A fantastic follow up to the first book. I was highly anticipating this book. It did not disappoint. The book maybe thick but the pacing is fast. I highly recommend this one to adult sci-fi lovers!

I tried to read Empire of Silence in preparation for this novel (hoping to double review) and I wasn’t able to get through more than a few chapters. The writing is strong enough but the scope is so vast that I couldn’t keep up with the large number of characters and story details. This truly is an epic science fiction series, and well beyond what I typically look for as a reviewer. I won’t be reviewing as I couldn’t finish the first novel.

When EMPIRE OF SILENCE was first released, I read many reviews comparing it (favorably and unfavorably) to THE NAME OF THE WIND. And it occurred to me, after I sat down and actually read through it, what a hideously unfair comparison that was. How that sets the reader up for disappointment, and what a disservice that does to the author. Because a major reason THE NAME OF THE WIND is so popular is that it allows readers to live vicariously through Kvothe, to experience his many victories as if they were our own. Kvothe wins, you see; many battles, if not necessarily (or does he?) the war. And he racks up wins immediately, or near enough to make no difference. The story overflows with tidbits showing him outwitting his enemies, manipulating the world to his benefit, and such and sundry. And since Kvothe is a born genius/polymath, it's like that from the very beginning.

EMPIRE OF SILENCE, in contrast, was not a book dedicated to watching Hadrian outwit, outplay, or outfight the universe; it was a book, I thought, dedicated to dragging him through the mud. And every time you thought he was going to pull himself out of the mud, he just got hammered further and further down. It got to the point where I was forcing myself to keep reading, not because it was bad---it's an excellent book---but just because I as a reader was feeling Hadrian's pain, and it was hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel when Hadrian himself was constantly prophesying even greater failures to come. (It didn't help that this book is extremely lengthy, so the reader spends a lot of time watching Hadrian get kicked around. Yes, there's the idea of dragging someone down so you can build them back up . . . but Hadrian spends A LOT of time being dragged down. And the "picking himself up" part(s) seem much shorter than the others, and less frequent.)

Much of that dynamic continues into THE HOWLING DARK, if not always at the same . . . intensity? In the sense that Hadrian's "I am the hero in a fairy tale and Reality's just gonna have to deal with it" mentality continues, and though he wins out over Reality rather more here than he did in EMPIRE OF SILENCE, he's still not at Kvothe/Harry Dresden/Paul Atreides/etc. levels. (Though the ending gives reason to believe Book 3 will upend that, at least partially, in Hadrian's favor.)

We open with a time jump, passing over the early years of the Meidua Red Company's time as mercenaries and picking up after they overthrow a dictator and pick up some new recruits (an incident that seems important enough in-story that I actually looked to see if there was a bridging novella I'd missed). The quest for Vorgossos, and a peace we know will never come, monopolizes THE HOWLING DARK; I'll say little about how it plays out, but know that while it is definitely a slow burn, it is never, ever a boring one. By the end, we get a clearer sense of the board our game is played upon, and (possibly?) more about what sort of game is actually being played. To say nothing of what pieces are really in play.

One thing I love about this series is how deeply it plays with the notion of the devil and all accompanying facets. Hadrian's prose style is melodic---but never forget that, as Milton showed us, Satan is Creation's most eloquent child. Hadrian Marlowe's Lucifer connotations were clear to see in EMPIRE OF SILENCE, if somewhat underplayed thematically, but the comparison really gets jacked up to eleven in THE HOWLING DARK, and looks to go further still in future books. Free will is the name of the game, as are treachery and temptation, and Hadrian's role in all of these is crystal-clear as muck. (As an aside, I think the series would've been better served if it had played up the Lucifer/Devil themes of the narrative, marketing-wise, rather than comparing this to DUNE or THE NAME OF THE WIND or some other book that hits completely different character and story rhythms.)

One aspect I really adored, worldbuilding-wise, was the Luciferian tie-in with America. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to mention that the "Mericanii" play a role here (though I won't specify how), which makes sense: of all the nations of Earth, who has more in common with the beautiful, charming, tempting, "better to rule in hell than serve in heaven" Bringer of Light than America herself? There's something so delicious about how Ruocchio transmits the common elements of my culture into Luciferian horror, and even beyond, to something explicitly eldritch. (To say nothing of certain . . . other . . . cosmic horror elements. I just love cosmic horror. Space opera without cosmic horror is like tea without sugar.)

