Upon reading this book a second time, I have concluded that the first time was the best. Not that this book doesn't improve upon revisiting (it does), or that it won't stand the test of time (I thoroughly expect it to do so), but that the reveals and twists and betrayals are so incredible the first time through and you can't get the same emotional roller coaster a second time.

I won't spoil it for you, but please do read this book. Cassius, Roque, and Adrius are three masterfully written heroes/villains whose arcs will make you cry. (Also the epilogue.)

I don't know where I saw it, but somebody said that this book is very pro-life? Which is so, so true. There's talk of

Spoiler

a baby with a birth defect being allowed to die

, portrayed very negatively, and Darrow continually talks about how he's making this new world for his children and how he just wants to live by a forest with a wife and kids and go fishing. It is so sweet. My heart.

It's obvious Pierce Brown has read some of my favorite books: Greek myths, Greek tragic plays, Dune, The Hunger Games, Ender's Game, LOTR (anyone else catch the Osgiliath reference in bk 1?), and others. These great works inform his own writing. Although I don't think he and I would necessarily come to the same conclusions/beliefs, I would love to talk about theological concepts with him. He seems the sort of person who would enjoy deep conversation (and whose conversation would be worth listening to).

Hail Reaper.
Omnis vir lupus.
Per aspera, ad astra.
Live for more.

my son, my son
remember the chains
for ours, a vale
of better dreams

Do yourself a favor and read these books.

Content warning: intense violence (like, really intense, I'm not kidding you). Strong language (STRONG my friends). Other mature content (crude jokes, sexual references/innuendos, etc.). Basically don't read this unless you are 17ish or older and can handle a ton of adult content.

---
small collection of quotes for my own personal enjoyment (and yours, if you have read the book. if not, DO NOT READ):

Spoiler

~ It is no great thing to die. Not when one has lived.

~ You and I keep looking for light in the darkness, expecting it to appear. But it already has. We’re it, boyo. Broken and cracked and stupid as we are, we’re the light, and we’re spreading.

~ All that we have is that shout into the wind -- how we live. How we go. And how we stand before we fall.

~ Talking about 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. For a chance to have children. That's what has to come after this, otherwise what's the point?

~ My ancestors walked upon red Mars. They fell upon Old Earth. I have lost the day, but I have not lost myself. I will not be a prisoner. I am the star in the night sky. I am the blade in the twilight. I am the god, the glory. I am the Gold.

~ Fear no more the heat o' the sun
Nor the furious winter's rages,
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must
As chimney sweepers come to dust

~ I forgive him. Why? Because he was protecting the world he knew, because he was afraid. We are the new age, the new world. And if we're to show the way, then we better damn well make it a better one. I am Sevro au Barca. And I am no longer afraid.

~ I pity you. You're not trying to prove yourself to me. You're trying to matter to yourself. Because you're broken inside. Because you hate what you are. You wish you were like me. You're no god. You're not even a Gold. You're just a man who thinks a title will make him great. Just a man who wants to be more than he actually is. But all you really want is love.

~ That gulf that divided us is still there, filled with questions and recrimination and guilt, but that's only part of love, part of being human. Everything is cracked, everything is stained except the fragile moments that hang crystalline in time and make life worth living.

~ I know this tears her apart. So I lightly squeeze her hand and guide her forward. She moves across the snow in a daze to grasp her twin brother's feet. Looking up at him as if this were a dream. She whispers something and, lowering her head, she pulls down, showing him he was loved, even at the end.

~ "Thank you... brother." And there, on a citadel landing platform in what was once the heart of Gold power, Cassius au Bellona and I shake hands and say farewell, almost six years to the day since we first met.

~ I watch the waves lap at the shore as a gull careens overhead. Whitecaps mark the dark water that lashes the northern beach's sea stacks. Moss grows on the rocks, on the trees. The air is crisp. Just cold enough to see your breath. It is my first time on Earth, but I feel like my spirit has come home.

~ I used to think the life strands of my friends frayed around me, because mine was too strong. Now I realize that when we are wound together, we make something unbreakable. Something that lasts long after this life ends. My friends have filled the hollow carved in me by my wife's death. They've made me whole again.

~ This war is not over. I know that. But am no longer alone in the dark. I wore the weight of the world on my shoulders. It crushed me. Broke me, but my friends have pieced me together. Now they each carry a part of Eo's dream. Together we can make a world fit for my son. For the generations to come.
I can be a builder, not just a destroyer.

~ 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.

~ 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.

---
original review, May 2020:

Um. WHAT.

This book captivated me. Stole all my attention. Kept me riveted for hours. I laughed and screamed and cried and shouted along with the characters.

One of the best endings to a series, ever.

(Yes, I know there are two more, but they're not *technically* part of the trilogy, and I prefer the originals.)

Content warning: intense violence, frequent profanity, occasional sexual content/jokes. Mature readers only.