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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The pacing of this doesnt pick up until chapter 50. However, I did like it.
I'm not the biggest fan of first person POVs but this one was so good. I love that its an autobiography within the world and there is a scholar that's editing it. I loved the world building and breaking down and building back up Hadrian's character.
That being said, I didnt like how the author kept introducing new characters then taking them away and then introducing new ones to replace those. I didnt get attached to anyone because of it. But I am excited to read the rest of the series!
I'm not the biggest fan of first person POVs but this one was so good. I love that its an autobiography within the world and there is a scholar that's editing it. I loved the world building and breaking down and building back up Hadrian's character.
That being said, I didnt like how the author kept introducing new characters then taking them away and then introducing new ones to replace those. I didnt get attached to anyone because of it. But I am excited to read the rest of the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent
3.5 Stars rounding down. I really wanted to like this book and my expectations were high, but it just didn’t grab me.
Worldbuilding: Solid. The world is very fleshed out and detailed, and I came away with a solid understanding of a rich galaxy full of different factions and planets. I felt very comfortable with the planets and settings featured.
Characters: Meh. I didn’t sympathize with the main character’s motivations and didn’t find it believable. He reads like a tropey young adult protagonist, “it’s so hard being rich and famous!”. The other characters in the story didn’t feel very fleshed out either and I never found myself invested in anyone.
Plot: Poor. The arcs in the story didn’t flow together very well, and seemed rather disjointed. Oh, now he’s here! Oh ok, nevermind that story, now he’s over here. There didn’t seem to be anything that “came together” at the end of the story for me. I know this is the first book in a long series, but there were no real revelations, tricky situations, or any real sense of gravity. I did get more interested in the story during the final arc, but there felt like no real payoff, just a setting up of the next book in the series.
Prose: Moderate. The author is clearly highly intelligent and educated, and I enjoyed at times his philosophizing. He constructed his sentencing well. I did at times find annoying details in the prose (like using the same word twice in the same sentence - a real painful one for me), and I was never “sucked in” to the writing.
Worldbuilding: Solid. The world is very fleshed out and detailed, and I came away with a solid understanding of a rich galaxy full of different factions and planets. I felt very comfortable with the planets and settings featured.
Characters: Meh. I didn’t sympathize with the main character’s motivations and didn’t find it believable. He reads like a tropey young adult protagonist, “it’s so hard being rich and famous!”. The other characters in the story didn’t feel very fleshed out either and I never found myself invested in anyone.
Plot: Poor. The arcs in the story didn’t flow together very well, and seemed rather disjointed. Oh, now he’s here! Oh ok, nevermind that story, now he’s over here. There didn’t seem to be anything that “came together” at the end of the story for me. I know this is the first book in a long series, but there were no real revelations, tricky situations, or any real sense of gravity. I did get more interested in the story during the final arc, but there felt like no real payoff, just a setting up of the next book in the series.
Prose: Moderate. The author is clearly highly intelligent and educated, and I enjoyed at times his philosophizing. He constructed his sentencing well. I did at times find annoying details in the prose (like using the same word twice in the same sentence - a real painful one for me), and I was never “sucked in” to the writing.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
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:
Yes
I recorded my review, it was shit (the recording).
I enjoyed reading it, not bad. Roouchio have good prose with some mediocre quotes. Interesting plot and worldbuilding. And some well thought passages.
I enjoyed reading it, not bad. Roouchio have good prose with some mediocre quotes. Interesting plot and worldbuilding. And some well thought passages.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
Fantastic sci-fi epic. Incredible set pieces and the characters are wonderful.
My only issue was that it seemed to drag in the final 5 hours or so, it became politically heavy. But I figure that is the author setting up for the next book and the series as a whole.
My only issue was that it seemed to drag in the final 5 hours or so, it became politically heavy. But I figure that is the author setting up for the next book and the series as a whole.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Cannibalism
I enjoyed the first half of this book a lot. But it slowly became tedious.
The story: a man named hadrian marlowe has destroyed a sun and committed genocides and many atrocities. He writes the story of his life starting as a teen in his home planet of delos. Hadrian attempts to escape his fathers plans for him but ends up poor and alone on another planet. Here, he is beggar, pit fighter, tutor, then once again lord. All the while there is complicated alien war happening. And theres a very corrupt religious organization. And theres evidence of an alien race that outdates them all.
This is all very much up my alley. I love a long journey story that devolves and evolves into greatness. I love political dramas. I love an underdog.
But hadrian is not an underdog. I found it very frustrating that he barely builds any skills beyond his privileged upbringing. Instead of truly being weak, he is only in the position of the scrappy fighter because he is hiding his identity.
I started disliking Hadrian when it became clear he is arrogant and stupid. There are three clear examples for me:
- when he visit the alien prisoner without thinking of the consequences
- when he fights for valkas honor in a rage without protecting his identity
- when he annoyingly and arrogantly pushed for the cielcin to be prisoners who will lead to peace (hinging everything on his own special translation capacity)
I just found him to be kinda like a pick me. Things that he would think so carefully about he would throw away in an instant. I just want there to be character development. Dont get me wrong, he goes through a lot in this book. But he never learns from his impulsive arrogant mistakes.
Honestly i think its inconsistent character development. Or just a committed to write a really irritating main character. I want to keep reading because there is so much promise in being a "sun eater," but idk if this author can write a character i like. (Yes i know that hadrian is imperfect, but he has so much more potential. I hate to see it wasted)
The story: a man named hadrian marlowe has destroyed a sun and committed genocides and many atrocities. He writes the story of his life starting as a teen in his home planet of delos. Hadrian attempts to escape his fathers plans for him but ends up poor and alone on another planet. Here, he is beggar, pit fighter, tutor, then once again lord. All the while there is complicated alien war happening. And theres a very corrupt religious organization. And theres evidence of an alien race that outdates them all.
This is all very much up my alley. I love a long journey story that devolves and evolves into greatness. I love political dramas. I love an underdog.
But hadrian is not an underdog. I found it very frustrating that he barely builds any skills beyond his privileged upbringing. Instead of truly being weak, he is only in the position of the scrappy fighter because he is hiding his identity.
I started disliking Hadrian when it became clear he is arrogant and stupid. There are three clear examples for me:
- when he visit the alien prisoner without thinking of the consequences
- when he fights for valkas honor in a rage without protecting his identity
- when he annoyingly and arrogantly pushed for the cielcin to be prisoners who will lead to peace (hinging everything on his own special translation capacity)
I just found him to be kinda like a pick me. Things that he would think so carefully about he would throw away in an instant. I just want there to be character development. Dont get me wrong, he goes through a lot in this book. But he never learns from his impulsive arrogant mistakes.
Honestly i think its inconsistent character development. Or just a committed to write a really irritating main character. I want to keep reading because there is so much promise in being a "sun eater," but idk if this author can write a character i like. (Yes i know that hadrian is imperfect, but he has so much more potential. I hate to see it wasted)
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced