Review by craunchthemarmoset - Empire of Silence

craunchthemarmoset 's review for:

Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

DID NOT FINISH: 52%

I usually don’t review books I DNF, but this one deserves it for everyone who approaches this book with naive optimism like me.

This is what I get for not looking up the author beforehand. Here are my notes (and shocker, my hunch was confirmed):

a couple hundred pages in Ruocchio drops Hadrian’s been genetically engineered to ensure he’s taller and whiter than everyone else. With the additional context of the book, Hadrian is an ideal of techno-bro race engineering (reported as “racism” in tags because white supremacy or [positive—meaning engineering “good genetics”] eugenics wasn’t an option.) This is criticized superficially (prejudice for skin color bad, “there exists a class of smart people who are genetically superior” is uncriticized)
Old Hadrian’s idealization of the scholiasts and their philosophy gives “I’m a first-year majoring in polisci who is also a brocialist lobster” vibes. Old Hadrian talks like a fortune cookie and often speaks with authorial voice (authorial perspective). Multiple book references to Jordan Peterson (of the now defunct school of Jungian psychology, currently with a licensure on probation by the Canadian board of psychology) spawning whole revered sects of philosophy in this future world
Female characters are accessories (do not drive the story forward, novel shows no interest in their agency/desires) and every one has a distinct moment in the novel when they are identified as a sex worker or mistaken for one (except dear mummy) (used “misogyny” tag for this)
Hadrian talks like he aspires to be one of the brother ghosts in “Princes in the Tower”
Pacing is off: book is one giant prologue with nothing to string together stories save the presence of the protagonist
Hadrian has insufferable condescension toward everyone (especially of lower class: they’re all stupid and uncultured) — he’s exactly what he critiques in his father and brother with the luxury of age and retrospection to bring better awareness but he has none

Surprise! I google “Christopher Ruocchio Opus Dei,” because I’m getting a Christian Right impression and get an interview where he reports he wrote the book while reading maps of meaning.

Content Warnings