Empire of Silence: The Sun Eater: Book One Paperback – 19 Sept. 2023

Beautifully written world building, took me deep into the authors imagination. Brilliant book, I am looking forward to reading the next in the series

This is the first book I’ve read by Christopher Ruocchio. And if the Empire of Silence is anything to go by, it certainly won’t be the last. Take a peek at the introduction to this story:*******It was not his war.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.On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe starts down a path that can only end in fire. He flees his father and a future as a torturer only to be left stranded on a strange, backwater world.Forced to fight as a gladiator and navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, Hadrian must fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.*******Yes, Hadrian Marlowe is a man born to power and privilege. Yet, he sees such things as a living hell, and yearns to break free of the shackles chaining him to an unbalanced institution that panders to a privileged elite, while fighting a 300 year old war against the Cielcin. The society he was born into is rigidly indoctrinated by the elitism imposed by the Chantry, and enforced by the Emperor and his legions. Such elitism does nothing but to rob everyday citizens of their humanity and simple decency.Hadrian realizes this, for he possesses something rarely seen in this far-future empire. A conscience. He knows things need to change and longs to travel the vast expanse of the stars in order to seek answers to questions that should have been asked long, long ago.So he decides to do something about it . . . or at least, he tries to.As a result, he is rendered excomminicado, his inheritance as first in line to his family’s wealth and power simply wiped away; he’s sent into exile; sold into slavery; ends up begging on the streets of an impoverished backwater planet; fighting as gladiator fodder in the colosso.And just when he’s on the verge of throwing in the towel, discovers something that truly captures his heart and soul: clues as to the origins of life in the universe. And far from the rhetoric spouted by the Chantry, it isn’t anything to do with humanity. Oh no. Something more ancient and vaster than mankind can possibly imagine once used the cosmos as its playing ground. And humans?Well, that remains to be seen.Be warned. Empire of Silence is a lengthy tome. But it’s well worth the commitment it takes to read it. Ruocchio is an accomplished world builder, and weaves a rich tapestry of far-future, galaxy spanning expansion that maintains a brisk yet steady pace throughout, without losing the personal touch.The main characters are detailed and credible. You can relate to – or hate – them in equal measure, while the supporting cast, though many and varied, add attention to detail that adds credibility to the star system spanning arena in which the story is set.While reading, I was distinctly reminded of the scope of Frank Herbert’s, Dune; The scale of Arthur C. Clarkes, 2001: A Space Odyssey; and the poignant message conveyed in Barry B. Longyear’s, Enemy Mine.It’s great, epically proportioned stuff, and will keep you turning the pages in your haste to find out what happens next. (And in all honesty, it’s a great way to while away the never-ending lockdown hours)

I loved this book. I had certain reservations, as I’ve not really enjoyed much science fiction I’ve read recently, Dune the only exception. Though it would be proper to label this book as a Science Fantasy, rather than hard Sci Fi. It was certainly an entertaining read, combining the best of both genres.The protagonist, Hadrian Marlowe, narrates his story, and we already know the ending. What we don’t know are the hows and the whys, the whos and the whens, the overall journey that led to that particular conclusion. Revealing the ending at the very beginning can easily backfire, and can be tricky for an author, but Christopher Ruocchio handles it magnificently. A lot of modern fantasy is enjoyable because of the unpredictability in terms of which characters will survive, but can also overdo it by killing characters for shock value. Here, given there is a single protagonist who already tells us what happened eventually, the author does brilliantly to keep us off balance. This is a very unpredictable story, and takes many twists and turns that keep us interested.Highly recommended!

After initially disliking it a bit at the start I ended up really enjoying it.Out main protagonist and only POV is Hadrian Marlowe, the first son of a ruler of a planet. The planet is one of thousands, if not more, that is part of the Sollan Empire which originated on our earth but has long since left it behind. He doesn't really want to become ruler once his father dies, but also doesn't want his younger brother to inherit either. He wants to be a scholar and explore but when it looks like he might become part of the imperial religion instead, which he despises, he sets himself on a path to change the course of history.It starts off as a direct homage to Dune, and since I only read that for the first time very recently I was initially a bit put off by it. The culture looks down on technology, in particular AI, but the nobility use gene enhancements to live for centuries. It's very fantasy as well, like there are gladiators and coliseums etc. They refer to end of technological earth as Mericanii's but then there are direct quotations from Roman's, so I really thought it was all over the place at the start. However once Hadrian got off of his own planet I thought it came into its own more.There's a framing device used throughout the book, that this is the direct account of Hadrian, something like 1500 years in the future, where he a renowned and infamous hero/villain who blew up a sun. There are bits of this all over, asides on people and events that haven't happened yet. Strong Name of the Wind vibes to it but I actually really enjoyed those asides though I know they are not everyone's cup of tea. None of these major events referenced actually happen in this book, the narrative is really to show how Hadrian breaks his familial bonds and starts to find his own place in the universe.The writing is quite lyrical in places and most definitely dramatic but again I enjoyed it once we got past the start. It's fairly slow paced but as this is going to five books I think, I'm assuming the author wants us to really get to know the protagonist and understand where he came from and I think he did a good job of it. It is most definitely not the most original novel I've read but the author uses bits and pieces from both fantasy and sci-fi to create an engaging story and one I am looking forward to continuing.