huuuge step up in quality. the beginning was a bit slow i think due to the time jump but i got so much of what i was looking for in the first book. the stakes feel so much higher, i love how much grander this book was and it turned into a true space opera rather than being confined to the institute. i finally actually feel a connection to darrow and i love how much further he dove into the ethics and guilt involved in war and revolution. all of my complaints about the female characters and the use of sexual violence as a plot device are completely fixed in this entry. and finally!!! not everything was super obvious. he really built up the tension in this book so much better. obviously there were stakes in the first book but i knew what was going to happen the entire time so i couldnt really get invested or feel the tension. this time was so different. that ending ?!? will be picking up morning star Immediately.

i knew something was gonna happen at the end but was not expecting ares to be dead or for jackal and roque to find out about darrow. im still not sure whats going on with mustang but i honestly expected the whole build up to him telling her to be very anticlimactic. i thought either she would be immediately understanding or say that she had already figured it out so i actually appreciate that that storyline wasnt unbelievably easy like it often is in these types of stories