I read Empire of Silence last year and came away with a somewhat muted impression of the start of this epic. The first book felt more like a prologue than a proper entry. Its characters were rough around the edges, and its worldbuilding, while rich, consumed far too many pages. Still, there was more to enjoy than to fault, and so I returned to Hadrian's tale in Howling Dark.
Nearly half a century has passed, and Hadrian and company from Emesh now fly with The Red Company, a mercenary outfit hired by the Sollan Empire. He remains the stoic protagonist, more mature, yet still in the early days of adulthood owing to his palatine blood. Hadrian is as introspective a narrator as ever, and his recounting of events is philosophical, restrained, and calculated. There is an added layer of melodrama to him now. Ruocchio's prose elevates this central figure we follow for hundreds of pages. Hadrian speaks with conviction, and his narration is evocative.
Pacing, as I mentioned, was one of my primary grievances with the first book. I am glad that it is largely addressed here. Howling Dark does not feel like the tale of a protagonist down on his luck, with the promise of epic adventure deferred to a future volume. The grandeur is here. And though I am told it only grows from this point, the events of this chapter in Hadrian's life are nothing to gloss over.
Reading Howling Dark felt like moving through an amusement park where every door opens onto a bigger, more imposing one. The closer Hadrian gets to Vorgossos, the more the book takes on a Lovecraftian quality: claustrophobic, disorienting, edged with existential dread. Hadrian still dreams of brokering peace between the Cielcin and humanity, but his ideals are tested against the cold indifference of a universe that values dominion over diplomacy. The push and pull between his ends and the means to reach them sits at the heart of the story. How much death and destruction can you justify in the name of the greater good? Hadrian finds himself betraying, lying, and killing in search of his elusive peace with the xenobites.
Again and again, Hadrian asks himself whether he is “good”, whether he is still making the right choice. If the core concept of the first book was the illusion of choice, here it is the burden of having made those choices. The Ship of Theseus haunts this book. Hadrian replaces plank after plank—his convictions, his mercy, his limits, the people he loves—and what's left? Only Theseus. The one thing that could never be swapped out. Whether that is salvation or damnation, Ruocchio leaves pointedly unanswered.
For all the philosophical depth and the intergalactic tensions I enjoyed, the book still carries over my criticisms from the first entry. Namely, its side characters. Set decades after the previous book's close, we are introduced to a number of new relationships from the outset. But again, these characters often feel hollow. I did not care deeply for Jinan, nor feel the full weight of Switch's betrayal, nor feel too strongly about Bassander Lin, because these relationships are told rather than shown. Hadrian and Valka take center stage, and their growing bond is a genuine pleasure to read. The others, however, lack the depth afforded to our protagonists. My second, smaller criticism is with the exposition. It improves over the previous entry, but still, I found myself reading through passages I could have understood from context. This time around though, given the escalating stakes, I did not mind the exposition as much. I was too hooked, too eager to see how things would turn out for our heroes, if you can call them that.
Overall, I very much enjoyed the second entry in the Sun Eater series. Howling Dark felt like the true beginning of the saga, not because Hadrian is at his best, but because we begin to see what he is becoming. The legend of Hadrian Marlowe takes flight from here, in the storied world of Vorgossos, through his dealings with the Cielcin prince and the Undying, Kharn Sagara. The book opens with a mystery and fully delivers on its promised grandeur. I started the third book the same night I finished this one. That says more than any summary could.
by Awsaf_