If books were food, THE HOWLING DARK would be Death By Chocolate: rich, decadent, inviting . . . but something it takes rather a long time to consume. I expected to have this review up a month ago at the latest, but I'd spend hours absorbed in the story, only to look up and find I'd only made it fifty pages. So pick this up, but be prepared to sink into the quicksand of the story; don't expect a quick race to the end.

Highly recommended, and I'm really looking forward to Book 3.

A huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

The Howling Dark is the second in Christopher Ruocchio’s “Sun Eater” series. The first was a thoroughly enjoyable blend of space-opera and military SF, with some thoughtful characterisation and exploration of philosophical themes. It gave us a fast-paced sci-fi adventure, the journey of a boy into a man, and a backdrop of imperialism and repression cloaked in the mantle of necessity. It gave us Hadrian, whose efforts to be a better person had a tendency to end badly for him – even as those hardships shaped him into a thoughtful man and a valiant commander, while leaving him an idealist, a believer still in himself and humanity. It was a lot of fun, too!

The Howling Dark takes the series, and its hero, to new places; it retains the narrative details and complexity that help build a compelling story, and builds on Hadrian’s experience to paint a portrait of a protagonist on the cusp of revelation – though what form that will take is open to question. This is a text that holds a darker mood than its predecessor; the prose wrapped up in a gloriously Gothic panoply.

The first book showed us a central human empire, a mixture of high-technology and semi-feudal social structures, assured of its own greatness and role at the centre of things. While that came with a certain arrogance, and while we could see the fissures running through that social contract, still, this was the centre of the light in terms of galactic civilisation. Sometimes brutal, yes, but a space where people lived and worked and suffered and were content.

Now, however, we move to the liminal spaces. Hadrian moves across the page, hunting a way to communicate, to negotiate with the aliens that are slowly embroiling humanity in a war. That means working at the boundaries. The places where the writ of the greater part of humanity runs thin. These are strange places, dark places. Following our hero and his entourage into some very deep holes is problematic. Stealing through ships larger than cathedrals, unearthing the wonders and horrors therein, seeking an understanding cloaked beneath centuries of hidden realities and outright untruths.

The world is larger than Hadrian knew, and here we get to see a piece of it outside of the constraints of the Empire from the previous text. And yes, there are bio-technical wonders and horrors. And yes, there are secrets unearthed and hidden from view. But it’s cloaked in a baroque strangeness which can make the skin crawl. In the crafted bio-oddities whose mental adjustments are a skin-crawling horror. In the laser-sharp attitudes of those shaping lives for their own purposes. In the stiletto-thin puncture as those in roles of ancient power change the direction of the universe without a thought.

These are strange spaces, ones which challenge the perception and mentality of the reader. The crafted horrors which inhabit them also inhabit their own conceptual space. How far is humanity stretched once the freedom to choose, outside the realm of biochemical triggers, is removed? The text explores these questions alongside the idea of transhumanism. Hadrian, one of the Imperial aristocracy, is the recipient of gene coding which will let him age slowly, in good health, with speed and stamina to match. But other changes, forbidden by Imperial society, occur on the fringes. From weight-lifting to free will, everything is for sale on the fringes. The atmosphere of creeping dread is one that is masterfully spun, and difficult to dismiss. Each page carries the quiet signs of horror, ciphered in more mundane matters. It’s still a sprawling, thriving, complicated universe – but perhaps a less simple one. Those outside the borders of the Imperium are now people, not abstracts. Though their decisions may baffle us as much as they do Hadrian, this is a delightfully weird dip into a new, unusual culture.

Hadrian, speaking of which, is changing again. This is a story which isn’t afraid to carve away at the soul of tis protagonist, to see what they want and will and how they would ave it, and then flense away their choices, one at a time, until every option is the least-worst. Hadrian is a good lad. He’s willing to fight and kill and even damn himself for his beliefs He’s a tough person not to empathise with, even when making the sort of decisions which make you prone to shouting at a book. E’s a good lad, with a good heart, running full-tilt into a more obdurate universe. That said, Had is a thoughtful lead, one willing to consider his actions before leaping feet-first into the fray. As the story rolls on, his own ideological edges are being filed off, and it’s a joy to watch (albeit somewhat depressing). He’s joined by a circle of friends, mostly from the preceding book. The bonds of friendship, trust and loyalty are described in the subtext, but clearly enough that you can almost see them, glittering gold in the recycled ships air. Though we live Had’s point of view, his friends and colleagues are not ciphers; they live and love and fight beneath his gaze, and their conflicts, if ancillary, are just as absorbing as Had’s own.

