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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed dicing into this book. I am rating it a 3.75 because I expect the books to get better and it was a great intro to the next stories. It is a scifi that reads like a fantasy which I appreciated and someone who reads fantasy but is trying to get into scifi. I'm curious to learn how the main character gets to the point that he is at as the narrator. I think some may find it slow but it's important to remember that the narrator is the main character recalling his memories and telling his own story and often when people do that they leave nothing out
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
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
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Empire of Silence is a book that only came to my attention because Ashes of Man (book 5 of The Sun Eater) caught my eye when searching for a vacation read back in February. I was tempted, but this Hadrian Marlowe guy didn't excite me as much as this witch named Valka, and I couldn't see the space opera element I was so desperately craving, so I decided to pass at the time.
A month later, having come home from vacation, I began to see all these book bloggers binging the first 3 books, and suddenly I was curious once again. So I broke down and ordered a copy. The first few chapters were rather cold and sterile, making it hard to get into the story, and the fantasy elements were so oddly intertwined in the story that I found myself once again doubting if it was the story for me. And then, just when it started getting good, promising to take us to the stars, it crashed and burned into another more fantasy settings and tropes, just on a different world.
I paused for a bit, catching up on other reads, but eventually found my way back. It was still more fantasy than sci-fi, but I started to connect with the characters, both on the streets and in the arena, and that kept me going. It was still a secondary read, one I only picked up between other books, but then we got into talk of the strange ruins and my curiosity picked up a notch . . . and then came the heretical talk of the Quiet, and suddenly I was hooked.
That's a rather long-winded way of saying Empire of Silence is a slow-burn of a book, but Christopher Ruocchio has so much history and culture to be established, so many political and religious structures to be established, that he really needs that time - and we need that background to appreciate just how significant Hadrian's thoughts and deeds are. The last hundred or so pages are amazing, exciting, and gut-wrenching at the same time. I was hoping we'd get to "the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky" in this volume, but clearly that's far down the road ahead. Instead, we get a sort of delayed resolution to an earlier plot thread, one that wraps things up on a thoughtful, even happy note.
Now that I know both Hadrian and Valka, I'm 100% invested in where this goes next. It requires patience, but if you're willing to invest the time, it more than pays off in the end.
https://sallybend.wordpress.com/2024/06/03/book-review-empire-of-silence-by-christopher-ruocchio-science-fiction/
A month later, having come home from vacation, I began to see all these book bloggers binging the first 3 books, and suddenly I was curious once again. So I broke down and ordered a copy. The first few chapters were rather cold and sterile, making it hard to get into the story, and the fantasy elements were so oddly intertwined in the story that I found myself once again doubting if it was the story for me. And then, just when it started getting good, promising to take us to the stars, it crashed and burned into another more fantasy settings and tropes, just on a different world.
I paused for a bit, catching up on other reads, but eventually found my way back. It was still more fantasy than sci-fi, but I started to connect with the characters, both on the streets and in the arena, and that kept me going. It was still a secondary read, one I only picked up between other books, but then we got into talk of the strange ruins and my curiosity picked up a notch . . . and then came the heretical talk of the Quiet, and suddenly I was hooked.
That's a rather long-winded way of saying Empire of Silence is a slow-burn of a book, but Christopher Ruocchio has so much history and culture to be established, so many political and religious structures to be established, that he really needs that time - and we need that background to appreciate just how significant Hadrian's thoughts and deeds are. The last hundred or so pages are amazing, exciting, and gut-wrenching at the same time. I was hoping we'd get to "the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky" in this volume, but clearly that's far down the road ahead. Instead, we get a sort of delayed resolution to an earlier plot thread, one that wraps things up on a thoughtful, even happy note.
Now that I know both Hadrian and Valka, I'm 100% invested in where this goes next. It requires patience, but if you're willing to invest the time, it more than pays off in the end.
https://sallybend.wordpress.com/2024/06/03/book-review-empire-of-silence-by-christopher-ruocchio-science-fiction/
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes