save the day.
I’m really enjoying it. He’s opening up the universe like crazy. Small nitpick- There’s been a few times where characters will use “this is the end of the world as we know it “ or “what in the world is going on” Should they bring saying “solar system” instead of world. It’s so dumb/ tiny but my obsessive compulsive ass can’t let it go and it throws me off for a bit
I’m going to have to reread the whole series at some point because I’ve forgotten who half of these damn characters are.
This makes me want to read the first trilogy again. It’s GOT level in terms of characters, alliances and who is station where.
Love the book. Feels more like the original trilogy, and definitely an improvement over Iron Gold imo
Just finished part 1, that was great. Worried the rest of the book won’t be as good. Reassure me Truman
The pace slows down. It be impossible to keep that up of the entire book. The rest of the book it still really good. Going to finish tonight.
Just finished. This is going to be a discombobulated stream of consciousness. Spoiler This was great but also frustrating. So many loose ends. Lack of Sevro in this novel fucking sucked. Both him and Darrow out of the game sucks. Not getting any time to see Darrow and Cassius reconnect sucks. (Fucking knew he was still alive.) - RIP Alexander. Great character. - Orion going HAM on Mercury and Darrow having to killer her was brutal. - Idk what's up w that parasite in Lyria. - Fans of the Viking show will love the Blood Eagle Sefi was the recipient of. - Still on the fence w the Jackal Clone. Lilith being the Syndicate Queen was a nice touch. I should have seen something like that coming. Manipulating the Vox Pupuli is definitely the Machiavellian shit Adrius would do. But in my defense, that fucker is was dead, and barely remembered who Lilith was from the original trilogy. - What's up w Lysander's Mind's Eye? So he has mind reading super powers now? Did Octavia have that too? Why didnt she use that more to know she was fucked against Darrow? That is the most problematic thing to get over for me. In Pierce Brown's defense - it wasnt overused, but seemed too easy/convenient to get Lysander out of Trouble w Atlas in the library right before he killed Alexander. People in this book just got absolutely mangled. But they're able to repair injuries so easily it's no big deal It kind of takes away from the impact of them getting so gruesomely injured in battle. Victra has an ear dangling by a thread? No biggie... she just rips it off and tucks it away for later repair. Speaking of .... ooof at her son getting nailed to the tree. I know that was a whole bunch of bitching, but I really love this book. Brown opened up the universe. Moves a shit load of chess pieces, developed a lot of good characters. This probably felt like a massive gamble for him. To expand from a quick hitting action/fantasy series to bigger universe with deep political intrigue. This whole book was a gut punch for the good guys. Aptly titled Dark Ages. So many moving parts. I couldn't put it down. Canjt wait to read other's thought's on this, theories ect. I think Im ging to re-read the original trilogy too. So many characters come back into play
Spoiler I finished reading this a couple of weeks ago. It was a great book but really difficult to read from an emotional standpoint. Sefi's death was vicious/Orion's death was even harder to deal with because of how much she meant to the first trilogy and Darrow having to kill her. I thought for the amount of time it took to build up Ephraim and actually make him a usable character, his death just felt strange. I knew he was going to die, but it should have been in book 3 of this trilogy and it should have had more meaning instead of only "attempting" to kill Sefi's dad. The star of this book to me was Mustang. She's relatable and smart but not overdone. Every scene she is apart of, she is the scene stealer. I really miss her and Darrow's encounters in this book. The way the 2 of them rampaged through the first trilogy and deployed so many schemes together was the best. Man, I was really starting to like Alexandar as well :( I think they will delve a lot into the Cassius and Darrow reunion in book 3 which I am really looking forward to as those two are also great together the baby scene and the tree was gruesome, harder to deal with than Sefi's death to me I think it's clear we are setting up for a Darrow/Cassius versus Minotaur/Lysander showdown in the third book and that's going to be amazing
more thoughts Spoiler One aspect of the book i really enjoyed was Darrow questioning his belief in the republic he and Mustang built. Having been on the wrong side of the Senate multiple times, anyone would have doubts and I'm happy that Pierce portrays Darrow that way (along with Orion). It made the characters feel more real and relatable. I am curious to see what happens to the republic in Book 6. I am not so sure that it should survive considering how corrupt it actually is. Perhaps Lysander wins in the end although I really hope he doesn't. I also enjoyed the fact that Darrow REALLY got to show his chops on how much better of a fighter he is now than at the end of Book 3. Dark Darrow is good Darrow and I want him to destroy everyone who comes in his path in Book 6. The princess from the outer system getting cut in half was sudden and a nice touch. I really really didn't like her character. I also hope her brother gets his wish and gets to go one on one with Darrow in Book 6
Started Iron Gold the other day. Not sure why it took me so long to start it after it came out, but I now don't have to wait for Dark Age, so I guess it works out.
Spoiler I would like to preface the following by saying that I could not put this book down, it was an improvement from Iron Gold and I look forward to the next one. That being said, my main criticism is that it all can become a bit gratuitous at times. Killing the baby made all of the other deaths ring a bit hollow, they just didn't land for me after that. I'm particularly bothered by it because I think there were more interesting directions he could have gone with the baby. Victra was always going to be on the war path because of Sevro's captivity, killing her child in that fashion after writing out that benediction was a bit much. I will give Pierce credit for making one of my least liked characters in all of popular literature into someone mildly interesting (Lyria). However, Lysander has now lost his dynamism. He was fantastically conflicted, and still is to some extent, but unless he's going to have some redemption arc, his transformation into something more one-dimensional sucks. He still writes Virginia masterfully, she's just an outstanding viewpoint character, lovable, brilliant, and tragic.