REVIEW: EMPIRE OF SILENCE (The SUN EATER #1)

Hadrian Marlowe...


THE SUN EATER series is one that has gained quite a bit of traction within the SFF community. I've been curious about it for a little while now, but physical copies are notoriously hard to come by. When I realized that some of the earlier books in the series were available to listen to on Audible (included in their Plus Catalog at the time of writing this), I figured I might as well check out what this is all about.

HOW I RATED IT 
4/5 EMPIRE OF SILENCE proved to be a very interesting reading experience for me. While I enjoyed my time with this book and appreciated a lot of what it's doing, I ultimately don't feel particularly sold on the series overall and also felt that this installment had some major drawbacks. 

CHARACTERS
The story is told in retrospect from the perspective of Hadrian Marlowe, the first son of a Duke who literally rules an entire mining planet. The story is written in a sort of memoir fashion so even though we are following Hadrian as a young man in this story, the events are recounted with the insight of a version of him that is seemingly far off in the future. It's an interesting dynamic that almost results in there being two main characters whose perspectives we are following simultaneously. For his part, the young Hadrian is a fairly likeable character who is well-meaning, naive, and sometimes impulsive. His older self is far more introspective and we are told that this version of him is not nearly as innocent as the young man we see in this particular story. Along the course of Hadrian's haphazard adventures, he meets a wide array of minor characters. They all felt nuanced and realistic in their own individual ways, none of them really conforming to particular archetypes or tropes. While everyone Hadrian meets is quite interesting, only some of them are particularly consequential. For about the first half of the book, it felt like we were continually getting introduced to "throwaway" members of the cast who never circle back around in this book and, in a number of cases, we are flat-out told that Hadrian will never meet them again. While I certainly understand that this rings quite true to how things are in real life, I am the type of reader who prefers when the side characters are utilized in a way that feels impactful to the core events of a story. After about the halfway mark of the book, there are characters who end up having staying power, so this issue did resolve itself for me over time, but it made the first half of the story feel a bit tedious and caused me to kind of disassociate from anyone Hadrian came across since I couldn't immediately tell if I really needed to care about them or not. 

PLOT/TONE
The fictional memoir style in which this story is told felt like an incredibly unique choice. It's the sort of thing I've certainly seen before in non-genre fiction (sometimes referred to as Lit-Fic), but it's very rare to see in science fiction or fantasy (at least in my experience). I feel like this might be part of what makes this series feel so special to so many people. While I too really admire the delivery of the narrative, I think it's actually a bit of a double-edged sword. Because we are getting the story from a much older iteration of Hadrian, there are little tidbits of information given that we would not otherwise have and some of these actually spoil the rest of the story (if not in this book, then at least in the series overall). The biggest example of this is in how there are more than a few times where we are told that Hadrian will never see a particular character again. Though I've already mentioned how this impacted my level of investment in the supporting roster, I think it also sort of cheapened some of the moments within the story for me to have this information. Similarly, we are told that the older Hadrian becomes quite a violent and unsavory individual later in life. This contrast between the version of him that is shown in this story and where he will eventually end up is an interesting juxtaposition, but it also sort of kills my interest in proceeding on with the subsequent entries into the series. Overall, I guess I just like for there to be a little more mystery involved with where a character is going and which of their companions will factor into their adventures. That said, it was really cool to get alternate versions of the events we see as they would later be retold by others and I think that is one area in which this narrative format really shined. Another is that we get a much deeper reflection on these moments in Hadrian's life since this older version of him has had time to consider them much more deeply than his younger self would have while he was living them. 

The biggest drawback of the story being told is that I'm honestly not even sure what I would say the story is actually about. There are the squabbles of a royal family, there's a daring escape from Hadrian's fate, there's an oppressive religious order, Hadrian fights in gladiatorial combat, we see political intrigue, and there is the exploration of a lost civilization. But the story isn't really about any of these things. These are sort of just experiences that Hadrian has. The story seems to just be about Hadrian and Hadrian himself is essentially the beginning and end of the story. It's a fascinating literary journey, but maybe not one that I care to continue past this book. One side note I have is that I've heard a lot of comparisons between this book and DUNE with some going so far as to call this derivative of Herbert's classic. Though I've only seen the movies, I really didn't feel like the overall stories were that similar at all (maybe the writing style is?). Aside from the fact that they are both science fiction novels with sweeping scopes, intricate political systems, and more of a fantasy-style feel to them, I really didn't see much similarity between the two stories.  

