ARC provided by the publisher—DAW Books—in exchange for an honest review.

Ruocchio gets what I love to read in science fantasy. Every book in The Sun Eater series has become one of my favorite books of all time, and Kingdoms of Death is not an exception to this claim.

“Art, great art, serves as a reminder of invisible things and of their manifestation in things visible.”

Darkness
If you, like me, have an extraordinarily profound level of connection with Hadrian Marlowe and The Sun Eater series, the oppressive darkness in Kingdoms of Death will hurt you. You cannot avoid this. This is the painful and right direction for the series. This must be. Same with my experience of the previous three books, I didn’t know too much about Kingdoms of Death except that it is supposedly the darkest novel in the series. Other than that, I knew that Kingdoms of Death and the next book in the series, Ashes of Man, was supposed to be one massive 400,000 words long novel. But I, to this day, still don’t know where the Kingdoms of Death stands in the ranking of the fans of the series. I knew most fans of The Sun Eater chose Howling Dark or Demon in White as their number one or two favorite installments in the series. I rarely heard about Kingdoms of Death earning the top two spots. This is, frankly, understandable due to the incredible exposure to darkness and violent content. But for me, it is also shocking. Personally speaking, Kingdoms of Death is, at least, in the runner-up spot for the best installment in The Sun Eater series for me. I cannot believe my reading mood and luck to have picked such a powerfully unforgettable novel as the first book I started reading in 2024.

“The war had left its marks on each of us, as all Time’s servants must.”

In a faintly similar story structure to Demon in White, but rest assured Kingdoms of Death is a different kind of book, Kingdoms of Death begins with a battle against one of the vayadan. It did not take long after for Hadrian to receive his next deadly mission. To go to Padmurak, the Capital of the Lothrian Commonwealth. You see, there are two noticeable parts in Kingdoms of Death. One that takes place in Padmurak, and then everything after that. It is easy for the latter to overshadow the first half of Kingdoms of Death. I am trying to refrain from mentioning the names of the locations to avoid spoilers in this review, but the dread and chaos after Padmurak in Kingdoms of Death remains crystal clear in my mind as I compose these words. After I finished Kingdoms of Death, I had to take a break and recall that the Padmurak and Lothrian Commonwealth sections do transpire in Kingdoms of Death as well. And honestly, Ruocchio did a great job with the Padmurak section. The detailed totalitarianism culture of the Lothrian Commonwealth, especially the way the people of the Commonwealth speak, took me some time to get used to. But Ruocchio never fails at igniting the fear for the characters in me while Hadrian was there. It made me feel like things could go completely sideways for Hadrian and his friends at any moment. There’s no doubt the part after Padmurak is the best part of Kingdoms of Death for me. And yet, it should be recognized that without the groundwork established in Padmurak, the remaining grim brilliance of Kingdoms of Death will not triumph.

“A black book. The only book permitted in the Commonwealth. A fitting emblem that, a fitting contradiction. They were a people who called slavery freedom, a nation that called narrative truth, a culture that glorified its People by destroying the very concept of personhood. How could they be anything but a nation of book burners founded on a book?”

Kingdoms of Death is the smallest book in the series at 200,000 words long, but it would be a mistake to assume it is not packed with pivotal crossroads for the series. Some readers have asked me whether this book ended on a cliffhanger due to the division status of the book and its sequel. And the short answer to that question is no. The most recent example of another favorite series of mine impacted by the same cut is The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu. The Veiled Throne and Speaking Bones was supposed to be one 700,000-word novel, but it’s divided into two. It IS impossible to publish a 700,000 words long book in one volume. But in the case of The Dandelion Dynasty, the division caused The Veiled Throne to not have a concluding final chapter. The last chapter of The Veiled Throne felt like the end of a standard chapter rather than a conclusive ending. I am pleased to inform you that Kingdoms of Death does not have this issue. I took a peek at the first chapter of Ashes of Man. And yes, there’s no time jump; the story continued seamlessly. But the ending in Kingdoms of Death was fitting, touching, emotional, and surprisingly hopeful. Shocking. I know. But yeah, there is no cliffhanger here. And to reap the ending rewards of Kingdoms of Death and for it to aid your broken heart with relative catharsis, a path of thorns must first be walked.

“I had defied the Prince of Princes, and all would see the consequences of that defiance.”

