After so long time I finally got myself into this huge Scifi novel that reads as a fantasy story set in space. Lots of adventures, politics and, unexpectedly, a first contact story in a universe still to be explored. Very entertaining, so much fun, with some 70s and 80s science fiction vibes including the poor treatment of female characters.

Hadrian Marlowe, eldest son of the ruler of the planet Delos, is little more than an embarrassment to his father. A wannabe scholiast, he is far from the strong son who could rule with an iron fist in the event that Lord Alastair should die. When his father announces that Hadrian will be sent to study with the Chantry to become a priest, and that his younger brother Crispin will be heir to Delos, Hadrian, with the help of his old tutor and his mother, makes his escape, heading for the galaxy’s seat of knowledge where he hopes to study. Awakening from the fugue state that allows people to travel great distances through space, he discovers that he is farther from home – in terms of both distance and time – than he had ever thought he might be. Determined to make it on his own, he keeps his noble heritage secret, fighting as a myrmidon in the local coliseum. But when his new planet is invaded by humanity’s alien enemy, the Cielcin, Hadrian’s gift for languages will come in useful, and he may just be the one person who can deliver the galaxy from a years-long war and the very real possibility of humanity’s extinction.

When we first meet Hadrian Marlowe at the beginning of Christopher Ruocchio’s massive debut, he has lived for over fifteen hundred years, and is a figure of legend, a man who has had many names, and almost as many histories. He has been a soldier and a sorcerer; saviour and destroyer, praised and feared and loathed in equal measure throughout his long and eventful life. Empire of Silence, the first weighty tome in the story of Marlowe’s life, is galaxy-spanning science fiction meets epic fantasy with a hint of ancient Rome thrown in for good measure.

Set some fourteen thousand years in our future, Earth has disappeared, and humanity has spread throughout much of the galaxy. The race has evolved – and, in some cases, been genetically engineered – to adapt to the various planets that now support human life. From the gene-spliced, god-like palatines who rule the worlds, to the lowest plebeian, everybody knows their place, and the boundaries that it enforces upon them. The most important aspect of Ruocchio’s novel, the thing that draws us in and makes us feel that this future is, theoretically, possible, is the effort that has gone into building the world that Marlowe and his friends – and enemies – inhabit. The class system is the least of this, with further divisions for the priesthood and the educated, and those who have decided to live outside the Empire’s rule, such as the Freeholders and Extrasolarians. This is a highly-advanced race, who have developed the ability to travel the vast distances between star systems without stretching the bounds of plausibility; and yet technology in day-to-day life is less prevalent here than it is in our own present, carefully controlled by the religious order that seems to rule side-by-side with the nobility.

We see this beautifully-architected future through the eyes of Hadrian Marlowe, one of the palatinate, the son of a planet-ruling duke who has a head for learning, and no interest in the violence that seems to be required to successfully rule a planet. The destruction of the empire’s largest provider of uranium by the Pale monsters known as the Cielcin, puts Delos firmly on the map, and provides Hadrian with plenty of opportunity to unwittingly embarrass his father. When his escape fails to go to plan, Hadrian finds himself on the distant planet of Emesh – a backwater of which he has never heard – and forces him to live the life first of a street rat, then of a member of the local coliseum’s fodder pool, unable to reveal his noble birth for fear that his father will be informed. When his identity is finally discovered, the ruler of Emesh decides to capitalise on Hadrian’s skills for his own ends.

The characters who surround Hadrian as the story progresses are a motley bunch, and range from the criminal Ghen, with whom he stands side-by-side against Emesh’s finest gladiators, to the beautiful Anaïs, daughter of Emesh’s Count Balian. But it is when he meets Doctor Valka Onderra, a member of the Tavrosi collective who live outside the rule of the Empire, that we begin to see Hadrian mature, as he begins to discover the gap between the man he is, and the man he wants to present to Valka. Valka, a xenologist, introduces him to the mysterious ruins found in a remote part of Emesh’s southern hemisphere, opening Hadrian to the world beyond humanity, and unwittingly writing his near future.

When we finally meet the Cielcin, we discover a race very different from humanity in many ways. Painted as monsters, they have been at war with the humans for a number of years, though the front is many light-years away from the galactic core where much of humanity resides. Most of the stories are legends, with very few people having ever seen one of these monsters, and not many able to speak their language. When a small group of Cielcin crash land on Emesh, Hadrian discovers something very different from the legend, and sees a people who share much more with humanity than either side would wish to admit. It’s a clever trick by Ruocchio that effectively removes the external threat and leaves Hadrian – and the reader – with little to worry about outside the intrigues and politics of the court. The biggest danger to Hadrian – and, by extension, to humanity as a whole – comes not from the outside, but from the ruling classes of the empire: the palatines and, to a greater degree, the Chantry.

