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A review by samtherat17
Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
I was really debating between a 4.5 and 5 star rating for this book, but I think I'm gonna lowball it and go for a 4.5. Hey, you never know, I might rate it higher if I reread it in the future!
Alright, I know almost anyone who reviews this book says this, but Ruocchio's writing is simply magnificent. I'm not really a prose snob, the only time I really care about the writing is when it is either really bad or really good, and in this case it is definitely the latter. It feels like this book has a quotable line every other sentence. It took me almost a month to read this book, partly due to some real life stuff, but also because of the writing and how I had to ponder on almost every sentence. (In a good way)
Also, the scope of this book/series is absolutely massive, which is even crazier when you realise that this is the author's debut novel! Spanning multiple planets, species and a whole glossary in the back of the book, this series is definitely ambitious. This really makes me excited about the future books in the series, because the world(s) was already really intriguing in this one, and there seems to be a lot more to explore.
Finally, coming to the general plot and characters. Hadrian Marlowe is our main man in this one, and he pretty much tells us the ending of this series on the first page. Yeah. Somehow though, that just makes this series even more interesting. I really liked Hadrian's journey throughout this book, and found it to be the main highlight, but apart from him, I didn't really care for many other characters, except Valka. However, I do think that the ending of the book suggests a lot more to come in the character department, especially from some of the tidbits dropped about Bassander Lin.
To be honest, I don't really have any criticisms for Empire of Silence, apart from a couple of things which seemed really similar to Dune. The restriction of thinking machines; hmm...where have I seen that before?
Anyways though, an amazing start to the Sun Eater series! I will definitely be reading the sequels soon.
Alright, I know almost anyone who reviews this book says this, but Ruocchio's writing is simply magnificent. I'm not really a prose snob, the only time I really care about the writing is when it is either really bad or really good, and in this case it is definitely the latter. It feels like this book has a quotable line every other sentence. It took me almost a month to read this book, partly due to some real life stuff, but also because of the writing and how I had to ponder on almost every sentence. (In a good way)
Also, the scope of this book/series is absolutely massive, which is even crazier when you realise that this is the author's debut novel! Spanning multiple planets, species and a whole glossary in the back of the book, this series is definitely ambitious. This really makes me excited about the future books in the series, because the world(s) was already really intriguing in this one, and there seems to be a lot more to explore.
Finally, coming to the general plot and characters. Hadrian Marlowe is our main man in this one, and he pretty much tells us the ending of this series on the first page. Yeah. Somehow though, that just makes this series even more interesting. I really liked Hadrian's journey throughout this book, and found it to be the main highlight, but apart from him, I didn't really care for many other characters, except Valka. However, I do think that the ending of the book suggests a lot more to come in the character department, especially from some of the tidbits dropped about Bassander Lin.
To be honest, I don't really have any criticisms for Empire of Silence, apart from a couple of things which seemed really similar to Dune. The restriction of thinking machines; hmm...where have I seen that before?
Anyways though, an amazing start to the Sun Eater series! I will definitely be reading the sequels soon.