Ashes of Man ~Cracked Masterpiece~

[@DanielGreeneReviews]

Thank you Squarespace for sponsoring today's video: www.squarespace.com/danielgreene

[@thenovelcharacter]

What mic do you use?

[@74gould]

I gotta say: "Kingdoms of Death" & "Ashes of Man" both have some of the coolest cover art I've ever seen... I'm very excited to read this series. Sounds like it'll be right up my alley. Grim sci-fi = yes.

[@lorenzoguastalli9982]

Mr Ruocchio is a talented wordsmith who deserves being read. His interwoven plot narrated from a character as charming as he is despicable is a spectacular spacetravel. Worldbuilding, character development, and philosophical reflections, you have it all at a prime level. As a Dune enthusiast, I recognize the influences and love this original take on space operas. The sword, our orator.

[@crose9613]

This series must be good, I swear you've read all these books inside a month

[@katieamarsh]

I started reading them after his first video and immediately started rereading them. I got my best book friend and husband to start them too!

[@bethlondonart]

It's really good. I think I may re-read them ahead of Disquiet Gods.

[@nopenadda]

Hard to keep up It's been frustrating for those who don't audiobook

[@conservativecarnage3783]

​@@nopenaddawhy is it hard to keep up?

[@wolfpecker5710]

The series is freaking excellent!! It’s literally everything I ever could have hoped for in a Space Opera!!!

[@hasanmahmood3155]

Well, I'm 200 pages into Empire of silence and I'm blown why this series does not get as much love as Red Rising. Christopher Ruocchio is going to be a huge name in the sci fi world for a long time

[@leviackerman1799]

Damn..same..!! It's soo good..!!

[@rezylym]

same here.. i started the book and i'm at 20 % (kindle reading) . cheers

[@AndrewFrancisIlyrian]

Yeah, especially since its much better then the gay French Revolution larp that is Red Rising.

[@deelak2329]

Because Red Rising series is much better

[@ΓεώργιοςΚουτσαύτης]

@@deelak2329 Red rising is objectively worse. Quite worse. You may enjoy it more, which is fine, but Ruocchio is a much better writer and his books show it.

[@jeffpena6116]

You may want to pause real quick before starting Disquiet Gods and read The Dregs of Empire which is the novella about Lorian taking place after Ashes of Man. Avoiding spoilers, but it does tie into Disquiet Gods much more than any of the previous novellas or short stories have.

[@sumitdas5517]

Disquiet Gods is still not released right?

[@danielbujdos]

@@sumitdas5517 eARC of DG is available on the website of the publisher (Baen), you can read the book already if you don’t want to wait for the official April release.

[@mich7008]

There has been an early release of the e-reader version.

[@benjaminb4407]

I felt that Demons of Arae tied in a lot to Kingdoms of Death. I read DG without TDoE and wasn't lost, but someone reading KoD without DoA might be.

[@PeterDaley72]

What's DoA? @@benjaminb4407

[@n88466]

I've started Empire of Silence because of these reviews and it lives up to the praise. Every time a new review gets released I get more hyped

[@briant7134]

I came across Empire of Silence a while ago, but the summary made it sound so generic that I initially passed. I’m glad you gave the series a shot and did a far better job than the summary at selling it, because I gave it ago and have been hooked for the past month or so. It is easily becoming one of my favorite series of all time!

[@Johnny5477]

I read Empire of Silence back in 2018, I think, and I just can’t get over how happy I am to see him finally, FINALLY get the credit he deserves. I have my opinions on why he hasn’t yet, but I’m not going to get into all that. I’m just so, so happy about all this.

[@martophrenia]

such a somber entry. so much healing but also so much levels to go down… the final chapters of this book are impeccable in my opinion, so emotional…

[@Grimscribe732]

Man, I'm super hyped to finally start with this series sometime in March when I have more leisure time. All I've heard so far sounds like it should be right up my alley.

[@hillary6563]

I read them back up back, so I didn't mind the split too much.

[@Aldrad215]

Hell yeah. Just finished to return for the spoilers section here; I'm headin' into Dregs, and then returning w/ Disquiet Gods.

[@Exayevie]

0:35 my guy just straight up forgot the whole second half of Two Towers that was originally written as a separate book. Poor Sam n Frodo 😢

[@brasileiroamericano]

I liked this book a lot. I didn't realize it had been split by publisher. The theme of this one was to explore whether you can come back and whether you can be or should be the same person. Very compelling story.

[@wolfpecker5710]

Yeah I just finished Ashes of Man and I’m personally glad they split KOD and AOM. They both gave way to sooo much of the information I’m interested in! Things about the larger mystery and the ceielcin’s true intentions, and it also gave a lot more understanding of the Emperor and his court. I also loved finding out who the prince of jhad and who Gibson really was! Just so many amazing details that I fear we would have missed had KOD and AOM been combined.

[@Uahuu]

Daniel please! I’m reading the first book right now because of you, give some time to finish it so I can watch these videos 😭😭

[@Glokta4]

Watching the spoiler filled section with my headphones unplugged so I don't get spoiled. I've never noticed quite how much you gesture while talking, it's great.

