Empire of Silence

Sun Eater, Book 1

By: Christopher Ruocchio

Narrated by: Samuel Roukin

Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy.

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 fighting a war he did not start, for an empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.

©2018 Christopher Ruocchio (P)2018 Recorded Books

Slow start, picks up the pace

Although the book starts slowly it picks up speed by the second half and really draws you into an established world. I'd recommend this to fans of Red Rising, Dune, and Old Man's War.

amazing book

great book. narrator did a great job. cant wait for the next one later this year

Love it, derivative but better than the originals

A bit flowery, but overall the writing is great and the narration is excellent. Nothing shocking, but overall quite enjoyable. Way better than Name of the Wind IMO. Better writing, better narration, no weird sex scenes, no weird fantasy cultural sex discussions, not a harem novel and to top it off, no girls or women beating up all of the men (looking at you 'A Wise Man's Fear'). There is a little sex but it is normal and not verbally molested as in the aforementioned comparison series.

These are not 'action' novels, but do have some action. Not a ton of plot twists, but that is what keeps the listening safe and entertaining. The few twists that do exist are enjoyable and welcome.

If you like these books and would be OK going one level darker, check out the 'Act's of Caine' series. Great writing and narration as well and it is finished so you can listen to them all.

Absolutely satisfying!

This book surprised me with its ability to carry me through so many pages and “lifetimes” of Hadrian Marlowe. I was never bored!

Book addiction

Listened to the whole book in less than a week. I used to be an avid reader and this sparked my love for it again. Great sci-fi, a fantastic main character and lots is really compelling plots and characters along the way. Beautiful language and world building.

Magnificent SFF piece

I love the pacifist and scholastic elements of the story. The political figures frustrated me which is a good thing because that’s how politics should feel, at least for now. The performance of the narrator is chef’s kiss, although I find the way they pronounce Cielcin language awkward. I wonder if it’s intentional or not.

Well composed and intriguing

Enjoyed the narration and would recommend to a friend. I look forward to continuing the series.

One of the best starts to a series!

I read a couple reviews before purchasing that claimed that this book is too slow… they are wrong if you are like me. However if you prefer action movie over intelligent dramas then maybe those reviews are right. This isn’t another stiff military Sci-fi or even a funny space opera; this book is a well crafted novel with a deep plot and deeper characters. The science in it is less layout but solid enough for a distance future civilization. This book is most comparable to Dune or Red Rising.

Some pacing issues but really good.

The beginning was slow but it picks up. Valkas accent was an odd choice for me but I felt the narrator did a good job otherwise. excited for the next book.

MC can’t figure out his morals

I loved the audio performance but the MC at the end of the story is just so annoying, I cant imagine somebody bungling up so much and then having the Gaul to go on about how sad he is, like yeah dude you just got a bunch of people tortured because you thought you’d somehow end a war with an alien race, while also knowing that the church or your race is so xenophobic that such a thing is impossible without them reforming or being destroyed, you should probably feel really bad about that and not go on a pity party and either support humanity fully and not care about the aliens or become some kind of rebel or reformer, ugh this tirade is dumb too