Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio

For almost a hundred years, Hadrian Marlowe has served the Empire in its war against the Cielcin, a vicious alien race bent on humanity’s destruction. Rumors of a new king amongst the Cielcin have reached the Imperial throne. This one is not like the others. It does not raid borderworld territories, preferring precise, strategic attacks on the humans’ Empire. To make matters worse, a cult of personality has formed around Hadrian, spurred on by legends of his having defied death itself. Men call him Halfmortal. Hadrian’s rise to prominence proves dangerous to himself and his team, as pressures within the Imperial government distrust or resent his new influence. Caught in the middle, Hadrian must contend with enemies before him—and behind. And above it all, there is the mystery of the Quiet. Hadrian did defy death. He did return. But the keys to the only place in the universe where Hadrian might find the answers he seeks lie in the hands of the Emperor himself....

The typical problem with reviewing the books of a series is that at least three or four stars can be attributed to the world the author has set up, and most of that is due to book 1 (in this case [b:Empire of Silence 36454667 Empire of Silence (Sun Eater, #1) Christopher Ruocchio https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523897945l/36454667.SY75.jpg 58159105]). That's somewhat true here, but if that were the case, Demon in White would only get four stars. By book 3 some series have reached the “TV show” stage, where their characters are going on adventures that don't seem entirely related to the overall arc of the story or are just cool, fun things for them to do with new powers or technology. In that case a book could still get three stars if it's in a four-star universe.This certainly isn't the case with Demon in White. With each of [b:Howling Dark 41564599 Howling Dark (Sun Eater, #2) Christopher Ruocchio https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554659319l/41564599.SY75.jpg 64859822] and Demon in White, Christopher Ruocchio has taken the galaxy set up in Empire of Silence to the next level, and he's done the same with the characters. I used to wonder why a story like Ben Hur or Star Wars had to be so tied to a character, why it couldn't be about how awesomely huge THE EMPIRE is. I think the reason I thought that (at the age of twelve, for crying out loud) was that the characters offered in such stories are often just an excuse to tell the story of how huge the empire is. Ruocchio solves this problem by offering us a character who is believably human, and interesting. He likes to draw, he's awkward with girls, he knows how to fight, but he tries to avoid it, and so on. He then takes that character on a crazy adventure through the galaxy, thereby showing the hugeness of it.Howling Dark takes that character to another level, and Demon in White makes him larger than life, so he matches the universe. I don't know how I could give this book less than four stars because it's finished and it doesn't suck. By that I mean it's an artistic accomplishment, and it is worth every one of its 746 pages (there's an appendix). There are no BOGSAT scenes, no filler of any kind. Just pure space opera awesome, so much that I was almost worn out by the end. This character is larger-than-life, and we get some idea of why in this book, but he is still overwhelmingly human, and that's why I'm eagerly awaiting the next book.

This book was not what I expected, except for that I knew it would rock, and it did

Sun Eater is one of those series that is improving as it progresses. The scope and scale and shear epicness only increase with each entry, but each entry also manages to be self contained without leaving to many plot threads hanging. This is epic story telling in the vein of Rothfuss - telling the tale in a poetic way in a more retrospective look - it is the protagonist telling the story after the deed. The prose is rich and beautiful without being obtuse, and is very very readable.

In this, the third book, we are drawn closer to the center of power. Hadrian is now engaging with the Emperor and his close political advisors, getting caught up in a lot of the politicking inherent in a large empire. He is still the great hero - being sent out regularly to counter the Cielcin hordes. We see the fruits of the links that have been alluded to between the empires enemies and that provides a large driver for the first half of the novel.

Whilst the politics have got grander and more Machiavellian, so have the conflicts. There is a lot of huge scale fights. We have moved away from the intimate gladiatorial fighting that characterized the first novel and are mostly dealing with massive armies and space fleet battles - there is an edge of military Sci-Fi to the tale now. This is particularly so in the latter half of the novel.

We also delve further into the mythos that has driven Hadrian's story. Who are The Quiet? Some of these questions begin to be answered.

Not just a stepping stone like some middle books, this one is epic story telling in its own right!