{"id":39948,"date":"2024-08-15T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=39948"},"modified":"2024-08-14T12:52:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T16:52:02","slug":"the-clarion-reviews-empire-of-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/campus-life\/2024\/08\/15\/the-clarion-reviews-empire-of-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clarion Reviews: Empire of Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ruocchio’s debut kickstarted the “Suneater” series. Photo Credit: DAW Books<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To those just stumbling onto it, Christopher Ruocchio’s “Suneater” series feels like the sleeper hit they didn’t know they were looking for. At least that is how I felt after beginning my journey into the ridiculously good first novel in the six-book saga. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruocchio is a rare talent: sci-fi novels told from the first-person perspective are rarely as personable or evocative they are in his debut. In retrospect, the story of Hadrian Marlowe, the eponymous Suneater, could not be told any other way. Up close and personal, we are given a visceral and emotional look at an infamous xenocide reflecting on a long and complicated life. It\u2019s full of drama, heartbreak, and intrigue that never disappoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We follow Hadrian\u2019s tale from a life of privilege on the lush planet of Delos to the fighting pits of hot and humid Emesh. The betrayals he suffers cut deep, the frequent setbacks relatable despite the book\u2019s otherworldly setting. For a character to carry a series this expansive they need to be dynamic and nuanced. Such a description fits Hadrian to a \u2018T\u2019 as we see him develop while struggling to survive one dangerous encounter after another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It helps that Ruocchio\u2019s complex narrative is woven around an interesting setting. Parts of his world-building have a clear heritage linking the novel to Frank Herbert\u2019s Dune and other major series. This is meant as a complement, for despite being next in line to a rich sci-fi tradition the author does more than enough to make the cultures and planets of this interstellar tapestry unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Gene Wolfe\u2019s Severian and Robin Hobb\u2019s Fitz, Hadrian\u2019s perspective is fleshed out enough to carry the book on its own. The interesting cast around him are also full of character’s with depth that add tension, drama, and the occasional laugh when required. If “Empire of Silence” is anything to go by, readers should brace themselves for a couple more weeks or even months locked in the struggles of this impressive cast. The five books that follow this exquisite debut have one heck of a foundation to build on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ruocchio’s debut kickstarted the “Suneater” series. Photo Credit: DAW Books To those just stumbling onto it, Christopher Ruocchio’s “Suneater” series feels like the sleeper hit they didn’t know they were looking for. At least that is how I felt after beginning my journey into the ridiculously good first novel in the six-book saga. Ruocchio is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":39949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2102,3613,2119],"tags":[1386,109,276],"class_list":["post-39948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-culture","category-reviews","tag-entertainment","tag-review","tag-sinclair-community-college"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Featured-Image.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-aok","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39950,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39948\/revisions\/39950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}