[@wolfpecker5710]

I just finished this book and I personally think this book along with Kingdoms of Death together are my favorites! I see what you mean that it could have been crammed into one book, but I’m glad Christopher Rucchio didn’t! We seem to learn so many details about the larger mystery and I am glad we didn’t miss any of it!! We also got to learn a lot more about the Emperor, Gibson, and the prince of Jhad.

[@Severian1]

Absolutely get the criticisms. It should have been one book because what happens in both just works as one thing. I too wish it'd had been one book, and I'm sure Ruocchio does too. He had to pad this one out but still some excellent things happen here that lead into the absolutely amazing book that is Disquiet Gods. I have some gripes with DG but it's so good it unseated DiW for me.

[@regulah2125]

The plot of AoM as the 2nd half of book 4 would have been great. It would have broken up that bleakness while at the same time setting you up thinking the worst is over, all to deliver that gut punch at the end. I'm confident it would have been my favorite in the series. And I very much agree on Disquiet Gods! The last 30% blew me away. I've been waiting for the series to connect to that particular part of the story again.

[@promiseijeomah488]

In Dregs of Empire, it was mentioned that Hadrian fought numerous duels because of people insulting Valka or even sexually assaulting her and I doubt that the emperor didn't know those duels... So Daniels theory rings true to me that the Emperor's actions after her death was calculated

[@MalignantCactus]

Ruocchio's last livestream has a great question and answer regarding the way William referred to Valka at the end of the book. It reframed my view on how that scene played out, and William himself to a small extent.

[@bigguccisosa9908]

Well what’d he say about it lol

[@abdullahisayuti6698]

@@bigguccisosa9908 that there’s no love between him and his queen. No need for companionship at all considering how reproduction works there and the fact it was all a political marriage between the two. So that played a part to why he was so tone deaf to Hadrian’s plight

[@maya-gur695]

I finished Empire of Silence and I totally understand your love for this series. I do think I'll take a break, though, and come back for book 2 later.

[@rosssims7224]

The whole time I’m thinking who is Bysander? BAHssander Lin 😂

[@briant7134]

I am in agreement about how over foreshadowed that specific death was. I found that I had been emotionally preparing myself for the last two books, and the issue was that while I felt so sad for the person impacted, I found that I had already made peace with it and so it didn’t hit as hard as I think the intention was. Maybe that’s just me… I tend to do similarly in real life as well.

[@MastaDRD]

I think given the context of the series' framing as his memoirs from exile after it all, and what he's said of his life in exile there, we already knew it would be inevitable almost from the start. (I definitely agree, mind you.)

[@PnutButtaJllyMan]

This is my favorite book in series.

[@ktmeunier]

I got into this series because of you so thank you. Great series so far

[@benjaminb4407]

Hey Daniel, I'm excited for your take on Disquiet Gods it is easily the biggest chonkiest book to theorize about especially lore wise. I've been seeing it at the top of many people's lists right up there with DiW. I think it's definitely a top 3 Suneater book. And I hope you like Ramanthanu (new character) as much as I do. 😅

[@alexdragon28]

I believe from the author's KZbin channel he mentioned that, kingdoms of death and ashes of man where meant to be one book, however due to some publishing issues they got split.

[@mahalleinir_WoT]

Aaahhhhh, I'm halfway through "Demon in White" and I can't watch all your reviews until I get to the books.

[@TheJordanK]

Lmao I’ve had a bad fever during this whole book too. It’s put a very odd but also fitting vibe to my memory of this book.

[@tkinsey3]

Brother you are FLYING through these! And they are chonks!

[@PaulRidgeway-h7l]

They’re easy reads, just long. I read all 6 in 2 months reading casually.

[@tgibridays]

I 100% agree with you about the split. I felt like AoM got the short stick when the books split. The pacing was... not great. If it had been like 150-200 pages shorter it would have been a banger of a book but trying to stretch it out to a full 600/700 page book really hurt my enjoyment of the book. Or like you said, if he had just kept it as one book but a much tighter book.

[@HashtagWhattaNerd]

That’s what it was, but the publisher chose to split it rather than reduce what happened.

[@calebmauer1751]

It was soooooo draaaawn ooooooouuuuuuuuuuutttttt.

[@tgibridays]

@@HashtagWhattaNerd yeah I understand the situation. I just think it could have been done better. I didn't feel that KOD suffered from the split.

[@KarolinaK00]

I am 200 pages into this book and have come to this review and comment section to get some motivation to keep going (the Valka thing I accidentally spoiled for myself two books ago so no biggy). Nothing is happening, and when even the tiniest interesting thing has a chance of happening we go back to nothing again. I am so taken aback by how much Im not enjoying my reading experience rn because I loved all the previous books.

[@tgibridays]

@@KarolinaK00 I've heard good things about the next book though, so I'm excited to continue the series. I probably won't reread this one though.

[@nran1638]

Cant wait to continue with Lorian's story.

[@QuattroOutdoors]

14 chapters into Disquiet Gods and loving it so far. The new/old characters involved have been incredible so far.

