“Eternity is in silence. It is in the quiet of the world, in the darkness and solitude of the heart. These are the things that make forever out of instants.” – Christopher Ruocchio

In the genre of space operas, the perspectives available to you as an author are endless. A rich noble in a state of ignorant bliss, a starving rebel with ambitions larger than their small planet colony, or a space general who has the lives of billions resting on his shoulders. Though what if we were able to see all of these perspectives through one set of eyes? One persons journey? Christopher Ruocchio tries to accomplish just that in his ambitious first book in a series of many Empire of Silence.

Synopsis

Empire of Silence is the story of a war already fought and the man who ended it, a reflection on the past of Hadrian Marlowe. The blood of billions coats his hands, a devil in human flesh, the killer of a sun. He has now become a myth, a story told to children to either comfort or terrify them, though he was at one point just a man. Born of noble birth, he is the oldest son to a family rich in wealth and in history, the top of the food chain. But after a series of unfortunate events, Hadrian finds out first hand what it is like to truly want, to need, to survive. And as fate would have it, this life on the bottom is his first steps to a life well beyond the top, steps he may soon regret taking.

The World

If there is one thing that I crave when it comes to a space opera, it is deep and well thought out world lore. While many may find paragraphs of lore dumps boring or annoying, I live for them and Christopher Ruocchio delivers. Though do not worry too much if you are against lore dumps because in my opinion there is a very good balance of exploring a worlds history and culture while still keeping the reader in the moment and engaged with the characters.

Though it is truly this universe in The Silence of Empires that kept me engaged all the way through. For sci-fi and fantasy, in my experience, it can be very difficult to truly make a reader feel like they are there. It is just hard for me personally to engage in a world that is so unlike our own if it is not convincingly fleshed out in my head. Though Ruocchio had no problem accomplishing this for me and I was pretty immersed the entire time, even as we bounced from locations and even worlds.

I think this was in large part because of how he fleshed out all manners of life for the people living on these planets. From universal politics to day to day community functions, we get a pretty clear view of what it would be like to live in the worlds our character inhabit. And for the most part we aren’t learning this from a third perspective rant, as I said before there are lore dumps, but they mostly come in the form of characters or plot lines that incorporate that lore pretty seamlessly. Overall I would say that my main motivation for reading the second book after this one is to continue exploring this rich universe that Ruocchio has created.

Characters

Now here is where my only real critique lies, Hadrian was a very hard character for me to get invested in until much later in the book. I will say first that I believe that the main characters unlikability is seemingly intentional, it makes sense narratively that we as the reader aren’t supposed to like him at first. My main issue with connecting with him wasn’t that he was unpleasant, it was that I couldn’t clearly see him getting to a place that I could like him. His outlook and his ego really seemed like an impossible feat for him to get over and there were no real underlying qualities that made me want to see him get over them.

To Ruocchio’s credit I feel that the character arc for Hadrian not only warmed me to him by the end, but it also did so in a way that I found convincing. Though it is still a flaw in my opinion because I do believe that it dampened my reading experience for the first half of the book.

Other than Hadrian I found most of the main side characters to be very well done. The love interest was probably my favorite character and felt fully realized as a person as if she was the lead. The other side characters were your typical flawed but charming group, with reactions to events that I felt were realistic and engaging. Overall I would say that the ground work for these characters was laid out very well, but it is hard to tell how I really feel about them as I feel that a majority of their character growth will be later in the series.

Conclusion

This book was a very compelling start to a larger series, the stage was set, the stakes were laid out, and all there is to do is follow it to its conclusion. I was sold on the story Ruocchio was selling and I am excited to watch it continue to unfold. Though as just a singular novel I was left slightly wanting when it came to fully embracing the main character and getting invested in the story for his sake. For that reason this book for me gets 3.75/5 stars.

Book cover by Sam Weber

Instagram post done by Kennedy Chiara

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