So, alright, it’s a strong character piece, with a fantastic backdrop of sci-fi conflict within a universe with a rich history. But why do you care? Why are you turning pages? Because it kicks arse. Because Had moves from page to page with increasing amounts of blood on his hands, trying to do the best that he can for everyone. Because the aliens on the march are monsters, but understandable enough that understanding can be possible. Because the ancient history of this universe, with its Mericanii and AI is actually our moderate future. It’s a story of Had’s search for meaning, in is need to shape the universe to make sense – and the refusal of the universe to oblige.

It’s a philosophical treatise sneaked in between gunfire, immortality and immortal horrors. It’s a story which isn’t afraid to ask the questions around the heroism of its protagonist – though for now it leaves the final call up to the reader. There are space battles, no doubt. Bloody and dark with the scream of vacuum There are sword fights and banter and brutality and blood. In between, as our hero inches ever closer to a war they don’t want, there are mediations on the human condition, and exposure to a complicated universe, filled with powers perhaps best-left forgotten. This is the bottom of the lake, filled with darkness, dirt and tentacles as much as with the promised glint of silver.

So. What is it, in the end? It’s a cracking sequel, for one thing. A nuanced character study within a precision-crafted work of science fiction, one filled with passionate intensity. Once you’ve finished Empire of Silence, once you’re looking for something more, this is what you should pick up next.

I had been planning on reading Empire of Silence for a while, and when I saw the sequel Howling Dark became available, it gave me just the motivation I needed to start the Sun Eater series. I grabbed the ARC and planned to read both back-to-back.

My feelings were mixed on Empire of Silence.
http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/Christopher-Ruocchio/Empire-of-Silence.html

I think Chris has an exceptional mind, is extremely imaginative, and has many plans what to do with this massive story he is just beginning to undertake.. If you recall, Marlowe is only 22 (or perhaps around 50 in frozen years), but he lives for fifteen centuries... so we have a lonnnnng way to go.

I foolishly thought this series was a trilogy when I started it. Now, I know better.

Honestly, it was a struggle to get through Empire of Silence, and I was hoping that Howling Dark would have some early pacing changes. While Hadrian spent the entire first book in shackles, this is the first chance he gest to flex his freedom and see what he can make of himself. Onward and upward, yes? But there was an immediate time jump --- even further than the initial jump on their exploratory road to Vorgossos -- and we began by looking backward as much as forward.

A few chapters in, and I start to sense the story falling into similar patterns: we visit a new territory, there's a new class of people, there's immediate strife, immediate conversations being overhead but never referenced again, colorfully detailed environments, political explanations... all the wind in my sails that was built up over the faster-paced concluding chapters of Empire of Silence began to dissipate. It felt like landing in Emesh again, and I began to skim.

It was too early for me to start skimming a book that's even longer than the previous volume, so as much I see some great potential in this story, I don't think this series is for me. If it ever becomes a graphic novel, tv series, film adaptation, or some other visual medium, I will line up on day one... but I think these books need some serious editing to cut out the chaff because the pacing is just excruciatingly and painfully slow.

DNF

Following on from the events of ‘Empire of Silence’, Howling Dark follows Hadrian Marlowe as he traverses the galaxy in search of the lost planet Vorgossos. He aim is to broker peace between the human race and the Cielcin, a race of alien with whom the humans have been at war with for more than 400 years. The Sun Eater series is a Sci-Fi Fantasy series of epic proportions. Think Lord of the Rings meets Star Wars and you’ll be in the right ballpark.

In my opinion, Howling Dark is a roaring success. This book is crammed full of action, suspense, and mystery. There are soaring highs and the bleakest of lows, with characters ranging from the colourful to the downright creepy (sometimes both).

I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. I was hooked, and I can't wait until the next installment!