When all is said and done, Empire of Silence is little more than an eight-hundred-page prologue to a much larger story that should start in earnest with book two. Science fiction’s answer to Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, this is epic storytelling at its finest. With influences as far-reaching as Dune and Dan Simmons, Empire of the Sun is, despite its massive size, a fast-moving, action-packed introduction to one of the most memorable characters, and one of the most original and inventive pieces of science fiction produced in the past twenty years, if not more. A self-contained story in its own right, it quite obviously forms the start of a much larger story. Christopher Ruocchio has laid the groundwork for something truly epic, something not to be missed. We can only hope that he’ll break the mould of his fantasy counterparts, and give us regular instalments of this incredible series.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

There's a gloriously 80's science fantasy vibe about Empire of Silence from Christopher Ruocchio (review copy from Gollancz), the first in his Sun Eater series. This a Galactic Empire ruled by aristocratic houses genetically engineered so that their breeding is literally superior. They profit from indentured labour and are equipped with special swords. And there is an ongoing war against the alien Cielcin, who are slowly but surely encroaching on Empire space.

Hadrian Marlowe is the eldest son of one of those Houses - and one that feels very House Harkonnen - but succession to his father's holdings is not guaranteed. Marlowe is a sensitive son, more interested in art than warfare, and concerned about workers' rights. But Empire of Silence is told from the older Marlowe's perspective, and we know that he turns into a famed leader who defeats the Cielcin but also commits genocide. Presumably actions driven by his desire to understand the alien Cielcin and his conflicted feelings about the cruel Empire he has been born into.

This is a riches to rags and back to riches again intergalactic romp. The impetuous young Marlowe runs away from home after a disagreement with his father, who wants him to enter into the Church where he might be able to use his power and influence for the sake of the family. But Marlowe does not want to become a Church torturer. During his escape, Marlowe gets robbed and ends up fighting as a gladiator on a backwater world, where he dreams of saving up enough money to buy a starship of his own.

Empire of Silence is tremendous fun, and a very promising start to an interesting new series.

Goodreads rating: 3*

This starts really well but then gets bogged down.
I left me feeling like I was wading through treacle and gave up 60% of the way through.
Not for me...

From GoodReads:
Epic, sweeping, fantastic, saga.
Imaginative world, interesting, tortured characters, wide ranging plot.
A long book - but not long enough!
Will be looking out for more

I was actually really excited to read this as I had seen a lot of hype about the book up to its release and after. This made me really interested as I don't read as much sci-fi as I would like to but I wanted to push myself out of my YA comfort zone and try this one. If you hadn't seen by the rating I was so glad that I did as Empire of Silence is a thrilling and exciting sci-fi read that more people should read.

I think that I was shocked by the size. I had had this book for the longest time before pre-publication but I was daunted by it. I then decided that I should split up the book by reading four chapters a day. This definitely helped ease me into what can be a confusing world with so many planets but Christopher does an amazing job of building up the world and making everything so easy to understand that it did not hinder my reading experience. I also got 100 pages deep into this book before I was completely sucked in and needed to know what was going to happen. The other 600 pages were great from that point. (I believe that the finished edition is around 600 pages long whereas mine was around 700.)

Hadrian is such an interesting and likeable character and is someone that is so easy to empathise with throughout the story. I thought that he was going to be a completely dislikable due to the situation that we find the story as it is told with him looking back on his life before he is going to be killed. This was not the case and I really loved him as a character and at times I feel like he was really out of his depth which makes for some interesting plot developments as the story progresses. This is the first book in the series so I would love to see where his character develops in the rest of the series and to see who he interacts with. The side characters were also really fleshed out and I fell in love with them too but the plot does cover a lot of ground so I wish we would see more from others.

I felt like the plot moved at such a fast pace and I loved this. I feel like Christopher really wanted Hadrian to suffer in the book which means that this makes for really interesting storytelling. I also love the scope of this book. It shows the idea that this world is massive but only gives us smaller details which leave the reader wanting so much more and wanting the next book. There was just so much to love from this book and I loved so much from it. I can't wait to read the sequel but for now I can just live in how good this one is.

