Empire Of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

The Blurb On The Back:

Hadrian Marlowe, privileged first son of a Duke was destined for greatness and he has become a legend. The Sun-Slayer. The Breaker of Sieges. The Crusher of Civilisations. His is a story which defined the course of worlds.

This novel is not that story.

This is Hadrian’s story told in his own words. Of being passed over by his father for rule in favour of his younger brother, and sent to a military academy against his wishes. Of being kidnapped in transit to that planet and sold into slavery and of how he clawed his way back into the dangers and opportunities of politics …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Christopher Ruocchio’s epic SF novel (the first in a series) has some interesting world building and a great sense of scale but the plot is far too predictable (hindered by the fact that Hadrian is writing his own memoir, which robs the book of any sense of jeopardy), the pacing is tortuously slow, Hadrian makes dumb decision for no good reason and the female characters painfully underdeveloped such that I won’t be reading on.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.