Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
“I have had many names. During the war, I was Hadrian Halfmortal and Hadrian the Deathless. After the war, I was the Sun Eater. To the poor people of Borosevo, I was a myrmidon called Had. To the Jaddians, I was Al Neroblis. To the Cielcin, I was Oimn Belu”
— Christopher Ruocchio, Empire of Silence
A broken
Hadrian Marlowe is introducing himself in red ink, sitting in a dungeon—a wiser, more tempered version of himself, far past what he once was as a young lord preparing to take over his father's position at Devil's Rest, with the only Cielcin being the ones in nervous rumours, and the greatest silence he observes, from the Colosso.
Artistry and Craft
Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio is the first book in the seven-book series, the seventh coming out just recently. This book is a long one compared to many, but average in length in terms of being an epic sci-fi. Its writing started off with being decent; I found it a bit cringe-inducing at some points and repetitive, but this might have been intentional to frame the main character's character growth and make it obvious to the reader. One of the gradual improvements made was the philosophical and historical recounts and quotes that the main character Hadrian Marlowe often reflects on or says, even citing the concept of 'memes' casually as a integrated part of the language as a result of it being historically and culturally embedded over the millennias. The prose and quoting grew from bearable, to good, to enjoyable by the end of the novel, making it a gradually gripping experience that felt grounded in history of thought..
The world and names are complex and "alien," as with any epic sci-fi opera, so if a reader finds it difficult to track with different houses and complex names, I suggest they pull up the Empire of Silence SuperSummary page where all of the characters' names and associations can be found, but also with spoilers, so be careful if you do decide to use their guide.
I found certain aspects of the religious and political systems in the novel interesting, specifically concerning how the Chantry operates, thinking and propagating that the aliens, or the Cielcin, were demons. Interestingly, even though this book was published years ago, when the opinion and speculation of aliens being demons in the Christian community wasn't widely heard of yet, this book was written. I think that this literary, religious and political system, and what some Christians or even just people believe in real life, reflects a lot of the panic and fear and the nature itself of speculation. I don't have much to say on the speculation, but the novle verson reminds me a bit of how systems of dehumanization work in many aspects.
There are also a lot of hard parts to read in this book in terms of the highly transactional or exploitative views of sex. There is nothing explicit, but people are often referred to as objects or products, or even ways to display power, which is reflective of the extreme of what we as a society might become and already are silently in many respects. Even though some discussions between characters were unnerving, I felt like most of these difficult conversations and even, at times, portrayals were necessary to show how the culture that Hadrian lives in operates. I believe these uncomfortable parts of the book also serve to display the immaturity, carelessness, and detachment of some characters. Even though the unnerving nature of this part of the book, which is far away from the ethic of Christ, is tough at points, Marlowe serves as a mirror of the reader's reaction, assuring the reader that this behavior throughout society at large isn’t good and is evil to normalize. For my Christian readers, this also includes the sexual ethic of culturally accepted casual intimacy or same-sex intimacy being treated as a norm, much like in ancient Greek society. If you find yourself uncomfortable with that, this may not be the book for you.
I'd also like to mention that if you were renting this book from the library like I did, you should plan out your pacing if you're a slow reader. As I was reading this book in the process of a compacted university course naturally a lot of my time was taken up, and I waited around until about the last 8 to 10 days of my rental period to read it. I wasn't able to finish the full book from the library, I had to find another way on my phone to read the rest of the novel and I feel like I would have enjoyed this book more if I had planned better. ★★★
Themes and Messages
I really enjoyed the themes and messages in Empire of Silence for several different reasons. This is a philosophical story; the main character, Hadrian Marlowe, a noble lord, recounts his life from the position of being at the end of his life in a dungeon, consequently after destroying a sun and committing genocide against a violent and cruel race of alien species. Off the bat, the premise is a heavy one, which should prepare you for some of the topics the book tackles.
The book asks the question: Where do we mess up? Or more accurately, where do we err? Because, as the main character astutely points out, we err before we do wrong; we first walk down the wrong path that then leads us to a morally wrong decision, showing the reader what the process of missing the mark looks like. From the Christian perspective, I found this really insightful and almost refreshing, as the book didn't frame sin as a one-off incident of character or even as 'no big deal compared to X ' as sometimes books do as false reassurance when readers use reading for escapism; rather, it shows the descent into sin through the imperfect decisions we make if they aren't corrected or if we don't learn from them.
One of my favourite things about the book was that the author wasn't afraid to sometimes put Hadrian in a bad light. Hadrian is painfully human in his tendency to miss the mark, oftentimes wanting to do good, even sometimes acting out of anger or vengeance, or even sometimes acting with coldness and detachment. This really drives his character growth home, making a quote like this one stand out and mean something:
“The fool believes the iniquities of the world are the fault of other men. Gibson’s voice, dry as old manuscript pages, had never been more clear. The truly wise try to change themselves, which is the more difficult and less grand task.”
— Christopher Ruocchio, Empire of Silence
As I mentioned before, this book is philosophical, quoting everything from St. Augustine to the Ship of Theseus, to explore what makes something human. This question, what makes a person human, is applied to the groups of people who live in the universe that Hadrian came across. From thieves and brutes, to common people who struggle to make a living and who are treated as less than human by the Palatine. From the Homunculi, who are cloned and genetically modified humans to serve specific purposes, sort of like machines, to the Palatine themselves, the noble class, for being so genetically modified that they live longer than the average human and are considered short at 7 feet. ★★★★
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio is a solid book to start off a series with. I can't wait to read further. If you're curious to see what I think about the other books in the series, make sure to subscribe to be notified by email whenever I post!
I would recommend this book to those who don't mind reading difficult things, sometimes uncomfortable things, enjoying and reflecting on human nature while reading about space, travel and alien species. This novel, for me, is a 3.8 out of 5.
Content Discretion:
There are mentions of sexual assault, violence, systemic cruelty, colonization, abuse, neglect, negligence, theft, homelessness, and betrayal.
That's all folks! If you enjoyed the review, feel free to share it and/or leave a comment below. I'd love to hear your perspective and if you have been reading the series! ❤❤❤
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