Rating: ★★★★☆+

Synopsis

Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy.

It was not his war.

On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe started down a path that could only end in fire. The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives–even the Emperor himself–against Imperial orders.

But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier.

Fleeing his father and a future as a torturer, Hadrian finds himself stranded on a strange, backwater world. Forced to fight as a gladiator and into the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, he will find himself fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.

Review

Thanks to the publisher and author for a finished copy of Empire of Silence (Sun Eater #1) in exchange for an honest review. Receiving a copy of the book did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novel.

Empire of Silence is what Red Rising would have been had it been written by Patrick Rothfuss. A sprawling space opera with poetic prose, galaxy-sized world-building, and a character-driven storyline that is one for the ages. Hadrian Marlowe has easily cemented himself as one of my favorite characters in fiction today among the likes of Darrow of Lykos, Girton Club-Foot, Nona Grey, and Jorg Ancrath.

While this book sits at an intimidating 600+ pages, I can imagine readers out there are a little wary about taking a stab at such a thick book, and a debut to boot. Let me go ahead and set aside those worries and tell you that Ruocchio has written a phenomenal novel that is a perfect mix of space opera and epic fantasy. This is one that can unite lovers of the two (2) genres and quiet the conversations of why one is better than the other. Sprawling cities are built from the underbellies skyward, planets are set like chess pieces across the galaxy, technology rather than magic takes the cake, and the fight scenes, while claustrophobic, add plenty of spice to the dish to keep the story progressing at a decent click.

While the beginning of EoS promises the destruction of suns and the sacking of empires, much of the book focuses on Hadrian’s fall and rise. Much in the same vein as The Name of the Wind, Hadrian’s story is told in a past-tense fashion showing how he became this figure of legend, and choosing not to leave out all of the nitty-gritty on his path to greatness. I liken Hadrian to Darrow of Lykos in his rise, though Darrow came from nothing and Hadrian was more of a Gold to begin with. To see how he had everything, fell into nothing, and rose again like Lazarus is something you truly need to experience for yourself.

I actually ended up reading Empire of Silence about a week ago, and then listened to it via Audible over the past couple of days. I felt that I couldn’t accurately portray how I felt about the novel after the first go-round, and honestly, the words still aren’t there. Ruocchio’s prose mixed with his world-building and creation of Hadrian Marlowe are a simply stunning mix that you don’t see too often. It is a beautiful novel that should be getting the attention of more readers than it has received thus far.

This someone managed to fall off my review slate. I will follow up in a few days either here or with a publicist to provide a review once I have completed the book.

I couldn't finish this book. I'm not sure if it was blurbed as Patrick Rothfuss meets Dune or people just keep comparing it to those, but it had some big shoes to fill. It did not work for me, but maybe I am just learning my taste in books and overly lyrical just doesn't seem to be my thing.

Empire of Silence starts a new space opera series, chronciling the rise to power of a protagonist who is destined to do great and terrible things to alien species and humanity alike.

By the end, with Hadrian’s life story only partly begun, I felt something I should not feel at the end of reading a book: relief. I am, sadly, not inclined to read more in the universe. Starting off with this being a Confessions style narrative tells me that I know where Hadrian Marlowe is going to end up...and frankly, there is a lack of interest in the character for me as a reader to want me to fill in the gap between the ending of this book, and his imprisonment. Certainly, parts of the world are rich and interesting, even if as an aggregate it makes no sense, but the desire to see more of the universe when I am not invested in Hadrian enough to want to do so? No.

Full review at link.

Empire of Silence, the first book of the Sun Eater series, by Christopher Ruocchio. I have seen a lot of positive reviews for this book so far, so critics are not in agreement about this book. I would recommend you check with a few reviewers before you decide to read or ignore the book, but the best way I can sum up my feelings on this novel is that Ruocchio seems like he tried to write Name of the Wind in space, but didn’t quite nail the formula for success.

