Empire of Silence (Sun Eater #1) by Christopher Ruocchio

Empire of Silence tells of the travails of one Hadrian Marlowe as he grows up the son of an archon in his home world, Delos, and escapes life laid out for him by his lord father.

“Dangerous things, names. A kind of curse, defining us that we might live up to them, or giving us something to run away from.”

Empire of Silence tells of the travails of one Hadrian Marlowe as he grows up the son of an archon in his home world, Delos, and escapes life laid out for him by his lord father. The whole book (which I found quite prolonged) is told from his perspective centuries into the future and how his early formative years were spent after his ship was wrecked on the planet Emesh and his contact with ruins of “The Quiet” and the alien invaders, the Cielcin, shaping him into becoming the genocidal power he implies turning into later on.

Christopher Ruocchio’s Empire of Silence reads like a b-version of Frank Herbert’s Dune written by a competent fan. The above quote is by far the most profound one I could find within the book (IMO), hence my lacklustre rating.

The derivative bits were so much and so exactly similar that I couldn’t help but be put off by such glaring similarities as opposed to the fanciful nods to a classic they were probably meant to be (surely?), hence more often than not, it left me with a sour taste instead of sweet nostalgic reminisces. With that out of the way, the book was engaging enough for me not to DNF it.

I’m nevertheless curious about how things will turn out, so I’m still giving the series an open mind and hoping to continue with it. I’ll hold on in dishing out a recommendation pending my read of the next book of the series; here’s to hoping it gets much better.