Suffering. Misery. Grief. Pain. Darkness. Any one of these words could work to encapsulate Kingdoms of Death. The content justly lives up to its book title. Kingdoms of Death has one mission. To ingrain total pain and thoroughly destroy Hadrian. And mark my words… The narrative is dedicated and loyal to the mission. Unlike the previous three books, Kingdoms of Death is not a book where Hadrian gets to fight back and broaden his legendary feats and titles frequently. We, readers, have the details of knowing since the beginning of Empire of Silence that Hadrian Marlowe will survive this, but that might not be kindness, depending on your perspective. Hadrian has led a life filled with mythical accomplishments. I am not caught up with the series yet, but the events in the four books I have read in the series so far, especially Kingdoms of Death, have raised the question of whether dying would be a better solution for Hadrian’s ruthless journey. There’s just so much suffering. So much. But at the right passage and placement, it felt like Ruocchio predicted the readers would think about this notion at several scenes in Kingdoms of Death. When that line of thought crossed my mind, Hadrian answered me by showing his astounding resolve to live. And to say I was totally amazed by this is an understatement. I have read a LOT of SFF books, and it is still irregular to read a main character tortured as cruelly as Hadrian in Kingdoms of Death. It reminded me of Guts from Berserk by Kentaro Miura, and that is not a light claim. I am actually convinced Kingdoms of Death is partly inspired by Berserk. But I will compare Kingdoms of Death to Berserk again later. For now, if you are about to visit Kingdoms of Death for the first time, you better armor yourself and your heart. Approximately half of the book is devoted to the Cielcin’s mission to obliterate Hadrian and his companions: The Red Company.

“A man needs more. A man must have a people, must belong somewhere. To someone. A man must have a family, born, chosen, or made.”

Your level of connection with Hadrian and The Red Company will be crucial in deciding how much Kingdoms of Death will emotionally affect your experience. Here’s the thing… Hadrian, Valka, and the Red Company have faced a myriad of missions together; not short of bloodshed and sacrifice, they continuously carve their legends in the cosmic museum of the Sollan Empire. However, in Kingdoms of Death, they are about to confront their most challenging and dangerous conflicts with The Cielcin. As for me, I have become incredibly attached to Hadrian and his relationship with Valka and the Red Company in Demon in White. Do not get me wrong. They were already superb in Empire of Silence and Howling Dark. But the thematic narrative of camaraderie was the most evident in Demon in White, where they turned into something special. No human can go through what Hadrian and The Red Company encountered in Kingdoms of Death with their sanity and personality unchanged. Simple as that. As I said earlier, the Cielcin’s unbendable imperium given by Miudanar to vanish every trace of humanity is absolute.

“I had defied the Prince of Princes, and all would see the consequences of that defiance.”

From the stunning cover art by Kieran Yanner depicted at the front of Kingdoms of Death, it should let you know already what the main focus of Kingdoms of Death will be: The Cielcin. Yes, the battle and conflict against the Cielcin has always been one of the strongest driving forces of the narrative in The Sun Eater series. But more than ever in the series, this is the book where we learn most about the Cielcin, their civilization, their mission, their faith, and their gods. The Cielcin, their hierarchy, The Quiet, Utannash, the Watcher, Eue, Dharan-tun, Syriani Dorayaica, and more. Since its first intimidating appearance and now Kingdoms of Death, Syriani, the Prince of Princes of the Cielcin, has become one of the most terrifying and intriguing villains I’ve read in science fiction. Its lethal vision and goal are starting to be realized. They want to shrink the horizon of hope in humanity to zero, and nothing can stop them from ascertaining that their malice deserves to exist in the universe. But are they evil according to them? Not really. Just like humanity, they, too, have their own culture, truth, and faith. Perhaps it is a cliché to say this, but at the end of the day, the path of peace between humans and the Cielcin is impossible simply because the root and nature of the two races are too different in every sense of the word. This is one of the reasons I am again impressed by Ruocchio’s writing and storytelling. Amidst all the bloodletting, mutilations, and bloodbath, Ruocchio indicated the possibility that in another world, another situation, another circumstance, or an alternate universe, as unlikely as these sounds, Hadrian and Syriani Dorayaica could be good rivals or even friends. Their intense interaction and dynamic, and the way they somehow understand each other, demonstrated that. But time flows only in one direction. Forward. And the fate of war between the two races is the one our Hadrian Marlowe must traverse.

“A man needs more. A man must have a people, must belong somewhere. To someone. A man must have a family, born, chosen, or made.”

