Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

The entire Sun Eater series was an awesome read for me. This isn’t just a call to pick up the first book; it’s a call to read the series as a whole. Along with Shōgun, this is my top fiction read of 2025.

Empire of Silence is set 20,000 years in the future after humanity has spread across the galaxy. It tells the story of Hadrian Marlowe in his own words, a man who ran away from his destiny as a nobleman only to find himself caught in a terrible war between the Sollan Empire and the Cielcin, a marauding alien race bent on humanity’s destruction.

From the very first page, Hadrian admits that he is the man who ended that war, and in doing so, destroyed billions of lives. How he did it, and why, remains a mystery yet to be revealed.

The series has epic worldbuilding, and you start to notice it almost immediately. The Sollan Empire rules over millions of worlds, complete with alien races, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, caste systems, futuristic weapons, and (of course) space travel. As the story unfolds, Hadrian visits hundreds of planets and Ruocchio makes each feel distinct. 

The exposition is gradual; everything is filtered through Hadrian’s perspective, so you learn about the universe as he does. This makes the setting feel authentic and lived-in, with a constant sense that there’s always more to be discovered.

The pacing is what made this a strange read, as it’s very different from most science fiction novels. You’re not reading to find out what happens — Hadrian spoils that on the very first page — but to understand how and why it happens. It feels like a 4,000-page autobiography, where the first 700 pages (book one) are devoted entirely to the subject’s early life. It isn’t flashy; Ruocchio takes his time establishing the world and Hadrian’s inner conflict before the larger stakes finally come into focus.

Because of this, it’s worth committing to at least the first two books, not just Empire of Silence. Everything is part of the same massive, interconnected story, and the series needs time to settle in before it really gets going. I took a couple of weeks between each of the first few books, but by the end I was so invested that I took barely a week to finish the rest of the series.

The frame narrative gives the story a reflective, almost confessional quality, as though Hadrian is trying to set the record straight. This tone is established from the very first pages:

Light.

The light of that murdered sun still burns me. I see it through my eyelids, blazing out of history from that bloody day, hinting at fires indescribable. It was like something holy, as if the sun were torn asunder and it was the light from the Gods’ own heaven that burned the world and billions of lives with it. I carry that light always, seared into the back of my mind. I make no excuses, no apologies, no denials for what I have done. I am what I am, and I know it could have been no other way.

If you couldn’t tell, the writing definitely leans toward the poetic. Each book is long, and Hadrian is frequently described by those close to him as melodramatic, so it’s no surprise that his narration reads that way. The prose is dense, giving the series an epic, memoir-like feel rather than an action story.

It’s also worth noting that this was Ruocchio’s debut novel. He began writing it at just sixteen and finished around age twenty-two. As a result, the plot can meander, and many readers rank the first book among the weakest in the series. To be fair, Ruocchio himself has admitted that he didn’t fully know where the story was headed at the time. That said, his dialogue and overall command of the story improve noticeably as the series progresses.

I think many readers rate Empire of Silence more highly in hindsight, after finishing the series, because it ultimately feels necessary. It provides the foundation — who Hadrian Marlowe is and where he comes from — and without that grounding, it’s hard to imagine being as emotionally invested in what follows.

Lord Hadrian Marlowe, The Halfmortal, The Palekiller, The Demon in White, The Sun Eater. By the end of the first book, you might even wonder whether you’re meant to like the protagonist at all. Remember, this is Hadrian at his youngest. You’ll have to work for it and stick with him, but it’s worth the effort.