The Verdict:

Empire of Silence is a great sci-fi read with immersive world-building and lovable characters trying to their way in a very complex world.

Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me, I found it painfully slow to read and even after the first 500 pages I didn't feel invested in any of the characters or really care what was happening. The fact I was able to put it down at that point and walk away for over 2 months shows just how much I wasn't interested.

Since I was so far in and only had about 100 pages left I decided to push myself to finish it but I ended up making it to page 554 before quitting mid sentence. The torture scenes were making me far to uncomfortable and I have so many books I'm excited about that I couldn't force myself to finish those last few pages.

This has LOADS of positive reviews so take my opinion with a grain of salt but no matter how much I wanted (and expected) to love this I just didn't find it enjoyable & won't be continuing the series.

This book makes me wonder why I don’t read more sci-fi as I really enjoyed this. This story is written as a chronicle of Hadrian, our main character’s, life and this first book follows his early years before the events that become his legacy. This is a slower paced book but it works well for the story and I was invested right form the beginning. I really loved the world building, this is a very large world with a lot of history but it didn’t feel info dumpy at all (there is also a really good and in depth summary of the world at the end of the book). I really like the character of Hadrian at this point in the story he is quite naïve and just wants the make the world a better place I have a feeling his outlook on life is going to change in the coming books which I’m a little sad about but I’m also intrigued to see how this change will come about.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the release of the next book. I gave this 4 out of 5 stars.

Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio, the first book in the Sun Eater series, is an enjoyable adventure romp about a pompous aristocrat’s misadventures in a human galaxy spanning empire of the far future. This mostly planet bound space opera is told in the form of a memoir written by Hadrian Marlow, 1500 years after his birth. In circumstances that are only hinted at in the text but that suggest seclusion due to imprisonment or captivity. During this retelling, Hadrian alludes to great and terrible events and deeds that he has participated in during his life. Not all these moments are covered in this first book of a series, nor would you expect them to be.

Hadrian Marlow is the first son of a Lord of the Sollan Empire, part of a genetically augmented ruling class that have most of the rest of humanity under the grip of economic and technological servitude. Hadrian’s family enjoy the benefits of amassed wealth; extended lifespan, expected to live for over three hundred years; enhanced health, with teeth that will grow back if lost for example.

Crushed by the weight of this privilege, the teenage Hadrian wants to simultaneously inherit his father’s title (to prevent his brother from doing so) and also live a life of reading books and drawing charcoal sketches of the people and places around him. Tall, with alabaster skin and long black hair, Hadrian gloomily stalks around his family holdings in his long coat like a Goth at Whitby.

The main action in the book begins when Hadrian manages to escape his family’s clutches and head out among the stars on a series of misadventures while travelling on other planets in the Sollan Empire. This human star spanning empire many millennia in our future is seems to be loosely based on the Roman Empire with a hint of medieval nobility and a touch of Warhammer 40,000.

Hadrian finds himself living in poverty for some of the book, and this allows him (and us) to explore what life is like for the majority of humanity in this future. During this time Hadrian gets to know some of the commoners who he encounters, but remains somehow emotionally detached. He befriends a woman and they become lovers, but he can only ever bring himself to refer to her as a friend as he writes his memoirs. Perhaps this is an indication of a difficulty he has relating to other people. A number of times in the book he refers with confusion to being unable to read the emotion shown on someone else’s face. It is also during this period with the common folk that Hadrian reveals himself to the reader as the sort of friend who will never buy a round at the pub, because he is saving up to buy something special for himself. But he will happily partake of rounds bought by others.

During this time of poverty Hadrian carries his family crest ring that will identify him as of royal blood, but keeps it hidden for fear that he will be returned to his family home. There is an old song, Common People by Pulp that contains the lines “Cause when you're laid in bed at night watching roaches climb the wall, if you called your dad he could stop it all”. Hadrian resists using his family ring to save himself while living in poverty, but when push comes to shove he reveals his identity and is coerced into joining the household of the local lord.

This is an interesting story written in an engaging style. The action starts off small, but as the book progresses the scope and scale of the story grows. The background of the Sollan Empire is expanded on, and hints of possible future revelations begin to emerge. Even the title of the book takes on new meanings as the reader progresses through the book. The way that the story is written as a memoir allows Christopher Ruocchio to foreshadow events that have happened to Hadrian after the end of this book and that lend the text a sense of gravitas and builds expectation for what it to come during the rest of the series.