If you haven’t read Kingdoms of Death yet, let me give you some advice to enhance your immersion. Do not start reading chapter 36 and beyond unless you have some time ready for reading. I made the terrible mistake, or good decision, of assuming I can safely read one or two chapters. Only to find myself absolutely compelled to read non-stop until 4 A.M due to reaching the late 30’s chapter: the climax sequence. Don’t worry. I will not tell you the actual number of the chapter. But if you have read this book, you know what I am talking about. The climax sequence in Kingdoms of Death is recorded in my list of the greatest, pulse-pounding, and bloody sequences of all time. The casualty is massive. The scarlet and obsidian scenery under the gaze of the giant skull of the Dreamer painted by Ruocchio was utterly vivid. I can visualize it in my mind as I speak these words. The extent of the destruction is incalculable, and I must admit, I did not expect the grim factor in Kingdoms of Death would crank up to this grade of insanity. And I am, believe it or not, thankful for it. From blood being churned, bone crunched, massive decimations, and electrifying aerial battles, the relentless wave of dread caused by the Cielcin was immensely palpable. It was definitely one of the most merciless, heart-wrenching, and brutal consecutive salvo of devastation. Trust me, as I plunged myself into the abyss of ruin, The Red Company Discord server was there to witness my live-text reactions. This sequence, or this book, made Dark Age by Pierce Brown seem tamer in comparison. And Dark Age was already one of the darkest books I have ever read. But it pales in the presence of the hideous moving dominion of Syriani Dorayaica. My heart raced to see whether the light of Hadrian Marlowe the Halfmortal could vanquish the tremendous darkness.

“There was no hero coming to save me, no good to prevail. But there was evil. There is always evil—and the Cielcin were a flood come to wash mankind away.”

Sooner or later, The Sun Eater will become more popular. With more readers jumping into The Sun Eater series, the overwhelming violence and vicious nature of the narrative in Kingdoms of Death will turn more controversial and questioned. Does the book warrant such a heavy exploration of torture and crimson carnage? That’s up to you to decide. There is no correct or wrong answer to this. Only subjective reading experience and preference. The way I see it, this is the author’s vision, and he put it on the page for readers (who are willing) to understand what he is trying to achieve in his storytelling. Remember, Hadrian Marlowe will annihilate the entire Cielcin race. We know this. In my opinion, we need astonishingly deep context and understanding as to why Hadrian decides to go down this hellish road for the premise to work and affect us. This is the purpose of his chronicle, after all. And based on how much I love Berserk by Kentaro Miura, not always, but sometimes we do need to be put through genuine sorrow and horror over the events that occurred through the details. Maybe it is an unpopular opinion. But The Eclipse in Berserk by Kentaro Miura, even decades after it was released, is still one of the most iconic and disturbing scenes to ever be put on a manga series. It is a controversial one, that’s for sure. Some readers think it’s unnecessary to go that hardcore. But whether you like it or not, because Miura is willing to put every deprivation that happened to Guts and the Band of the Hawks on the pages, it is one of the many reasons why Guts’s survival and willpower to live remains inspiring to readers around the world to this day.

“Almost I could imagine we might have been friends. In another life, in a world where perhaps our kinds could reconcile to one another. What tales we might have told, what things learned of one another had we spent our passage in talk and not in torment.”

Kingdoms of Death employed a similar technique. Just being told The Cielcin are evil is not sufficient to make us readers fear them. Hadrian wanted to understand the Cielcin in Empire of Silence. Since Howling Dark, we know the path of peace is unlikely to happen. But after the travesty in Kingdoms of Death? It has been ensured the path of peace between humanity and the Cielcin is fully impossible now. And my hatred toward the Cielcin is now stronger than ever. We know Hadrian will survive through his severe ordeals, but how? Journey before destination. How can Hadrian and his companions rekindle the spark of hope after this extreme torment, cosmic injustice, and war with evil? I strongly believe the preparation for the grand retribution has been set, and if it’s done right in Ashes of Man or beyond, Hadrian Marlowe and The Sun Eater series is about to become even more iconic and legendary than it already is. It is easy to compare every traumatic event to The Red Wedding in A Song of Ice and Fire. I have been guilty of this, too, and I will most likely repeat it again, depending on the circumstances. But after the readers in The Sun Eater fanbase expands, people will start treating The Black Feast to be, at least, on the same level. Heck… in my opinion, it was more insane. And I look forward to that monumental day.

“Vast though the resources of our Empire were and great our armies, I could not help but feel they were overmatched by the totalizing purity of the Cielcin effort. Everything on Dharan-Tun, everything, was bent to but one terrible purpose. To the war. To the annihilation of man. What could we men do in the face of such resolve? Such caiharu? Such faith?”

