EMPIRE OF SILENCE

released 5 JULY 804 pages | Hardback/ebook/ audiobook Author Christopher ruocchio Publisher Gollancz

there comes a point reading Empire Of Silence when you think, “Hang on, have I been conned?” The very first paragraph talks about destruction on a stellar scale, so you expect plenty of action. You start reading the story of Hadrian Marlowe, who’s born into privilege but kicks back, ending up down and out on a very different planet, expecting this to be the prelude. The writing style is unpretentious and easy to absorb, so you’ll slip into Hadrian’s life. However, sooner or later you’ll realise that at the pace things are proceeding, you’re unlikely to reach that starbusting climax.

There’s a lot to enjoy here. Hell, there’s a lot of book here. Christopher Ruocchio’s world-building is excellent, though in the early chapters things do feel as though he’s taken a chunk of early modern European history and stretched it, so a county becomes a planet and several generations’ rule becomes 31. At other points other borrowings, especially from the classical Greeks and Romans, are clear. More intriguing still are literary references; there’s a distinct whiff of Gormenghast about Hadrian’s home.

Like The Fellowship Of The Ring, this book is more about the journey than the destination. That exploding star still waits, temptingly, in the future, but it’s hard not to feel a little cheated when you reach the end. Miriam McDonald