Empire of silence is certainly a book - no spoilers review

I finished this book a week or so ago and I can’t stop thinking about it. I have so many thoughts. I need to gush and rant about it at the same time

I liked this book. It’s not bad by any means but it didn’t wow me either.

But also there’s a lot in this book but I didn’t feel like it should have taken that long to say what was said.

Lets talk the about the good and the bad

The good:

The worldbuilding: The book always feels like there is more out there unexplored. We see many characters from around the galaxy and it feels really large in scope. Also the constant threat of the cielcin was pretty interesting.

Hadrian: Hadrian himself is pretty interesting and I feel like he had to be because there weren’t that many compelling characters in the story/anyone else we could root for.

The philosophy: You don’t have to agree with the philosophy in this book but have to agree that it is impressive. This is very much a book about the human condition and about how much a man can take before he just breaks.

The bad:

The prose: The prose is beautifully written. I’m not saying it isn’t but it just felt so bloated at times. The story is set in the context of the main character writing an autobiography about what led him take the actions he did. In the context of the story, are you really supposed to believe that the main character remembered every detail in an environment of a random, very mundane day of his life?

But fine. Let’s ignore that and just say that he has an amazing memory. It’s still bloated as hell. The plot stops for a long ass time randomly just for the main character to describe the most mundane things. But just, why??? It’s worse in a conversation because a character says something, or the main character does, but the dialogue stops for a good 2 pages just to describe grass or the floor or something.

I gave this example before, but this is what it feels like reading this book: "Hi" I say to the man in front of me. His lips curl back to reveal white teeth. White like the moonlight that paints the ocean near my home a cloudy grey. His hair sticks up in a strange style. It stands at end like spikes with red dyed points at the end. They jut up into the sky like bloody spears of some clandestine army belonging to some dread king of stories old. "Good morning." The man replies. He glances at the floor. I look too noticing the green jade tiles. They twinkle and shine a bouncing light, casting the bottom of our faces in a green hue.” This isn’t in the book but I made it up in approximation of what it’s like reading this book.

I gave you this long ass description but what did you get out of that whole paragraph? I said hi to someone, and they said good morning back. That’s it. Now imagine this for 600 pages. It’s even more irritating because there’s a very very high change you will never see that character again. And that leads to my next point

The side characters: Anyone that’s not Hadrian is very flat. The only thing that they have to themselves is a name, and a description of their face. And whenever someone that has the potential to be interesting comes up, the author wastes the chance and just gives them one or two character traits and calls it a day. valka is the only one I found interesting and she’s basically just: anthropologist that doesn’t like violence and that’s it. That’s her whole character.

Plot: The last issue I have with the book is just the meandering. He literally has no goal. Ok fine he does have a larger goal but he has no moment to moment goal to keep the plot progressing. The best way I can say this without spoiling anything is a guy that wants a Lamborghini. Now imagine he writes a book for 600 pages talking about how he wants a Lamborghini but never has a specific plan. He doesn’t talk about getting a job, what investments to make, how he’s going to save money. Nothing. He just spends the whole time talking about wanting a Lamborghini. And that’s what it felt like.

Closing thoughts: The last quarter or so is a lot better because the worldbuilding really opens up and we see new aspects of the world we only hear about for the past 400 pages. But it never felt like that last quarter made up for reading the previous 75%.

It feels you wanting more. But not in the sense that you want it so bad. But in the sense that you’re eating something, you have one bite, and someone yanks the plate away.