Light
Kingdoms of Death will most likely be remembered for its darkness and savagery, and it is not a mistake for that to happen, but light… I believe Kingdoms of Death should also be remembered for one of the main lessons it taught: do not give up searching for the light of hope. Kingdoms of Death is not a book of joy. It is a book of pain. It is harrowing. It might not make you happy. It will hurt. It will make you uncomfortable. It will break your heart. As it intended and should be. But remember, the deeper the darkness, the brighter the light and beauty of the world shine. And I truly appreciate this. Too many authors state they’re willing to put their characters through suffering, but more often than not, the results are tamer than expected. Or there is always a limitation to them. Books that emotionally scarred me are the best kind of books and storytelling. It means I care. Make me care. Hurt them. Make them suffer. Break my heart. Display to me the depth of their fatal trials and tribulations. Make sure I’m emotionally damaged from reading them. And then, makes me look forward to seeing the moments the characters detonate their burst of determination and spirit in the face of absolute depravity. And in these, Kingdoms of Death has marvelously succeeded. The last 5-star rating I gave to a book was for Demon in White, which I consider a masterpiece in science fiction, at the end of November 2023. And by going from impeccable strength to strength, Kingdoms of Death earned another 5 out of 5 stars rating from me. My heart was shattered and stomped. Repeatedly. And when you are reading Kingdoms of Death for the first time, find the fragments of our hearts. Join us. Find us.

“Now hear this. The old words seemed to drift back to me on the wind, carried by the ocean airs from world to world. Here’s a lesson no tor or primate of the college will ever teach you, if it even can be taught. The world’s soft the way the ocean is. Ask any sailor what I mean. But even when it is at its most violent, Hadrian . . . focus on the beauty of it.”

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What a complete tonal shift from the previous book. All that I can truly say about this book is that everything hurts. I binged so much of this book yet the last ten chapters are some of the hardest I have had to get through. This story does not relent. The hints of darkness of the Ceilcin come to a head in this book.
Full review on YouTube

Chirstopher Ruocchio is a modern legend in the making. I truly think that he will be remembered as one of the greats of science fiction. This book is no exception.

In this 4th adventure with Hadrian Marlowe and company, Ruocchio takes the Sun Eater saga in a direction many couldn't have predicted. No one is safe and the stakes have never been higher. For those worries that this book being split into two parts would make it feel like set up only, worry not. This is a full-fledged adventure with a very clear beginning, middle, and end. And an end that will sock you in the mouth and make you beg for book 5.

Christopher Ruocchio’s Kingdoms of Death is the fourth in his Sun Eater series, centred around Hadrian Marlowe, a knight errant, an occasional politician, an excellent strategist, and someone who looks sceptically at their own legend. Marlowe lives in the bounds of an Empire of Man, where the gene-modified aristocracy live over generations of their subjects. Where Roman and monarchial cultural trappings live cheek-by-jowl with starships pathing the dark distances between the stars. Where legions of sword-and-laser wielding legionnaires spend centuries in cryo-sleep on troop barges before landing in the face of the alien or transhuman menace.

Marlowe has seen more of that menace than most. He’s seen the shifting madness of transhuman technophiles, whose consciousness, skipping from body to body, seems to have lost something of its humanity in the process. He’s seen the raw tentacles of ancient, caged AI, lashing against the bars, speaking in a thousand tongues of the future and the past. He’s seen the shadow government of his own Empire, the inquuisition that seeks to cut out corruption, alien or human, brutally and swiftly, often in ignorance.And he’s seen the beasts that stalk the stars, the alien, the Cielcin.

The Cielcin are the focus of a lot of this book, and, fair warning, it is a big book. Marlowe explores both Cielcin society and his own limits. Brought into the depths of their world as a captive, he’s tortured, abandoned, experimented on, tortured again. In suffering their may be some measure of truth, and that’s doubly true for the reader. We can see Marlowe pared down to his core, stripped of rank, position and indeed clothes. Left to die, or not, left to live, or not. To go mad, to decide his own fate, or settle on his own sacrifice.

The Cielcin are not gentle on prisoners, no. Mostly, they eat prisoners. But Marlowe, him they have other plans for. The society we see painted out before us is one that is uncompromising, brutal and ancient. It has ritual and faith in its own fashion, and within their own lights, the Cielcin are in the right in their struggle to, well, eliminate humanity and use them as food.

The author shows us that society in all its grotesque, near-human horror - from the military parades and processions, to the vicious dance of lethal politics, to the banquets on the flesh of men, and back around again, to the cultured leader who can sit and hold a nuanced dialogue, and break a subordinate with a word, can order atrocities without a qualm. This is a society that feels genuinely alien, off kilter, different to our understanding - it exists slightly outside our frame of reference in its strange familiarity. And the writer has made this work, in its magnificence and horror - so kudos. You really do feel dipped, all unwilling, into a ferocious and alien society, one which operates by its own rules, and doesn’t look on humanity as potential partners as much as threats or a food source. This is a universe with a dark mysticism and a strangeness, laced through with the baroque terrors and wonders and fragility of humanity.

