1 review
Empire of Silence
by Christopher Ruocchio
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 into the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, he will find himself fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.
Reviews
Aiden
November 10, 2025
Empire of Silence is a solid start to the Sun Eater universe.
Roucchio is clearly inspired by the greats that came before. He basically steals the entire opener from Name of the Wind, the Energy Shields from Dune, the lightsabers from Star Wars. It is honestly pretty blatant. Forturnately, I like Name of the Wind and Dune and Star Wars, so this never bothered me.
The story takes place in a frame narrative with Hadrian Marlowe writing a retrospective of his life. We know this notorious figure blew up a sun and ended a war, but we don't know how or why. Flashback to his youth and we start to learn.
Hadrian is a very polorizing character early on. I actually loved him. He is a deeply melodramtic character who philosophizes about almost everything. I can totally see how this can be grating, but as a virtue of being friends with Daryan, I am actually used to the incredible levels of bitching and moaning that we see. Not everyone has a friend like Daryan to desensitize them to such things though, so your milage may vary.
You can tell immediately that Ruocchio is an incredible writer, and while this book definitely has some pacing problems in the middle, those fortunately disappear later on in the series. But for this book - the middle is a drag. Some of the politicking on Borosevo overstays its welcome. I was never that invested in the excavation missions either. It isn't terrible, but there are clear slow parts.
Ruocchio's world building makes up for some of this. One of my favorite parts of the world is his detailed scientific explanations of the technology. He doesn't just rely on generic science fiction concepts, he brings them to life. For example, instead of just explaining that space goers are put into cryo fuegue, he details exactly how the blood is pumped out and coolent is pumped in, and how the blood is stored ect. These sudo scientific explanations are always weirdly plausible and accurate, at least in the domains I was familiar with, which added a richness to the world beyond the average science fiction book.
Tragically this is the worst book in the series, so if you only find it okay, I'd encourage you to read Howling Dark before you give up on the Sun Eater saga for good. If you do love this book, then boy, you are in for an absolute treat going forward.