Cover design by Jenna Ruocchio

Queen Amid Ashes by Christopher Ruocchio

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Sun Eater (Book #2.5 of 7)

Genre: Sci-fi, Space Opera, Science Fantasy

Pages: 173 pages (Kindle edition)

Word Count: 36,000 words

Published: 8th June 2022 (Self-Published)

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Contemplative and thought-provoking, Queen Amid Ashes asked the question of who’s more monstrous in The Sun Eater universe: humanity or The Cielcin?

“Men are ever more careful with the lives of their loved ones than they are with their own.”

Although they’re both spin-offs to the main series, three main things are separated The Lesser Devil to Queen Amid Ashes. First, The Lesser Devil is a short novel at 56,000 words long, and Queen Amid Ashes is a novella at roughly 36,000 words long. The second point, and probably the most important one, is where The Lesser Devil follows Crispin Marlowe as the POV character, in Queen Amid Ashes, we get to continue our journey with Hadrian Marlowe first-person narration, the main character of the main novels of The Sun Eater series. And lastly, because of the second point, the narrative and storytelling style in Queen Amid Ashes is more attuned to the main novels rather than the heavily battle-scenes oriented style of The Lesser Devil. Those who loved Empire of Silence and Howling Dark will have a great time reading Queen Amid Ashes.

“There will always be peace. It is only a question of when. War is energy, and energy runs down. The universe returns to rest, and whether that rest comes without any conflict or after it is another matter entirely.”

Hadrian’s mission takes him to the desert planet Thagura, and by driving off the Cielcin invaders, he rescues Lady Gadar Malyan (the Baroness of Thagura) in the process. But peace in Thagura hasn’t been achieved. There is still inhuman resistance in the desert world, and Hadrian the Halfmortal must soon do battle with not only the man-eating alien barbarians but with something just as terrible: man’s own inhumanity.

In its nature, Queen Amid Ashes is a thought-provoking novella. I always find it interesting how there is an intense prejudice against the Daimons and their existence. But from what we can analyze and gather from the narrative in the series so far, the actions of humans and Cielcin are far more monstrous compared to the Daimon. As I said at the beginning of this review, this exploration of the violence and savagery of both humanity and the Cielcin are the key strengths of Hadrian’s narration in Queen Amid Ashes. I haven’t read Demon in White and the rest of the series yet, but it felt natural to read this novella immediately after you finished reading Howling Dark, and I implore you to do that. Queen Amid Ashes chronologically takes place about a decade after the end of Howling Dark, and it can be treated as a small direct sequel to it. And honestly, it reads like one! It bodes so damn well for me.

“I still hoped for peace, though I no longer knew how to achieve it. The boy who dreamed of peace on Delos long ago was dead, indeed, and though I bore his name and blood alike, I was not him. With every threshold we cross we become someone new, for every place is new, and every hour, and with every moment we are changed.”

From the beginning of Empire of Silence, Hadrian has developed a lot as a character, and one of the things that gradually changed about him is the descent of belief toward possible peace between humanity and the Cielcin. Queen Amid Ashes is a novella. Hadrian is still the melodramatic Hadrian, of course. In Queen Amid Ashes, Hadrian is accompanied mostly by Valka and Pallino, and we readers see these changes in Hadrian’s mind and thoughts already here. Especially after he witnessed the cruelty unleashed by the Cielcin in this novella. He is also more confident and more commanding. If you have read and enjoyed the main series, I think reading this escalating development in Hadrian will prove to be satisfying. And then there is also the matter of learning about the existence of Miudanar the Great, the Dreamer, and the god of Cielcin.

“Though our two kinds had warred for centuries, there was much— so much— we had yet to learn. But for a few symbols, their written language was still a mystery, and though we knew their weapons and their warships, understood their tactics, much of their culture, their literature, their art, remained obscure.”

I don’t have much more to add here. As far as the novella goes, I think Queen Amid Ashes was a superb addition to the world of The Sun Eater. I wouldn’t call The Lesser Devil a must-read spin-off, but Queen Amid Ashes felt necessary and relatively crucial. The prose and writing style was beautifully produced and structured, as expected in Ruocchio’s prose, just like in the main novels. As I mentioned earlier, Queen Amid Ashes really feels like reading a few chapters out of the sequel of Howling Dark. At the same time, the increasing darkness and level of violence in this novella performed well as a preparation before the hellish storm, I assume, will come soon in the main novels. And undoubtedly, I am ready and excited to read Demon in White. Highly recommended if you are a fan of The Sun Eater series.

“Justice, by its very nature, must be retributive. Punishment must follow crime, and cannot precede it. Criminals cannot be brought to justice before their crimes, because before their crimes they are not criminals. Man becomes monstrous by his actions, though the monster dwells in all our hearts, as it dwells in mine. Lurking. Waiting. Biding its time. None of us is born evil. Our choices make us so.”

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