The world building, in other words, is superb.

The character work is of a similar quality. I’ve touched on the alienness, the uncanny-seeming nature of the Cielcin. But we also spend a lot of time with Marlowe, inside his head, as he slowly breaks down, breaks away from the trappings of himself. In his suffering, depression, possible madness over years of Cielcin captivity, he gains something in self knowledge, something in understanding of the world and himself. He also gets quite a comprehensive journey through pain, desolation and suffering. But the journey, from Hadrian the knight, the killer, the once-hero of the Empire, down to Had the man, the person at the core of the outer whirl of values and worries, what remains in extremis, that journey is a long and sometimes insightful one. But it’s also a dark one filled with blood and tears and truly wretched horrors, and so I say be warned - but also, that in terms of characterisation, this is pitch-perfect, this gives us a chance to sit with Hadrian, to see him as he is and as he sees himself change, and we wrench and fall and sympathise and empathise with him as he struggles against his own desecration and diminution. Will things get better? You’ll have to read the book to see, but Hadrian, him came to know right well.

The story, well, in many places it’s meditatively paced, slowly steeping the reader in the gentle and pervasive atrocity of horror in which Hadrian finds himself immersed. But there are moments of pure joy here too, moments of glinting starships trading fire, glimpses of heroism and personal sacrifice to make you weep. There’s snappily-drawn, uncompromising combat, both the tactical surge of laser fire, and the razor-edged, bloody tear of blade on blade. There’s time for love, too, and the kind of friendship and comradeship that can make your chest ache with it. Basically, this is a damn good story, hitting all the right notes - and one that will reward long time readers and leave them asking for more.

It’s a very good book, an excellent addition to the series, and you should definitely go and pick it up

This was the book that made me love reading again as I was in a book slump. Well written, riveting, and wonderfully plotted.
Loved the world building and the storytelling.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS
WHY, Why must authors break their readers’ hearts so?? I KNEW this book had terrible things in store for my beloved characters (I mean, how else does a character end up deep behind enemy lines?) but I. AM. SHOOK. At least there wasn’t a cliffhanger.
The synopsis is exactly what you get for the first portion of the book - Hadrian and the Red Company are finally allowed to leave Nessus and are sent to the Lothrian Commonwealth to negotiate an alliance. The Lothrians have a rather disturbing society where no one has names (or at least they aren’t supposed to) and the only acceptable language is that printed in the Lothriad - speaking anything else is sedition. A mere month after their arrival, the Lothrian “rebels” try to assassinate Hadrian and in his attempt to escape (along with Valka, Pallino, Crim, and Corvo) he is captured and eventually handed over to the Cielcin. The Lothrians have committed the ultimate betrayal of humankind by allying themselves with monsters. A significant portion of the book is ultimately Hadrian’s seven years of isolation and torture by Syriani Dorayaica and the culmination of this seemingly inescapable trial.
This book is absolutely visceral and will shred your heart into small, bloody pieces just like the poor Red Company was shredded by slavering monsters before the skull of a Cielcin god. I was listening to the last four hours of the audiobook during work and I was sitting in my office all teared up while trying to pull data!!! It’s rare that a book can wring tears from me but this one did on a few occasions for sure. I mean, man, why’d you have to go kill Elara like that right as she got to Pallino? And then poor, brave Pallino went out saving Hadrian which is really the only way he could have gone (I’m tearing up again writing this, dammit!). This book is an emotional rollercoaster in which it seems the only way is down, right until the very last few chapters and it begins to look hopeful again.
If you haven’t read this series, I’m really not sure why you’ve read a review containing huge spoilers like this, but you should go pick it up! It’s one of the best series I have ever read and is severely underhyped. If the narrative style of The Name of the Wind met the bloody space battles of Red Rising and had a love child, it would be the Sun Eater series. The quality of the storytelling is unparalleled and the world has such a lived in feel. It warms my heart even as it breaks it. I am beyond stoked to see that Ashes of Man, the next book, will be released in December 2022!

Wow, what a book. Do you ever pick a book up and realize that all the books that you have read lately are just…lesser? That’s the feeling I had reading this one. I almost didn’t want to finish it because I didn’t want to leave Hadrian’s world. This is a dark and gritty book (and series), and at times,a bit graphic almost. But it shows the darkness and the ruin that Hadrian is fighting. I’ll say I’m so glad for the ending, because it did bring some light to the story. To me, this series is a must read for anyone that enjoys sci fi or fantasy. I am already anxiously awaiting the next book.

