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josiah17's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"Man's inhumanity. What could be more human?"
To be honest, I really wasn't enthralled by the first half of this book. I found myself less excited about the worldbuilding and Ruocchio's exploration of the Exalted and Extrasolarians. Nor was I as excited about the prospect of Hadrian's character arc as I had been after Empire of Silence. A big part of that being the massive timeskip between the two books which I had not know about, and apparently there's one for almost every book. Considering I'm not generally a fan of timeskips whatsoever, this quickly defeated a lot of my enthusiasm. Plus I think the timeskip was simply quite jarring too, enhancing my decrease in enthusiasm.
However, roughly the last half of this book...is incredible. Everything took off for me after Hadrian is given visions from this strange creature from a bygone era. I was enraptured, fully locked in. I loved just about everything that transpired from that point on.
In particular, I'm continuously impressed by Ruocchio's worldbuilding—despite being initially uncaptivated—and what he's created in the Cielcin and the Quiet. He may be at his strongest as a writer when delving into the nuances of this alien race and their behaviors, language, social structure. The Cielcin are so complex; both so human in many ways and utterly terrifying in others. And the Quiet provides a ln excellent mystical fantasy quality to this space opera series. There's still so much I want to know about them.
"We are beasts of burden, Hadrian , we men. We struggle, and by that struggle are filled, and so define ourselves. That is the way."
I must also mention than in hindsight, I do appreciate the beginning of the book more. I believe I found the tone really surprising and unexpected. But I appreciate what Ruocchio did in introducing these wider parts of the galaxy in such an unsettling and almost revolting manner. This book is really sci-fi horror in a lot of ways. And I especially have a greater appreciation for Kharn Sagara who's a great and incredibly intriguing character.
"The poets say that one's fears grow less with trial, that we become men without fear of tried enough. I have not found it to be so. Rather, on each occasion we are tested, we become stronger than our fears. It is all we can do. Must do. Lest we perish for our failings."
This book is not perfect though. I still have my qualms with the first half. The pacing really wasn't very fluid. Nor do I believe the side characters—in what's supposed to be Hadrian's closest crew—are very strong right now besides Valka (who I love!!!) and possibly Bassander Lin. Pallino's got potential too. But in the end I did thoroughly enjoy this book. And I can't wait to see where things go from here. Just when I began to think I was becoming much less excited and eager to read this series and experience the complicated tale of Hadrian Marlowe the Halfmortal, Ruocchio pulled me right back in.
"The price of life is death. With what will you pay, Halfmortal?"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Xenophobia, and War
blandrew's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
le_lobey's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Complicated thoughts. I can't really rate this iwithout knowing more.
The story was exciting and adventurous. I love the worldbuilding, and the characters are really vibrant and well imagined. The climax and denouement were insanely thrilling.
For the most part I really liked the details in the prose and thought the pacing was great, particularly in the back half. I find the way Ruocchio writes Hadrian to be really grating sometimes. I literally groaned through the sequence where they approachedVorgossos — the prose was asphyxiatingly purple, and he capped it off with an on the nose Shelley reference that made me cringe. I know it's a creative choice, because the style was so different in the novella from Crispin's POV. It just doesn't land for me when it's at its most excessive.
What makes me more conflicted about this book is the way the text handles one of its main themes: delineating the boundaries of self and what counts as human. The main conflict informing this theme is obviously Human vs Cielcin, and Tanaran complicates any easy answers with its intelligence and comportment. The first half of the book sees Hadrian and co. travelling among Extrasolarians, whose mores regarding transhumanism and genetic engineering are markedly less restrictive than in the core of the empire. This makes sense, but Hadrian desperately holds on to his society's taboos in ways that made me really uncomfortable.
The fact of the matter is that Hadrian equates his humanity and selfhood with his blood — his biology and his genetics. Using samples of his blood as a bargaining chip is completely off the table for him because he pales to imagine a part of himself being used to produce genetic chimeras. He sees these homunculi as wholly separate from, and less than, humanity. He feels the same way about the Exalted, a group of extrasolarians whose widespread technological body-modding he finds repulsive and horrifying because of the exotic shapes they create for themselves. Hadrian himself is deeply upset at the end of the book that the bones of his left arm are replaced with metal. He's not himself anymore. The persistent equating of selfhood, genetics, and biological form read as fundamentally transphobic to me. And since the book's narrative framing device positions Hadrian as the author, I can't tell if those opinions are meant to be the character's or the author's. The dog whistles are loud, and last for hundreds of pages.
I enjoy the world enough to give the series one more try. I hope that these opinions are artifacts of Hadrian's status as an anti-hero, and that as he processes what happened to him in this book he'll come to question and move past these immature and reactionary views. If it turns out that the vitriol is Ruocchio's and he's letting it bleed through I'll have to abandon these books.
The story was exciting and adventurous. I love the worldbuilding, and the characters are really vibrant and well imagined. The climax and denouement were insanely thrilling.
For the most part I really liked the details in the prose and thought the pacing was great, particularly in the back half. I find the way Ruocchio writes Hadrian to be really grating sometimes. I literally groaned through the sequence where they approached
What makes me more conflicted about this book is the way the text handles one of its main themes: delineating the boundaries of self and what counts as human. The main conflict informing this theme is obviously Human vs Cielcin, and Tanaran complicates any easy answers with its intelligence and comportment. The first half of the book sees Hadrian and co. travelling among Extrasolarians, whose mores regarding transhumanism and genetic engineering are markedly less restrictive than in the core of the empire. This makes sense, but Hadrian desperately holds on to his society's taboos in ways that made me really uncomfortable.
The fact of the matter is that Hadrian equates his humanity and selfhood with his blood — his biology and his genetics. Using samples of his blood as a bargaining chip is completely off the table for him because he pales to imagine a part of himself being used to produce genetic chimeras. He sees these homunculi as wholly separate from, and less than, humanity. He feels the same way about the Exalted, a group of extrasolarians whose widespread technological body-modding he finds repulsive and horrifying because of the exotic shapes they create for themselves. Hadrian himself is deeply upset at the end of the book that
I enjoy the world enough to give the series one more try. I hope that these opinions are artifacts of Hadrian's status as an anti-hero, and that as he processes what happened to him in this book he'll come to question and move past these immature and reactionary views. If it turns out that the vitriol is Ruocchio's and he's letting it bleed through I'll have to abandon these books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Transphobia
zone_a3's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and War
Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment
danny_lastname's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Torture, Xenophobia, and War
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