Okay, so I’ll admit, the first book in author Christopher Ruocchio’s Sun Eater series, Empire of Silence, didn’t thrill me like I thought it would. I first saw the book years ago on a shelf in Barnes & Noble, got excited about the prospect of reading it, forgot about it for several years after that, then rediscovered it and set myself to checking it out as soon as possible. After listening through the audiobook, much of it felt too familiar, and I wasn’t quite sold on the cast of characters. Part of me was willing to give up on continuing the series altogether, but man, I am so glad I didn’t do that. Thankfully, book two, Howling Dark, is a complete improvement over its predecessor.
Howling Dark picks up nearly five decades after the first book, though that’s accounting for a lot of time when the characters are in a deep freeze sleep. More realistically, it’s like a couple of months, maybe a year or two. Sci-fi stuff, y’know? The core plot of the novel continues from what was established in the latter half of Empire of Silence; our protagonist, Hadrian Marlowe, and his cohorts seek to make contact with the alien Cielcin and hopefully broker a peace between their race and humanity. To do so, they search for the hidden world of Vorgossos and its ruler, known as the Undying, who potentially holds the key to helping Hadrian achieve his ambitious goals.
From the jump, the atmosphere of Howling Dark is miles ahead of anything Empire of Silence presented. While the “ancient empires in space” aesthetic was enjoyable to a degree, it didn’t offer anything new when compared to its sci-fi contemporaries. Ruocchio’s true creativity really starts to shine in this second book, though, as he’s exploring new worlds and truly alien cultures with more vigor and freedom than before.
What’s more, much of the grander backstory to the Sun Eater universe starts cropping up here in meaningful ways, and it’s all so very cool. Again, it’s not necessarily breaking new ground, but it all still manages to remain interesting and fun, from the history of humanity’s past war with the artificial intelligence they created, the different human sects and their varying cultural beliefs, the disturbing revelations of Vorgossos and its ruler, and the intricacies of the Cielcin. Ruocchio works within established sci-fi frameworks to create his own universe that is lush with life and conflict that deserve to be experienced.
Furthermore, Ruocchio’s characters absolutely flourish throughout this book. Hadrian in particular feels far less one-note than before. Rather than going through the motions of his story, he has much more agency now. Plus, the cracks are starting to show of how he will eventually come into his legend as the man who obliterated a sun and killed an entire alien species, as was foretold at the beginning of this series.
I was also very fond of Khan Sagara, the fabled legend of old who has somehow now lived for thousands of years and risen to become the hidden ruler of Vorgossos. His haunting, unmoving presence is utilized perfectly throughout the book. Likewise, Hadrian’s friends, such as Valka and the rest of the Red Company, are much more well utilized throughout the story. They all feel properly fleshed out, to their respective degrees.
While Howling Dark does border on being cliché at times, with dramatic set pieces and easy-to-anticipate character beats, none of it feels overly derivative or cheap. Quite the contrary, in fact, as the story wields many clichés to its advantage, if anything. When the protagonists feel triumphant or defeated, we get to really share in those moments and emotions as readers/listeners. And when the story starts delivering on its promises, it all feels deserved and well-earned. For example, finally getting to see the payoff of the promised romance between Hadrian and Valka was such a huge win. Part of me was wondering if it was actually going to go there—if it didn’t, that would have been fine—but I’m so happy it did.
The overall plot progression and pacing are enhanced as well, thanks to all of these other aforementioned elements. Even when things slow down for specific moments, the setting and character interactions are still enthralling enough that nothing ever feels boring. The right things are pretty much always happening at the right times and for the right reasons.
Truly, this is a story worth the reader’s/listener’s attention. It’s certainly worth trudging through the first book to get this point, that’s for sure. I’m still listening to this series via audiobooks, and I suspect I’ll continue to do so moving forward, but I’m now very strongly leaning toward picking up physical copies anyway just to have them. That’s always basically been my philosophy with good books. That’ll be a decision to make once I’m done with the whole series, though.
So, overall, Howling Dark was a complete win for me. I think I can now more strongly recommend the series as a whole, even if I’ve got a good handful of books to go still. But even then, I have to imagine things only go up from here. The story is picking up speed, and Ruocchio’s skill and attention to detail are becoming more apparent now. It’s all got me very excited for whatever comes next. Needless to say, you can count on me coming back sometime later this year with a review of Sun Eater book three, Demon in White. Stay tuned!