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Empire of Silence cover art

Empire of Silence

Written by: Christopher Ruocchio
Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
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Publisher's Summary

Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy. 

It was not his war. On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe started down a path that could only end in fire. 

The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives - even the emperor himself - against Imperial orders. 

But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier. Fleeing his father and a future as a torturer, Hadrian finds himself stranded on a strange, backwater world. 

Forced to fight as a gladiator and into the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, he will find himself fighting a war he did not start, for an empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.

©2018 Christopher Ruocchio (P)2018 Recorded Books

What listeners say about Empire of Silence

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Author's first book is amazing.

Empire of Silence is essentially everything I was missing from Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. It features a fascinating protagonist whose personal goals get tied up in the political intrigue he lives through. Hadrian is a good guy. Hadrian is ruthless. He's the narrator of this story and he knows what he is, agonizing over his mistakes like the dramatic character he recognizes he is. I was also swept away with the world building. It goes into a level of detail so unlike anything I've ever seen before. It original, yet eerily familiar, making me wonder if humanity will ever outgrow its weaker character traits. The narrative is flawless structurally, as well, keeping me engaged with moments of triumph and despair. The only thing that rung a little off to me was that Hadrian makes the same mistake at least twice. You think he would have known to do better after the first time, but I suppose that can be excused as negative character trait. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the other books.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Slow Burn-Dune-Name of the wind Sci Fi combo.

really enjoyed even tho it was very slow. But push through future readers! the narrator has done a great job bringing every character to life.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good but too long

Story is good but way too long. Got really tired of hero’s brooding and self-loathing. Don’t think I will read the second book in the series.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So glad there are more books!

It’s not my preferred genre but I’m so glad I started listening. The story and performance were both excellent.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Derivative of Dune, but still worth it!

I have been perusing the plus catalogue for a very long time. Sifting through title after sci-fi, title, hoping to strike gold. A series I can listen to for a while as I stack my credits. FINALLY I found this lil nugget!
Now I’m not saying this is a literary masterpiece, I’m not even claiming the the cast of characters are unique or novel. What I am saying is that it was definitely a thoroughly enjoyable listen, enjoyable enough that I plan to listen to all 60 hours between the three free titles in the series. It has an uncanny resemblance to Dune, scholiasts for example can draw parallels to mentats. There’s the shields that preclude the use of high-speed projectile weapons, but allow slow moving objects to penetrate, battle by sword becoming, the default means of war fighters to prosecute their targets,. There are the feudal hierarchies, Prohibition against technology as a result of AI’s past enslavement of man… but the plot is unique enough to make it totally worth it, and I would never consider an insult to be compared to Dune, a freaking masterpiece.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Dune-like

Great story. Reminds me of Dune. Very well planned and the lore is extensive. It feels a bit long - personally I wish this was 2 books, but I like shorter reads. The reader has an immersive voice that matches the tone of the writing.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

Completely captivating. I am not usually drawn to first person narration but I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and will be binging the rest of the series!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Slow But Fascinating

This overall is such a fun read. My brain typically turns off during the more politically heavy parts of any fantasy or sci fi novel, but both the writing and narration in Empire of Silence were strong enough to make paying attention easy. Although the story is slowly paced, I found most of the content, mostly the characters and ideas within, interesting and fascinating enough that I plowed through all 26 hours very quickly. Highly recommended sci-fi fantasy.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

good but quality changes

i love the narators reading amd the story is my fav scifi, only issue is the recording quality randomly changes for a single sentence here or there. it isnt horrible but it was really noticeable and took a second to get back into the story each time

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A superb space opera

Great story and use of foreshadowing. even though you're told the end at the very beginning, you're always wondering how it did. Narration was top drawer, I'm listening to Stephen Frye read Sherlock Holmes and his acting is of that level. Hate to compare it to Gormenghast, but I loved that book for the same reasons.

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