Hadrian makes plenty of quotable statements during the book, revelling how he sees reality and the correct way for people to think and behave. However there is an over liking for quotes from classical times, sounding even more weighty and profound if made in Latin. A dead language now, let alone in the far future. Perhaps understandable for a world based on the Roman Empire it does leave the feeling that there has been little human progress from the time that we are living in now and the far future of the Sollan Empire. There are however a few tantalizing hints to events that may have lead from now to then, and perhaps commentary on our present time. There is mention of the (A?)Mericanii Empire used Daimons (Computer AI) to oppress the rest of humanity, and that ‘old Earth presided over refugee camps and rotted the ecosphere’.

There is a tendency to repeat character or setting details in sequential chapters, or for characters circumstances being subtly inconsistent. This makes the story feel like each chapter has been written separately and then combined into the book, rather than the book written as a whole. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that some of the chapters had been moved to different parts of the book during the writing process. The version of the book I read was and uncorrected proof and this may have been fixed in the final version.

Overall I enjoyed the Empire of Silence. It does have its faults but there is enough here to like that I anticipate that I will happily read more books in this series. I fully expect that the writing will improve as Christopher Ruocchio hones his craft, not that it’s bad at the moment, and I look forward to seeing how the story develops in what I hope will be a trilogy, rather than a long ongoing series.

Up close and space opera – An Empire of Silence review

Empire of Silence is the début novel from Christopher Ruocchio and “The Name of the Wind” meets “Dune” is how some people are describing it, which is no mean feat!

I think this is an excellent way to summarise the feel and the scope of the sci-fi. We have an autobiographical account from the exiled son of a Duke, a precocious talent and a troubled coming of age and this gives us “The Name of the Wind”. We have a vast galactic space empire with politics and archaic (for the most part) customs and weapons. Which gives us “Dune”.

We’re told up front that our protagonist, Hadrian Marlowe, will go on and shape the universe. He’ll destroy a sun and wipe out an alien race. We’re also told that this isn’t that story. What a cosmic tease.

Instead, we start with a young Hadrian being groomed to become the next Duke and rule a planet. It’s not a great start. Hadrian is too kind and naive. He is a long way from the dark legend that he will become.

While there is a lengthy cast of characters at the beach of Empire of Silence, Ruocchio leaves us to discover the strange far future world by exploring it in the initial chapters.

The human empire is the most powerful force out there, but it isn’t the only human faction. The Earth has gone, and the dominant religion is built around how it will come back. The Church stretches across many of the human powers and is a considerable force in its own right.

The human empire is years after some war with the machines. Mankind won, and computers that can think for themselves are heresy now. Except in those human factions where they are not but those groups a far-flung and feel more alien than the actual xenobites who can raid the edges of the Empire and even, on occasion, attack planets.

Christopher Ruocchio dishes this compelling backstory out in juicy morsels. Sometimes a character makes mention. Sometimes Hadrian muses on a fact as he scribes the story. It means that even if you think you’re only reading the dialogue between two important scenes that you might be in the paragraph where some essential foreshadowing or lore is given out.

Ruocchio has a knack for writing combat. There’s a surprising amount of it in the early scenes. Perhaps more so that the space emperor and political intrigue between houses and families it was these scenes that made me think of Dune.

The fact that we’re learning this from a future version of Hadrian has its pros and cons. It’s easy to remember that despite the danger that he can’t die in the brewing danger. Don’t get me wrong, Ruocchio writing catches you and brings you along for the ride and sometimes you have the required flashes of concern. It’s all about how Hadrian solves the current problem or, as likely as not, makes a mistake and digs himself into even more trouble. It’s not the destination the matters, we know the sun explodes, it’s the journey. Given a predilection for being thoughtful and trying to do the right thing – how does Hadrian end up wiping out an entire alien race? If that doesn’t tempt your curiosity, then Ruocchio’s melee style should be enough to hold your attention.

I’ve already mentioned there’s a cast of characters and each one comes to life in their own unique ways. At times it’s almost frustrating when Hadrian’s journey continues because you leave so many of these exciting personas behind. I hope there’s a sequel and I especially hope we get to revisit some of the supporting members of the young Marlowe’s growth.

This may be a debut novel, but the series it belongs too already has a name – Sun Eater. I look up with interest and notice there’s an audiobook also out narrated by John Lee. That’s nearly a 26 hour listen which goes some way to expressing the size of the book. I also suspect it would be a visually powerful Netflix series too… though they’d have to tackle the first person narrative issue.