The story is told in the past tense by our protagonist, Hadrian, as he details the incredible things he has done from a prison cell where he awaits his death. The book establishes early that the end goal is an event where Hadrian destroyed a sun, killing untold numbers of people in order to win a war, thus earning the nickname “Sun Eater”. However, first we should back up and talk about some world details. We have a futuristic galactic empire where people have entered an extremely intense class system. The empire is at war with a host of alien scum, and the empire is doing poorly. Hadrian, is the first in line to the throne of an uranium empire/kingdom that rules a single planet like an European feudal lord. The book follows Hadrian’s slow fall from grace and his brother’s rise. This results in him leaving his home empire and going out to see the universe (after a fashion).

As I mentioned before, the core problem I have with this book is that it feels like he tried to write space Name of the Wind (which I am going to assume all of you know), but Ruocchio captures a lot of what is wrong with Rothfuss’ book without any of the good. This book has glacial pacing with a pretty unlikable protagonist. The first 300 pages of the book are essentially world building and Hadian whining that being a space prince is hard. Unfortunately, I just didn’t find the world that interesting. It felt extremely hollow and I didn’t get any sense that it was functional outside of the narrator’s immediate surrounding. For example, there was a lot of time spent talking about the uranium economy because it directly relates to Hadrian’s family – but it felt like it was the only information I got about the empire’s infrastructure in the first half of the book (which is huge by way, clocking in at around 800 pages total).

In addition, what makes Rothfuss’ meandering and slow style acceptable is he is probably one of the best writers prose wise to come along in the last decade. Empire of Silence, on the other hand, has some prose issues. Ruocchio feels like he is constantly trying to be profound and deep in his writing, which makes the entire book just come off as heavy handed and melodramatic. Chapter 13 starts with “My world changed with the ringing of the bells. Deep as the cracking of stones beneath the earth they rang”. It is just…a lot, and Ruocchio constantly bombards you with these over the top statements, which detracts from all of them. On top of this, the ARC copy I was reading was poorly edited and I was finding grammatical errors and typos every few pages.

On the positive side, the plot did interest me until its slow speed turned me off. I think Ruocchio has some great ideas in his head, but had a lot of trouble putting them onto paper. With a better editor and some serious cutting of pages, I think this could have been a top book of the year as opposed to a slog. Unfortunately, when you write a book this big (which required a huge time commitment from the reader) the small things like editing and pacing tend to make or break the reading experience. I was not a fan of Empire of Silence, but if you like the idea of Name of the Wind in space then maybe you will.

Rating: Empire of Silence – 4.5/10
-Andrew

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3.5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book in a new, big epic fantasy series. This book is told from the perspective of one main character toward the end of his life, after all of the big events in his life had occurred. The story centers on Hadrian Marlowe, an elite man from the ruling class. He is the presumptive heir to his father's lands, however his life path doesn't quite take the route he anticipates. He flees his father's land and winds up stranded on a strange, harsh, unsophisticated world.

Starving and desperate, he decides to fight as a gladiator in an effort to buy passage off world. His antics bring him to the attention of the ruler of the world and he is forced to navigate a foreign court as a "guest" of the court. Events occur that bring him into contact with an alien race called Cielcin that are destroying worlds in the galaxy. As he stumbles through events beyond his control, he finds himself unwillingly fighting in a war for an empire that he doesn't like or support.

Let's start with the basics. The book is huge. There is a lot of world building, which can be tedious. The plot is slow and plodding at times and I often found myself frustrated at the pace. The story is interesting, but there are a lot of moving parts and a reader can easily get lost. You need to make sure you have sufficient time to read this book in large segments to better understand and follow the story. I liked the book and it has great potential. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from here.

A review for this book came across my desk five days before it was set to release. The more I read about it, I was intrigued. "Dune meets 'The Name of the Wind'." For fans of "Pierce Brown and Patrick Rothfuss." Sounds right up my alley. So, rather than wait the five days, I immediately put in an ARC request. Like an idiot, I found I would have no way to review the whole 600+ page book before it was released. BUT I think this speaks to the attractiveness of the book that I was so eager to get it. Through my meager progress so far, I have been impressed. I have read enough to be able to recommend it. Whether it holds up to the likes of Herbert, Rothfuss, and Brown remains to be seen, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

"The light of that murdered sun still burns me. I see it through my eyelids, blazing out of history from that bloody day, hinting at fires indescribable. It is like something holy, as if it were the light of God's own heaven that burned the world and billions of lives with it. I carry that light always, seared into the back of my mind. I make no excuses, no denials, no apologies for what I have done. I know what I am."

