Hello Fellow Journeyers,
Taking another much needed break from the well worn path of strictly fantasy finds us at a sci-fi space opera in Empire of Silence. Recommended by a fellow Goodreads member who compared it to The Name of the Wind and Red Rising, I had to check this one out.
What's the story about: Empire of Silence is a retrospectively told story of an elder main character recounting his journey from his origins as an Archduke's son to becoming a person of legend and myth in the galaxy. His story begins by ending in the fashion that he originally supposed and heads on a trajectory of unexpected events.
What I immediately liked about this saga was the grandiose way Ruocchio uses to tell his story. Much of it is reflective, contemplative, and leans heavily on philosophical and the minutia of social rhetoric, but it all contains suspense and is clear enough to follow without being convoluted. Honestly, I'm a sucker for a good reflective first-person story and it couldn't help but remind me of Darrow from Red Rising. For me, this seemed much more similarly to the world and character of Darrow, but with the canopy of Dune's plot.
Something worth noting is that the plot grows on you slowly, as you have to be pretty patient with it. Not that it is boring, but there is just a lot of detail Ruocchio uses to tell the story and it simply takes time. I liked reveling in the story, but like other readers, I experienced the fatigue of words early on. This wasn't a bad thing though. The prose is gorgeous and fantastic, it just took a patience that was mostly worth it in the end. Along with the lengthiness of the writing another aspect that is hard to chew on is the verbiage and amount of terms you "need" to remember. The world-building is very dense and detailed almost to a fault. There is an index included, but using an electronic copy made me never turn to it. Upon reading this one for myself, it doesn't change the plot progression or quality of storytelling if you don't follow along closely, which I didn't.
A main criticism that Empire of Silence is given is that it is overly derivative, which I disagree with whole-heartedly. While inspiration is definitely seen from several places (Dune, The Name of the Wind, Red Rising, etc.), it doesn't feel like it copies any of these stories. It is its own beast entirely while wrapping in many other sci-fi series as well. But Ruocchio's main character is the biggest reason it is not a copy of any series. Hadrian Marlowe is the most humble arrogant character I've ever read. He's insanely intelligent, but makes youthful mistakes that make him endearing. He's perceptive in what he notices, but misses important details like so many of us do. He's both emotional and logical in his headspace and more than anything, he's just fascinating to read about. He's one of my favorite characters since Darrow in Red Rising and I can't wait to read more about him.
I think the hardest part of writing this review is knowing that I couldn't give it what I thought it may have deserved, what I wanted to give it. While it was truly amazing in certain places, it slows down so much in the middle section from 45-70% that I can't help but see how the whole story was affected. In some ways, the reason why the ending couldn't have it's impact like it was supposed to, was because of this meandery like way the middle took to get almost nowhere. I understand that it had to set up the end by having that middle section, but it was confusing, downright boring at times, and more than a little useless to what seemed like a very important main story that should have been being told. This may sound harsh, but it's only because I liked the beginning and end so much that I have such frustrations with that middle section. I'm hooked, no doubt about it, but in a lot of ways I think the story could be cleaned up and made easier to read. When Ruocchio used so many words to tell his story, it better be worth telling, and that middle section just wasn't so much.
★★★★★ 4 Stars - Empire of Silence is a lengthy but beautifully told story. Some authors were meant to write the stories they do, and Christopher Ruocchio was meant to write this one. While it is not a perfectly told story, specifically in progression and plotting, there is much more to like than to dislike about Empire of Silence's brilliant prose, wonderful main character, interesting events, and intriguing ending. A thick introductory book to what could be an amazing series!
Let me hear from you! If you like what you read, want to hear more thoughts on this book, other reviews, or talk book recommendations and Essential Reading, leave a comment below.
Rating system:
★★★★★ 5 Stars: It was amazing; I loved it. Read this book; it is definitely Essential Reading!
★★★★★* 4.5 Stars: It was nearly perfect. I really loved almost every aspect of it, but a few things kept it from being amazing.
★★★★ 4 Stars: It was very worth reading and satisfying; highly recommend.
★★★★* 3.5 Stars: I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but it was lacking in certain crucial areas.
★★★ 3 Stars: It was good, but could've been better or improved upon significantly.
★★★* 2.5 Stars: I wanted to enjoy it. Certain aspects were good, it was worth finishing, but many issues.
★★ 2 Stars: It was okay, I didn't feel strongly about it.
★ 1 Star: I did not like it. It was not worth finishing or I did not finish it.
*I round up based on the system on Goodreads. Also, there is no 1.5 Stars because it does not seem to have enough differentiation.