Empire of Silence marks the start of a new sci-fi saga for me. It’s one I look forward to diving in to. Let’s bring on the Sun Eater and find how we end up such a dreadful conclusion.

In Empire of Silence, we follow the tale of Hadrian Marlowe, who is now a figure of legend, feared and revered. Written as a memoir, the story relates the major events of his long and busy life. As the eldest son of a noble house, he is born into privilege but is brought low when his escape from a tyrannical father, who wants him to become a glorified torturer, goes awry. 

The book is a slow-burning epic space opera. It is set on a sprawling background as we unveil the man behind the legend while he struggles against the many obstacles that come his way. The world of men is at war with a humanoid alien race, demonised by an overly zealous, too-powerful religious entity that preaches the supremacy of mankind. Hadrian, who has scholarly inclinations, is fascinated by these "demons" and wants to better understand their culture and worldview. This fascination - and his restlessness when put in any kind of cage (even, and especially, the gilded type) trigger all sorts of twists and misadventures. 

"Epic space opera" does not mean that we're drowned under a ton of information about the worlds, the races, the technologies, the cultures. I'm usually not fond of fantasy books where there is a lot to process, to the point where I have to just ignore part of the worldbuilding so I won't be overwhelmed (some fantasy fan I make!). In Empire of Silence, the world is intricate and rich but does not overpower the story. Through Hadrian, ever the academic, we get anthropological information when needed and we get a better understanding of the power and reach of the theological authority.

The tone is self-reflective, introspective -- and prone to a touch of melodrama. The book addresses a reader who is aware of Hadrian's reputation; in it, he confesses and corrects the record when needed. We get tantalising hints of what exactly this reputation entails, and with these teasing flashes of information, Ruocchio creates an engrossing and addictive tale. Empire of Silence has been hailed as a space opera Kingkiller Chronicle, and it's pretty easy to see why. But whatever Kvothe has achieved, Hadrian has done worse; the former killed a king, the latter a sun. 

I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 because the main character managed to squander all the sympathy I had for him in a mere (heh) 200 pages or so. Even with his philosophical meditations and his mea culpas, it feels like Hadrian has a tendency to attribute to fate events that are direct consequences of his reckless actions. It's not a flaw per se, it looks like a voluntary choice by Ruocchio, but first person narration can be unforgiving if you start getting irritated by the character.

This first book is obviously a first act. The scene is set, the protagonists are introduced, and the sequels will draw a better picture of the legendary and catastrophic actions Hadrian has undertaken. I recommend you give Empire of Silence a try,

Christopher Ruocchio’s debut novel and first of a new series owes a debt to the space opera classics. The opening of Empire of Silence feels cribbed from the opening of Frank Herbert’s all time classic Dune. A galaxy-wide human empire ruled by aristocratic houses, a young man chafing against his place and struggling to find his destiny, a powerful and sinister religious order, computer technology outlawed and replaced by human "computers". But it also has echoes of other space operas from that age and earlier in which humanity has spread to the stars but in doing so has retained its classical roots.
The society Ruocchio presents is a pastiche of high tech, Roman and medieval. Empire of Silence picks up the pace a little when narrator Hadrian Marlowe goes on the run from the privilege of his family but is dumped on a backwater planet where he has to live by his wits. This middle section of the book morphs into a retelling of Gladiator as Hadrian gets work as cannon-fodder in the local colosseum and manages to train a rag tag group to survive. The book then switches again to become an exploration of ancient mysteries and finally attains some forward momentum when Hadrian finally encounters humanity's enemy - the Ceiclin who ravage through human space.
Empire of Silence is the first volume of a memoir. Hadrian narrates from an old age in which he has done some horrific things that are only hinted at. Characters who may well become important in his future life are flagged but most of them have little to do in this early part of his career. So that by its conclusion, Empire of Silence feels little more than a very lengthy prologue to what might become a more interesting tale.

A great new sci-fi book which successfully blends sci-fi and fantasy. This was a wonderful space opera from a promising new author.

I’ve always loved books that engross and enthrall me to the point where I hate taking a break for mundane things like food and sleep, it’s been a while since I read such a book and I can honestly state this is that book

For those who like big, fat, immersive and meaty SF, combined with touches of Fantasy, this one ticks all the boxes.

From the publisher: ‘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 navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, he will find himself fighting a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.’



This is one of the most enjoyable SF debuts I’ve read in a long while. Think Dune mixed with Gene Wolfe’s Shadow of the Torturer series, but for a contemporary readership. The book sprawls though Hadrian’s youth and shows us his slide from nobility to warrior, adventurer and antihero and brings us up to the point where he earns the name ‘Sun Killer’.

