EMPIRE OF SILENCE

Character driven story in a rich world/universe.A breath of fresh air with a lot of familiar sci-fy tropes.Enjoyed this first book enough to dive into the series.

The world building is heavily inspired from Dune, but that’s ok. What matters the most is the story and this is where the novel falters. May be I am a bit impatient reader and didn’t like the slow pace with which the story unfolds which is unidimensional in the first place.Further, at one point, I started wondering is this story about Hadrian, the hero or his observations and thoughts about Valka, which occupy more than half of the novel.

It was interesting being able to get an insight into a mind that thinks so deeply. The main character writing this autobiography is pretty honest about his own flaws .I have never read of a male personality such as this one. Hadrian is someone who is capable of well intentioned cruelty. He is also a book worm who frequently quotes his favorite authors and many people take potshots at him for this . This includes his own condescending love interest. The one thing that seemed one sided though was how religiously fanatical the entirety of mankind has been made out to be. A sobering picture of what may happen perhaps if we ever allowed dissent and debate to disappear in the real world. All 3 books in this series have been amazing so far.