Empire of Silence (Sun Eater #1) by Christopher Ruocchio ★★★★☆: There’s something interesting here, at least at the core. The world building is unique and I think can best be described as cribbing some good tropes and combining them together well. I feel like it’s probably 30% longer than needed, but at least reasonably unpredictable. The thing I dislike the most is the constant discussion of the long-future-from-this-novel state of the narrator. It’s good that it’s wrapping up loose ends (“and I never saw them again” after a chapter, e.g.) but it’s hard that it’s projecting some weird future state (look how awful I made the galaxy). I’m torn, really, but erring on the side of liking it more than I expected from the beginning.
