Empire of Silence
The Sun Eater: Book One
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4.4 • 669 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
"[E]pic science fiction at its most genuinely epic." —James S.A. Corey, New York Times-bestselling author of The Expanse novels
"This wow book is a must for fans of Pierce Brown and Patrick Rothfuss." —Library Journal (starred)
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.
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.
On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe starts down a path that can only end in fire. He flees his father and a future as a torturer only to be left stranded on a strange, backwater world.
Forced to fight as a gladiator and navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, Hadrian must fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.
Customer Reviews
NOTW + Dune
You can definitely see the pieces being pulled from Name of the Wind and Dune (maybe a little Blood Song), but it really comes into its own. I’ve been a bit stale on fantasy and sci-fi recently, but this book really captured the grand style and beautifully written prose that I’ve really only gotten in books like Name of the Wind and Farseer. Some people seem to think its too slowly paced, and I couldn’t disagree more. I love that the space opera epic sci fi stuff comes hand in hand with a very personal and emotional beginning of a story. I enjoyed it immensely and couldn’t recommend it more!!
Decent Read Overall
A decent read. It definitely scratched the itch I had for a Space Opera. The world building was decent and the characters were fleshed out enough to be memorable. All in all a solid fun read.
I only had two main issues with the story:
1. The pacing is sporadic. Some parts seem to drag on and on with nothing significant happening at all. While other parts move so fast you don’t really have time to acclimate to what’s happening in that moment.
2. Partly because of the pacing, it’s doesn’t really feel like anything significant happens. I realize the author has set this up to be a series, and the final act sets up the next book perfectly, but overall it’s pretty anticlimactic.
If you’re looking for a fun little sci-fi adventure and don’t have anything else on your reading list I’d recommend this.
I kept reading
This is one of those books you finish, waiting for something to happen. It just never really gets to anything nor did I care too much about anyone. Still, the writing is decent and I’ll continue the series. Just kind of meh when it really could have been better.