The first part of the book shows us Marcus as a young man being tutored with his brother Crispin in the family home – a huge castle type edifice, obviously. Like Dune, it’s a science-fictional world but with a fantasy-esque setting – characters are referred to as ‘Sir’, there’s scholars, clerics and warriors, but also atomic weapons and signs of an AI takeover in the past, which reminded me rather of Frank Herbert’s series. In Empire of Silence there’s also a three-hundred year old war going on between humans and the alien Cielcin. Whilst the war seems to be far away, Marcus’s father is attempting to continue his extraction of uranium for spacecraft fuel, a profitable enterprise but one with little regard for the slave-type workers. As the eldest son he rather expects to be the family heir but, to his shock, finds that his more compliant younger brother is being groomed instead. Disillusioned, Marcus runs away to space to escape the family and make his own way in the world rather than rely on the family business.

This then leads to the second phase of the novel, as our hero finds himself in the wider world. Before being exiled to a position in the religious Chantry, which he hates, Hadrian’s mother arranges for him to be smuggled away to a new life. Of course, things do not go well, and Hadrian finds himself abandoned and penniless on a backward planet. The only way he can manage to leave the planet is by earning enough money to buy a spaceship. He does this by fighting in the local gladiator arena, and whilst there encounters his first real Cielcin, a prisoner in the arena’s cells.

The Cielcin are not the horrors that propaganda would portray. Instead, in the final part of the book, Hadrian finds that they are intelligent and complex, wanting peace in the centuries-long war as much as the humans. Hadrian finds himself defending the enigmatic aliens against their human enemies, which leads to a set up with a cliffhanger ending.

This is a book not afraid to mix things up. There are Roman-esque fights with laser weapons, space battles, strange aliens, swordfights and capes, strange aliens and space marines. Old fashioned weapons mix with new, and this future history combines Renaissance-style societies with Romanesque architecture, and hints at future AI apocalypses and ancient cultures.  Whilst it is related to that old idea of civilizations falling and rising over a long history, and the societal fragmentation that can occur over light-years, it does seem at times that this is a plot with everything thrown in.

You like medieval-esque Fantasy? How about a society that still has knights, Dukes and call each other ‘Sir’, surrounded by Renaissance-baroque architecture? That fights with swords and blasters?

Or for SF fans, how about seeing planets at war, with aliens and armoured soldiers, so beloved by lovers of Star Wars?

OK. The book scores low on originality, although it’s done fairly well. I might go as far as saying that it’s actually rather impressive, even if there are times when seasoned readers may recognise themes from other films and novels (Dune’s battle shields, Star Wars’ interrogator machine, more than a touch of Alien) and the side-stories become rather convenient. But for readers who want battles in space with swords, buddy bromances, space aliens, galactic politics and yes – even romance, this is a heady concoction. Whilst it may be a little too self-conscious, it’s also ambitious and, though it overreaches itself at times, the overall cumulative effect is rather good. The ending leaves it clear that things are about to get bigger and messier.

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to immerse myself into a big SF book. Whilst not without issues, Empire of Silence is so engaging that I’ve been able to overlook its faults. It won me over. This is one not to think about too deeply, but instead just enjoy the ride.

Empire of Silence is clearly a debut, but celebrates all of the joy and the sheer enthusiasm of old-fashioned Space Opera, by mixing up lots of elements that readers will know and love. Whilst there are times when it overreaches itself, and there some contradictive coincidences that may make the reader wince, generally it’s a book that’s a lot of fun, engaging enough to allow the reader to ignore its deficiencies.

This book has been sort of compared to me as The Kingkiller Chronicles but in space. I’ll agree with that on some levels. It is told by the main character, and it is told by him as a story of the events that he is very famously known for, after the fact, many years after the events have happened. He tells his story from pretty much the beginning. His family life when he was young. His rivalry with his brother, and what put him where he was that lead to what happened. I compare this book to other books a lot when I speak about it to other people. It’s not that it’s not unique, it absolutely is! This is one of those books that brings me back to some of my absolute favorite books and video games and other things as it goes, while telling its own story. It reminds me of Red Rising, and of Dune, but also of Mass Effect and Dragon Age at times as well. And now, those things will remind me of it as well, because for me, this is a two-way street, and it is a very well traveled street, and one I like to travel often.