SETTING/WORLD
While there may not be much of a plot in the traditional sense, the fictional universe that takes shape is quite robust. If anything were to persuade me to continue on through the series, it would probably be this aspect of it. There are several different worlds that Hadrian's adventure takes us to and each felt quite distinct. Things kick off with the dark home world that Hadrian grew up on filled with rolling oceans and a damp, mountainous landscape. We eventually get to see the paradise planet that his mother is from before the plot settles on a world with an oppressive gravitational force. This final locale has a lot of fun little regions to it including the bustling capital city and some ruins tucked away from the rest of civilization. There are also some space-faring vehicles that we get a good look at during different points. As well-crafted as the planets may be, where things get really interesting is in the complex layers of socio-political intrigue that factors into the inner workings of this universe. There are the Palatine families which run things and the aptly named Plebians who mostly exist to serve or else be sentenced to a grizzly death in the "colosso". The principal religious faction serves as the ultimate power in this universe though. While I suppose, you could say that it is very loosely based on the Catholic Church, the religion of this world didn't feel particularly reminiscent of any that exist in ours. The basis of the belief system is also rather interesting in that it's main deity seems to be the Earth "herself" even though the Earth has long since been lost. I'd heard great things about the way that religion is represented and while I found the ideas interesting, I was ultimately not crazy impressed with the way The Chantry factored into the story as it really just represented another political faction and actual faith isn't really captured here at all since even those who champion the ideology don't seem to actually believe in it. That said, I do think it's a cool idea to see religion present at all a science fiction setting since I feel like a trope of the genre is to have humanity "evolve" beyond the point where such things are relevant or needed.

More interesting to me though is the way that genetic manipulation comes into play. Hadrian, like many others of his caste aren't born, they're "decanted" and carefully composed of various genetic markers taken from his parents' respective lineages. The way this concept shapes the way that people live was quite fascinating and the question of whether or not these heavily modified beings are still human is one that I've continued to think about. In terms of non-human representation, there are some pretty interesting inclusions here. The androgynous homunculi which serve as genetically manufactured slaves were pretty spooky and the lost civilization that Hadrian eventually ends up investigating were quite intriguing. The real standout here though comes in the form of the cielcin who are vaguely human shaped, but also distinctly alien in many ways and have some physical features that would take more than just painting someone a primary color to recreate on screen. Their language and culture are explored in some compelling ways, though I suspect there is much that is yet to be discovered about them by the end of this book. Similarly interesting is how different certain human cultures can be from one another. Hadrian has a lot of interactions with a character who comes from somewhere that isn't too keen on the religion the rest of the universe has bought into and is instead said to worship technology (which is largely restricted by The Chantry). All in all, there's a lot to dig into here and plenty more that future books can unveil since this is a vast universe and we've only seen several small portions of it.

AUDIO
The cover art for the audio edition of the book is... not great. Had I not already heard of this series and seen the much nicer covers of the print editions, I would likely not have been drawn to it, but I was very grateful that this book is included in Audible's rotating catalogue of  "free" books at the time of this review. The production itself is expertly handled and I'd go so far as to say that this is probably one of the best audio performances that I have ever listened to. I think the memoir-esque style of the prose translates exceptionally well into this format and that was probably a big part of what made it work so well. Character's are given distinct voices and there's even a subtle distinction between the narration of the elder version of Marlowe and the dialogue spoken by his younger self. I'd heard a lot of praise heaped upon the writing itself. Personally, I think it was well written and there are some beautiful descriptions, but I wouldn't say this is the most elegant, elevated, or dense prose I've ever read. If you're the type that doesn't like flowery, "purple" prose, then I would encourage you not to be turned off by any comments about Ruocchio's writing as it's perfectly accessible, he just has a decently rich vocabulary and a certain flair to how he renders people, places, and events .

CONCLUSION
After giving this series a chance, I can absolutely see the appeal of it. I really don't know if the subsequent books are going to be for me, but I did have quite a good time with this first installment.

(+) Hadrian serves as an interesting protagonist with a lot of nuance.
(+) A compelling setting chock full of political intricacies, religious beliefs, and dangerous elements.
(+) The memoire style of the narrative felt really unique and the prose is well-written.
(+) The audio production is exceptional
(+) Every single side character felt incredibly vivid and starkly believable. 
(-) I felt as though there were too many "throwaway" characters
(-) The book spoils itself (or at least the rest of the series) on multiple occasions. 
(-) I couldn't say what this story is really "about" and it's largely for that reason that I may not continue the series. 

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