Un tome percutant qui donne envie de se jeter sur le suivant.

Rentrons directement dans le vif du sujet. Depuis quelques siècles (les humains ont une durée de vie très allongée, auquel s’ajoute le fait qu’ils voyagent en stase durant des décennies pour aller d’une planète à une autre) les combats contre les Cielcins s’intensifient.
Ceux ci se rapprochent de plus en plus de la zone humaine et chaque défaite donne des millions de morts humains.

Pour ce qui est de notre personnage principal, Hadrian, il a été un peu mis sur le banc de touche. En effet depuis 70 ans on l’a affecté à une planète périphérique où il est l’invité spécial. En gros il ne fait rien sous la surveillance du préfet local.
Il faut dire qu’il ne s’est pas fait que des amis à force de s’infiltrer venant de nulle part dans l’entourage direct de l’empereur. Et il a eu l’affront de faire des découvertes et de gagner des batailles.

Autant dire que pas mal de personnes bien en place dans la succession (l’Empereur commence à se faire âgé) et bien influentes ne l’aiment pas du tout car il menace leurs positions.
C’est pour ça que l’Empereur a décidé de l’éloigner un peu, histoire de laisser les esprits refroidir. Il ne voudrait pas qu’un malheur arrive à son petit protégé.

Mais maintenant que le calme est revenu, il est temps de reprendre du service. L’Empereur demande à Hadrian de faire une mission spéciale pour lui : essayer d’allier leurs voisins à leur combat.
En effet ceux ci sont pour l’instant protégés derrière l’Empire en ce qui concerne les Cielcins. Et bien sur ils en profitent pour prospérer pendant que l’Empire perd planète après planète contre un ennemi qui semble n’avoir aucune limite …
Défaite après défaite, il semble que l’Empire ne puisse plus continuer seul, et que la défaite soit envisageable …

C’est donc une mission éloignée du centre du pouvoir mais essentielle qui attends Hadrian …

Evidemment, ceux qui connaissent la série savent que ça n’est que le début, et que les développements et retournements de situations seront nombreux étant donné qu’on va à nouveau suivre le parcours d’Hadrian sur une 50ène d’années au moins (sans compter les trajets).

Et ce passage la sera mouvementé ! Et il va changer notre personnage à jamais, le marquer … Hadrian est un survivant.
Malgré tout, un tome riche en enseignements et en renseignements sur les Ceilcin, l’ennemi de l’humanité. Ce tome est très focalisé sur les xénobites, de leur fonctionnement interne qu’on connaissait un peu avant, à leur passé et leurs croyances.

On est sur un tome percutant. Un tome où on sent la fin venir aussi. On se rapproche vraiment de la mise en place des événements qui vont inévitablement arriver après et qu’on attends (ps pour ceux qui ne connaîtraient pas le principe de la série : le personnage principal raconte sa vie et nous a déjà dit dès le tout début comment tout ça allait finir, on ne sait juste pas encore comment et pourquoi).

La prose de l’auteur est toujours aussi bonne, on ressent vraiment les choses et on fait corps avec Hadrian dans ce tome si difficile. J’ai lu ce tome en deux jour, ce qui m’arrive rarement ces temps ci.

Dans l’ensemble j’ai passé une nouvelle fois un excellent moment, et j’ai hâte d’être à la fin de l’année pour l’arrivée du dernier tome !

10/10, 5/5. One of the best series i've had the pleasure of reading. If you love Dune, Red Rising, or Mass Effect, don't miss the Sun Eater series! Thank you Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this title!

I received a digital ARC of this copy from Netgalley. I started the Sun Eater series this year by Christopher Ruocchio and it is easily my favourite sci-fi series and one of my favourite series of all time. I was very excited to read this book and I am equally excited to leave a review.

This book is a very different Sun Eater novel. Hadrian goes to places in the galaxy we have not seen before. You meet human societies different to those previously encountered by Hadrian inside and outside of the Sollan Empire.

With Demon in White showcasing the rising star that is Hadrian Marlowe. Kingdoms of Death highlights, the higher your climb the further you have to fall. This book is the darkest entry in the series yet. Hadrian again has to face formidable enemies, he also faces incredible internal and emotional struggles.

The world building going on in this book is some of Christopher's best work, he show cases Xenobite society thoroughly in this book and I loved it.

This book was hard to read at time, and as I mentioned above it had some dark moments. However, the events in this book will stay with me and be pivotal in the development of the story and the protagonist Hadrian going forward.

It may not be my favourite Sun Eater book, but it definitely is one of the most memorable.