Set in the distant future in a society where technology is restricted by the religious ruling class known as the Chantry, only the nobles are given any tech and the peasant class none at all. Life is short and brutal for those among the lowest castes who see none of the technological advancements of humans, like the genetic modeling that allows nobles to live for centuries. On planet Delos lives Hadrian Marlowe a young man and first son of a Lord and Archon in line to inherit the Meidua Prefecture, his own corner of the world.  Written as an autobiography of epic proportion from the hand of an aged Hadrian centuries after the start of this book, we know that the future will eventually lead to the obliteration of an entire solar system at his own hand. This book is the first installment in unraveling his tale. I'm hesitant to say anymore as one of the great many things about this book are its mysteries.

This book is brilliant, I enjoyed every page of it. After realizing the last chunk of pages was a Dramatis Personae and not more of the book I just about had a meltdown, I was not ready for it to be over.

To say the scope of this world is huge would be an understatement, after all it's worlds plural, and each fitting so perfectly into the universe with it's own society and values. I loved the complexity of this book, both political complexity and the pure complexity that comes with building a universe and people who's history spans eons. Despite all this complexity Ruocchio, through the voice of Hadrian, takes you gently by the hand and explains it in a way that never leaves you feeling like you're missing something or that the story might be anything other than genuine. Hadrian is a terrific main character and an excellent tour guide for the small corner of the universe shown in this first installment. Most of the story is Hadrian recalling the narrative of his own life but what I really loved getting was the pieces of wisdom or lessons learned from aged Hadrian interspersed with the life events as they happen, it makes for a very interesting story beyond just the plot itself. This crossing of timelines of old and young Hadrian also serves to drive the plot forward by giving you little glimpses into what you can expect to come, even the parts with little action create a feeling of anticipation. It's going to be very hard to wait for the sequel.

The blurb of this book compares it to The Name of the Wind and Dune and I wholeheartedly agree that Empire of Silence deserves a place on the shelf with these classics.

"We have a place in this universe, even if it is one which we must make for ourselves."

This is written as a memoir, so you know that at least for this book our hero will survive what happens to him but you may not realize how his choices will shape his future. The setting is very reminiscent of Dune in its technology. There is advance tech but it is tightly controlled by the religious class. Cryo sleep for interstellar travel mixes with gladiatorial games favored for entertainment. Earth is a long-gone myth that is the basis for the current religion. Hadrian has a love of languages and wants to study as a scholar and has expectations to be his father’s heir since he is the first-born child. But things don’t work that way and his plan to escape being exiled to the religious class and passed over in favor of his younger brother by his father has him desperate to escape that fate. Things don’t work out as planned and he awakens on a planet he doesn’t know with not a single resource to his name except his DNA and that he can’t use if he doesn’t want to be found by his family.
A good start to a new series and for all you hear about the wrong things that Hadrian will do in his future from himself as he breaks the fourth wall on occasion to remind us it is a memoir this is a story of a young man trying to find his way in the universe and come out on top.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

I decided to read this book because I haven't read very much sci-fi and I wanted to change that. I'm glad I did, this is a good book.

Hadrian Marlowe is next in line to be the head of House Marlowe. He is the older brother after all. Hadrian trains in all areas so that he will be prepared to lead when it is his time. When he finds out that his father has other plans for him, Hadrian flees.
Hadrian had high hopes for his new life. He had everything planned out. One betrayal changed it all. He will see what it's like to fight for survival with no money, no job, and no title.
All he wanted was to explore space and visit other worlds.

This is the story of Hadrian Marlowe and how he became known as the Sun Eater.

This book started out really great, but got pretty boring in the middle. I felt like it was longer than it needed to be. The ending left me wanting more. Even though it lagged in parts, I will probably read the next one just to see what happens.

Unfortunately, I was unable to make it through this book. It is clear that author Christopher Ruocchio is crafting an expansive tale of epic scope, but the underlying story did not hook me enough to make me commit to such a long book. I wish this book great success when it comes out in July, but it was just not for me. It seems to be getting positive buzz/reviews already so hopefully that bodes well for its commercial prospects. Also, both versions of the cover are A+.