Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Slavery
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Blood, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Colonisation, War
Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Blood
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Violence
The book community said the first Sun Eater Book felt like a prologue. I would agree. A giant prologue with VAST world building, coupled with a great deal of theatrical prose! I am somewhat new to SCI-FI and this was a DENSE one. Therefore, I wouldn’t quite yet recommend it for someone new to the genre. I also think the gripes are spot on. It can feel slow and the first half dragged on at times, but the second half made up for that for me. Is Hadrian Marlowe a titch annoying and eminently melodramatic? Absolutely! He did grow on me later on and even though the book was from his POV only I still felt very entertained and intrigued to learn his world and everything in it. Left me wanting learning of more of these chronicles! I must say that a primary driver of my enjoyment was the in concert read of the awesome narration by Samuel Roukin!! I have heard the series only gets better from here and ready to take it on! 🛸☀️
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia
Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery
Minor: Sexual assault
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Pandemic/Epidemic
Let me start with Hadrian. I found Hadrian to be thought provoking, strong, tactful, but also flawed. He is the kind of character who I enjoy reading about because he seems human. His relationship with his family is very rocky. It is interesting to see how family kind of shaped Hadrian because it really shapes his character throughout a majority of the book. I love seeing that aspect of family in books. How family can shape your whole being.
I do not want to spoil this book in anyway possible. This story spans, if my calculations are correct 40ish years. With this being a expansive sci-fi novel that takes place in our world in the very very distant future, you will understand while reading why this takes place over such a long time line. With that being said, Empire of Silence was brilliantly paced. EoS is full of action, exploration, politics, and espionage. It takes all of those aspects and balances them in such a way that is perfect. Christopher Ruocchio has a writing style that to me is very seamless. It was never jarring. Every chapter had a purpose to move the plot forward. EoS can be a bit info dumpy at times but never in a way, to me at least, that took me out of the story. I was completely absorbed and I just want to more.
Another small note and that is this book is at times incredibly visual and violent. Although it is not action heavy, the scenes that are can be graphic at times. There are also some scenes that are not shown but just told to the reader that can be very descriptive and gruesome. Just take note of that before heading in.
Empire of Silence is only the beginning of what I know is going to be an extraordinary Sci-Fi EPIC! Howling Dark is next and my soul is ready!
Moderate: Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Grief