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Johan

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Tre

by Valérie Perrin

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4 hours, 39 min ago

Johan is currently reading

Empire of Silence (The Sun Eater, #1)

by Christopher Ruocchio (Goodreads Author)

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in July 2018

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Johan said: " This novel is about a character, Hadrian Marlowe, born into the wealthiest family of a planet in a galaxy-spanning human empire. From what we can make out, he is the only one among the so privileged with a conscience and heart. He has a scholastic me This novel is about a character, Hadrian Marlowe, born into the wealthiest family of a planet in a galaxy-spanning human empire. From what we can make out, he is the only one among the so privileged with a conscience and heart. He has a scholastic mentor he cares more for than his father, and a younger brother that appears typically heartless towards the lower classes, and who is more interested in combat than philosophy. Also, Hadrian refuses to play nice with the bullying "One and True Religion of the Empire". One day Hadrian makes a bad decision that reflects poorly upon his father, so his father decides to have him sent off to the church (for a vocation)... and that's when the hero finally needs to break free from the only world he has ever known.

Now, a lot happens in this novel, and what I've outlined is really only the beginning, but I thought there would be more action and critical plot developments. But this story isn't like that, which I find refreshing rather than disappointing. There are critical moments in Hadrian's story, and there's action/fighting sequences, but the focus of the novel is more of Hadrian's ideologies' development, his inner conflicts, and his actions based on all this chaos. So it's not a fast read, but it keeps me as a reader quite engaged.

As a character, Hadrian is a bit infuriating. At the start of the novel he is 19, and naive. His naiveté doesn't ever quite go away though several years pass in the novel. His unstoppable passion also puts him into more trouble than he knows how to get out of on his own. This doesn't rhyme well with his upbringing, if you ask me. But it's okay, I can forgive this. What's more worrisome is the church (the chantry) and its characters, that seem to be no-nonsense bullies. In this universe they are so naturally, since their religion is the one and only, but it makes for boring antagonists. Bullies are ok only if you can get them to evolve in some way, because otherwise you know they just need to die sooner or later. Now then, so far these characters haven't been overly influential on the story, but I fear there may come more... the church seems central to the overall plot of the series. Other characters are ok, Valka (an older scientists Hadrian "has a thing for") being the most memorable. But I have to flag a warning for the female characters herein... not entirely sure they're not there to give glory to the hero in the end, after all. So to the author I say: you better not make Valka an appendix of Hadrian after all that! *fingers crossed*

I'm very curious to see where this story goes next. I haven't even mentioned the war humanity is apparently waging on the only other known space-faring race of the galaxy, or the mysterious ruins found on certain planets out there... Yes indeed, there's mystery enough for anyone in here, if you but stay with the story. ...more "

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(page 300 of 753)
— Feb 21, 2026 10:29AM

Jul 11, 2018 02:19AM · see review