This is the story of Hadrian Marlowe, who is the noble born son of a Duke who is… basically an oil baron, only uranium. Hey, it’s space, guys. Uranium is kind of like space-oil, if you think about it. Lord Alistair Marlowe rules a prefecture of the empire, but also owns basically the only company in the entire sector that has a license to mine uranium, a very valuable substance. So, he’s a space-oil baron. His miners are underpaid, overworked, with old and crappy equipment, and die quite often. It’s like Red Rising but seeing it from the other side, kind of.

The Empire spans a whole huge chunk of the universe, and while not all of humanity live within it, a huge population of humans do. The Empire and it’s classes and armies and what have you are very Roman-esque, with a good deal of emphasis put on how one of the plebeian class interacts with one of the patrician class and vice versa. Religion is a huge part of the Empire as well, and the Chantry teaches that the universe is humanity’s oyster, basically created for us alone, because Mother Earth says so, so all other sentient lifeforms should be wiped out or suitably subjugated into being our slaves. Anyone who disagrees with this doctrine is a heretic, and heresy is a crime in the Empire. Punishable with anything from exile to torture, to death depending on how heretical you’re being and where in the whole palatine/patrician/plebeian set up you are.

So, that’s the Empire, and in it there’s Hadrian, who is a palatine noble in a place he scorns, with a family that don’t really mesh well together. His father doesn’t really care about anything but the business, his mother is very rarely even there at all, his brother is very like his father, rather the typical sort of palatine noble in their self-centeredness. The only thing that Hadrian finds any true pleasure in is his time with his tutor, Gibson, who teaches him languages, and history, and common sense. Gibson is pretty much the only real friend he has. He instills in Hadrian a desire to explore and learn. Hadrian learns the languages of all sorts of races in the empire, and those outside of it too. Including the Cielcin tongue, the language of the only species that has ever fought back against humanity. The language of the enemy.

I really, really liked Hadrian as a character. I rooted for him right from the very beginning, even despite knowing, at least on some level, what he had done. He caused the death of billions of people (not a spoiler, it’s in the blurb) and basically annihilated an entire race of aliens (also in the blurb)…. but how did he get there? How did those events come to pass? He doesn’t apologize for what he’s done. He doesn’t deny it. Why?

That’s what this story is. Much like Kvothe telling his story to the Chronicler, it begins by giving you the main character as he is as a result of the story, and then tells you how he got there. In his own words. It’s for you to decide how reliable a narrator he is, and how much truth there is in what he is telling you. This is Hadrian the human man telling you how he became the Sun Eater, the Half-Mortal, Starkiller, and any of the host of other names he’s gotten over the years.

Hadrian’s entire story was interesting to me, starting with his flight from his homeworld. Being sent off to the Chantry by his father, but wanting so badly to become a scholiast (very like a mentat, but basically a scholar) like Gibson and how he goes about trying to do one when commanded to do the other. I just wanted Hadrian to make it. You’re reading this book knowing where he ends up, and knowing that whatever happens to him, he obviously doesn’t die, but not really knowing right up front, who he became. So I was on the edge of my seat during this whole thing.

And, well, this book took me for one hell of a ride, that’s for sure. It’s hard to summarize parts of it without spoiling entire chunks so I’ll just say that Hadrian ends up in situations you would never expect him to be in, and situations that you most definitely would. There are ups and downs in his story, and twists and turns, and the occasional barrel roll just for good measure. There were parts that made me emotional, and parts that made me laugh. There was at least one time where it gives you a lead up to an event that would have pretty clear outcomes, and then does something completely different out of absolutely nowhere.

“WAIT, WHAT?” – Me, 1:45am 5/1/18

“Uuuunnnnnggghhhh… seriously?” – Husband, 1:46am 5/1/18

I love books that can surprise me like this. Oh, lovelovelove. This book is quite engrossing. It kept me reading for hours and hours at a time, but I didn’t sit there and read it in two sittings, because I never wanted it to end. I sat and sipped at it for while and then put it down to come back again later. It’s very long, and epic to boot, so it takes a while, but oh my it is worth the time you invest in it. There were characters I loved to love, and characters I loved to hate. The prose is quite wonderful, as I have pointed out by frigging swooning over quotes from this book in my blog review.

This is absolutely my favorite book of the year so far. Now, I know of two others coming out this year with the potential to unseat it from that lofty throne, but they’re going to have to be pretty spec-frigging-tacular to do it (no pressure, guys 😉). This is the sort of book that I’m going to end up with 3 different signed copies of because I can’t help myself and need to greedily collect it and put it in my hoard.