Empire of Silence holds a special place in my heart, for it was tha book I needed when I read it. I would say that Howling Dark and Demon In White are likely better books than it, more entertaining and well rounded and unique. But Empire of Silence spoke to me. And here is Kingdoms of Death, which is both. It is a superb piece of storytelling art, but again it was the book I needed.

To be more concrete: time has jumped, it’s been nearly 100 years since the end of Demon in White. But like the last couple books it starts with action, throwing you into the great and dread world of our galaxy at war, the empire of mankind versus the Cielcin, the Pale, the xenobites or aliens that can match the might of humanity, and even overcome it. Personally, this has my favorite opening, though Demon In White’s is rather grand too.

Hadrian is no longer a child, but a man of some 300 years. We still get the memories, of Gibson, of his father, of Cat and everything after.

While the other books have their dark moments and moments of terror and failing hope, this really creeps it’s way in in Kingdoms of Death in the first quarter, and by the first third is done it’s settled, but it only gets darker. It’s rather dark overall, though not to say there aren’t moments of adrenaline and triumph. There are still plenty of surprises here, I’d guess one thing would happen and something else would. Being darker we experience more beings of that dark, both viking and alien, unknowable. People die, that you wish wouldn’t. Life becomes pain. This is the darkest of the Sun Eater books so far. It’s fraught with scary things, but remember fear is a poison. And by the end maybe there will be some form of peace, I know I felt good by the end.

Hadrian uses his superpower to survive, just like in the last chunk of Demon in White, he can find the versions of reality that might be and make happen the one that has him not being disintegrated or blown up or shot, etc.

Though it can be used to help others too. This helping of others directly with his personal type of the claw of the conciliator made Hadrian more of the figure of the chosen or savior in my eyes. All the imagery was been there for a while, his return from death, his stopping of highmatter, his survival at Deira. But it’s been hard to see such a human character as a New Sun or Messiah of sorts, because he is more relatable than the Other, and Hadrian admits he is no conciliator. Of course you can read this without reading into it too much, Hadrian is likely just in a similar state to many fantasy protagonists.

Hadrian also gets confused several times, not knowing where he quite is as his visions of the past and future mingle with what his present eyes see. And sometimes reality is not something easily dealt with.

This is a treasure of a book.

“Scars are not the flesh that was before the wound was made, and Time—as I have so oft lamented—flows in but one direction.”

Hadrian Marlowe goes through some shit in KINGDOMS OF DEATH, a book that is . . . very aptly named. (My own title for this probably would've been something along the lines of THIS BOOK IS DESPAIR MADE FLESH, AQUIRE FLUFFY KITTEN AND HOLD ON TIGHT BEFORE READING, but I fully acknowledge that something like that would be difficult to print on a book spine.)

We open, once again, with a time jump, skipping over a twelve-year Chantry trial and a visit to Valka's homeland, along with Hadrian's seventy years' pseudo-imprisonment as an advisor to one of the Empire's three Magnarchs, a position between the Viceroys and the Emperor himself. Said Emperor has decided to go on an intergalactic tour, and shows up in person with a mission for his most dangerous servant: secure the aid of the Lothrian Commonwealth--the second-largest human civilization, and something of an Orwellian nightmare--against the Cielcin. What happens next is . . . well. That would be telling. All I'll say is this: you will learn more about the Cielcin and their dark gods. You will get to know Syriani Dorayaica. And you will truly begin to understand how the heroic Hadrian eventually becomes the Sun Eater.

This was difficult to read, and now I find it difficult to review. I debated giving this only four stars, not because it's poorly written--it's not--but simply because . . . in previous books, suffering has been leavened by triumphs. But this book is just one knockout punch after the other, an endless sea of 'oh god why's', and though there is a (very) brief spot of joy at the very end, I found that to be somewhat contrived. (And even it kind of ended badly.) Apparently there was originally a lot more to this book, and we're getting the second half in December. Judging books that have been split in two is always a chancy prospect, and I'll be curious to look back at KINGDOMS OF DEATH after reading Book 5. This didn't feel incomplete per se, just . . . it is an emotionally draining experience, and I wonder if it might have been less of one had it not been broken into two novels. (I might be wrong! Book 5 might be even more of a train of despair. But I feel compelled to point this out.)

If you've read the previous three books, you'll read this book. But I have to say: if you've been feeling at all depressed, you might want to hold off until that dark cloud's passed, cause this book is, again, DESPAIR MADE FLESH. But if you're feeling up to it, then absolutely pick this one up--along with the closest fluffy kitten or adorable little puppy, which YOU WILL NEED--and steel yourself.

Cause this one's a *ride*, folks.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I got a digital ARC for this for free in exchange for an honest review. Although I also pre ordered the hardcover, before reading this, Enjoy my money Ruocchio and DAW, you earned it. Thank you for granting me this ARC, which is the first ARC I have ever gotten. The bar has been set high.

If you know who I am, you know I love The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio. This is book 4, so i'm not going to bother talking about the plot, i'm not going to repeat that Ruocchio's prose is immersive and smooth, and paints a picture in my mind, without being redundant of overly dense. I will not repeat that Hadrian is one of my favorite characters in fiction, and that you feel his years. I will not bother repeating that the world is expansive, creative, and alive, or that it explores themes, and is thought provoking, while also getting me to turn the page. However, now you know those things in case you didn't before, so let's talk about what makes Kingdoms of Death different to other books in this series. the good ways, the bad ways, and just the ways that are different, but not good or bad.

The first thing to address is that this was originally a super thick book that got split. I have read a few books like that, and this is the one where I believe the transition from half a book to an entire book was most seamless. If I was not told, I would not ever begin to suspect this was originally half a book. Granted, Sun Eater is in a type of series to be split, as the events of a entry tend to take place over a huge amount of time, and instead of building to one big climax they tend to be eventful throughout, with different sections.

Anyway, all that aside, I just want to say that you do not have to worry at all about going into this thinking of it is half a book, or have to worry about judging it as half a book. it does not read as such, and damm , I can't imagine reading a book where this much stuff happens, and I am only halfway done.

Kingdoms of Death had an impossible task. Because I love Empire of Silence, and I love Howling Dark comfortably more, and Demon in White comfortably more that that. So, right of the bat, I will say that Demon In White is still my favorite Sun Eater book....barely. However while I like them a very very similar amount, for different reasons.

The biggest thing that is going to cause this to read differently to Demon in White, is that holy crap it is dark. Ruocchio had warned people of this, and he was not lying. Ruocchio woke up one day while writing this and he chose violence.

I have compared Demon In White to A Storm of Swords as a novel that feels uncriticizable. There was just very little in that book that was not incredible. I am now once again going to compare Kingdoms of Death to A Storm of Swords, because of the incredibly bold choices this book makes, that I think for lack of a better word, few authors would have the balls to commit to. This is not a book that is going to do what you expect. This is not a book of the status quo, this is a book of consequences. Where mistakes, failures, and tragedy is not brushed over, where the lives of the characters I have grown to love will be irrevocably changed forever.

I look forward to watching all your reactions to that.

There is an implication to what I just said though, that is that unlike Demon In White, I did not find this to be a perfect book throughout. There was no part that in my opinion strayed below very good, but this was not consistently brilliant literally from cover to cover like Demon In White. In fact I would say that the setting a good 10 chapters takes place in is probably the least vibrant setting in the Sun Eater. I guess it isn't supposed to be vibrant, it is supposed to be a depressing setting. But in my opinion the content for the first quarter is not on the same level as Demon In White. Granted Demon In White is one of my favorite first quarters to any novel, so a slightly unfair standard to hold a new book to. Anyway, about 2/3rds into this book, I liked it about as much as Howling Dark.(which is to say more than >90% of books I read) The last third though, wow. Despite originally being half a book, this is easily, and by far my favorite final act, and climax to a Sun Eater book, and ranks well against almost any final act I have read. It is then followed by one of my favorite falling actions, and this needed a falling action. My guess is that would not have been as long had this not been split, and in that way I am actually really glad it got split, because the consequences requires fallout, and I needed room to breath. Maybe this isn't true, and that was always there, and I should trust Ruocchio. The point is, I think this worked exceptionally well as one book, and if Ruocchio was not an author with amazing communication with his readers, and had just not told anyone about it, i'm not convinced anybody would even suspect that this was originally 1 book which got split.

So basically, I do not think this maintained the sky high floor of book 3, but it raised the ceiling, and was easily the most emotionally evocative Sun Eater book so far. Not all the same emotions either, so many different one. DAMM that was just a crazy final act.

Prepare yourself, although your preparations may be irrelevant, because you are not ready for Kingdoms of Death.
9.4/10

(Ruocchio's writing is so good, that I think it bleeds into the writing of my reviews, and causes me to make more metaphors, although that may be a bad thing, because unlike Ruocchio I am not an amazing writer. )

Also ya, it is only January, and I have only read 5 books so far this year, but as of now this leads the race for my book of the year.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. I will update Netgalley once I read & review a physical copy.

My review will be based on the physical ARC I read.

Great sequel. This series and this author just keep getting better. Honestly the best one so far! Now I will sit in a corner and wait for the next book by Ruocchio!