What, you don’t call your book collection a hoard? Pfft. Doing it wrong. >.>

Empire of Silence is highly recommended by me, that blogger that tens of people have heard of. It’s sci-fi that feels as epic as an epic fantasy does. It feels as epic as Dune did. It wounded my feels in the best way like Red Rising did. It engrossed me like Hyperion did…. but it made me LOVE IT all on its own merits. Oh my various gods this book has the potential, with the right narration, to be an incredible audiobook too. Clear my goddamn schedule for that, because I don’t care how long it is, I want to listen to it for daaaays.

This review is based on a review copy. I would like to thank the author, as well as Orion Publishing group/Gollancz via NetGalley for that review copy!

In short, Empire of Silence is about a beginning, and about a boy becoming a man - the beginnings of a life of Hadrian Marlowe. Sun-killer. Hero. Villain. Collossus of his age. In this instance, however, a callow boy with a penchant for smart remarks and the ability to fall directly from the frying pan into the fire.

Marlowe lives in the Empire, a galaxy-spanning entity whose organisation holds more than a shade of the Roman Empire. Mostly-hereditary aristocracies, with gene complexes which keep them alive for centuries, rule over planets of serfs, their power counterbalanced by that of the Chantry, a religious organisation with a hostile attitude to other creeds and other species, and a tight hold over the exercise of most advanced technology. In this sprawling cultural hegemony of a thousand terraformed worlds, Marlowe is the scion of a minor aristocratic family, albeit one with connections.

He's smart, and dreams of exploring the universe outside of the known; but a sense of fairness and compassion sits uncomfortably with the sort of ruthlessness one needs to rule, or to kill. Things rather quickly go wrong, and we get to see what sort of man Had will become, as he rises from the ashes of his disappointments. He's an engaging character, to be sure, with an acidic sense of self-awareness which refuses to skip over his mistakes or failures, even the bloody ones. If things don't always go his way, Hadrian's efforts to be a better person are always on point, and empathising with his struggles against a family and a system which seeks to trap him in place, is easy. The prose which apparently rolls off his pen is a precision instrument - by turns humorous, razor-cut incisive, and thoughtful. There's some examination of what makes the nature of a man, digressions on Marcus Aurelius sandwiched between bloodied blades and baffling aliens.

Hadrian is backed on his journey by an ensemble cast; it’s them I’d like to see more of. We’re restricted to one view, by virtue of seeing through Hadrian’s eyes, but where Hadrian is complex, his views of others seem less so. His father is a ruthless tyrant, his brother, broadly, drawn to action, to violence. Quirks of compassion there hint at something more, and it’s something I’d like to see. His mother carries a certain subtlety in her, in motivations for helping and hurting, and if they’re implicit, they nonetheless give her a lioness roar in her appearances on the page. The companions Hadrian acquires on his journey, by contrast, don’t reveal enough of themselves, of their raw emotional state, to really come alive. There’s enough there to give them a spark, to make them believable foils for Hadrian and his escapades – but I would have loved to see more; that said, the book is hefty as it is.

The world-building is top-class. It owes a lot to classical structures, to be sure, but incorporates them into a more futuristic structure. What results is a galactic system of government, a vast, ungovernable extra-solar bureaucracy, with its own religion, social mores and expectations. There’s a sense of events happening, not only in the fictional history, but off to one side of the main thrust of the narrative as well. It’s a living, breathing space – one that comes alive as the reader turns the pages. It may not be the nicest place one might visit, but the grit and grime, the authority, the abuse, the sparks of compassion all speak to the vivid humanity on display.

This is a biography, nominally, the plot the story of Hadrian's rise (or fall, depending on how you look at it). But there's a lot going on in here. Friendships between social castes. Arena bouts to the death. Political struggles between government and church. Duels between men and monsters. Or possibly monsters and other monsters - it's hard to say. This is a book filled with grandeur and blood, binding the fate of empires into the struggle for one man's soul, as he tries to work out who he is, and what he wants.

All of this is a polite way of saying I really enjoyed Empire Of Silence; it's a sprawling epic, with the lens of one perspective to keep it focused; there's legions, there's cryptic xenoarchaeology, there's discussion of opression and systems which define and break the people within them. There's swords, and knights, and carnivorous aliens. Starships and romance, of a sort, ruminations on power and blood on knives; it's great fun, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from Hadrian Marlowe's adventures.