[@bethlondonart]

I just wish I had hope that Ruocchio would allow Hadrian to have any peace at the end of this series. He's gone through so much.

[@procurement3681]

That background music is driving me crazy

[@nexuszen769]

Spoilers: William wasnt playing at anything - his station just makes him unable to empathize with Hadrian's pain. Guy isn't without his flaws.

[@royceshatzel]

Well I’m convinced to start this series

[@musicgenius1948]

You’re gonna love disquiet gods

[@Chris-bd6ll]

Wrapped it up today and it hit me pretty hard. I think that's the fastest I've read a series since I was introduced to the Cosmere universe. On to the short stories and .5's I skipped.

[@assassin415]

I think he was forced early on to split it into two books because of paper costs being insane at the time

[@ZeRomanEmpire]

music in the background is waaaay too repetitive, not really a fan

[@marocat4749]

Yep, even a bit of change of the music in the video would make it less unnerving.

[@gamesofcontent]

Yea I thought my computer in the room was stuck in a boot loop. Sounds like the old windows sound

[@TLhikan]

Spoilers: … I’ve read this book a couple of times, but I don’t think I’d ever thought through William’s mindset in that final scene as well as you unpack here.

[@immawanmujahidmaruddani5607]

just finish this book. I think this is the fastest I've ever finished a book in this series so far, followed by empire of silence and demon in white. Not necessarily because I was so hooked to the story, but because I'm so eager to get to the ending (cause I thought this is the book where he blows the sun). But it's ok, I enjoyed it enough. And you're right, there are some battles that could be condensed into one.

[@stephenschwartzwauffe]

So I read the series about 2 years ago, and I could not stop reading it, but it’s not a series that I want to do rereads of it. I felt drained and worn out after reading the series.

[@matthewalves3855]

Getting the hardcovers of these has been impossible for me. Lol

[@ouchthatdoorhurts]

Please review Disquiet Gods! I dont know what I was expecting out of the 6th book but it wasn't that. Talk about a whiplash inducing gearshift. Id love to hear your thoughts. Youre my favorite person to go to for book reviews and recommendations. I wouldn't have read the Sun Eater series if it weren't for you, so thank you!

[@nicholasshamansky3032]

The sun eater is it’s own beast. You just have to take it as it comes 😂

[@eduardojosafatfriasaguirre6385]

Oh, oh no. I thoght this was the first one, lucky me I just started it so I’m barely 6-7 chapters in. In retrospective it makes sense

[@brightskysyl3913]

Agreed with your take on how Valka and her character is handled as well. I’m presuming that the reason for that it’s because Sun Eater is Hadrian-centered; hence, Valka suffered from genuine character development. Valka felt almost like a plot device now.

[@katieamarsh]

I am rereading this right now and I think they are so good on reread. You just understand more and pick up on more little nuggets. I read KoD and AoM back to back and felt like they were just one huge book. I feel like a weirdo for rereading AoM while also reading Disquiet Gods. I am just so lost in these books.

[@samuelleask1132]

Definitely need to give sci-fi a go with this series

[@PaulRidgeway-h7l]

It’s barely sci fi - these are fantasy books that happen to be in space.

[@DefalconZero]

BASSander. With an A

[@KamilMnk]

Personally i prefer Ashes of Man over Kingdoms of Death. I had issues with pacing in 3rd act of last book, Ashes of Man paced action scenes better imho.

[@Kris_Terry]

Pretty sure his previous publisher was making him split the books and wanted him to continue to do so. Thats why he switched. I could have heard wrong though

[@Isaiah_McIntosh]

Nah the split happened because of the paper shortage during and early post covid. I'm forgetting the issue with the previous publisher. I know part of it is that ownership changed so some policies changed up under Christopher unexpectedly.

[@sharpends4279]

Wait, I can't find Disquiet Gods. It isn't out yet. Unless you got an advance copy?

[@Isaiah_McIntosh]

You can get the arc through the publisher baen. Available to anyone.

[@lurknlaff]

There's a Lysander in one of the short stories😂

[@PaulRidgeway-h7l]

Book 1 ok, 2 good, 3 really good, 4/5 weak, 6 almost jumps the shark, 7 we shall see - going to be really hard to tie this up satisfactorily.

[@mercuzio711]

I don't think you read the Emperor's intentions correctly. When he said she was nothing, he meant it. If it was really a test, he would have made the offer privately where he was in full control. He couldn't imagine Hadrian refusing.

[@katieamarsh]

I agree. He offered him his daughter and doesn’t seem to get that he loved Valka, he would have married her in a second if she would have agreed to it, because loving her meant more than a politically powerful marriage ever could. I don’t think William could wrap his brain around that. I started crying as soon as he said it, before the hit even came. She was so special, not just some disposable woman.

[@AndrewFrancisIlyrian]

​@@katieamarshI don't get it.

[@shinigami2502]

My thought exactly. The empire has always held a disdain towards machine, hence why they tend to look down on Travosi people. The emperor could not imagine the depth of love Hadrian had towards Valka, even if she is a Travosi.

[@PaulRidgeway-h7l]

It’s not an offer you refuse - you take the arranged marriage and become part of the emperor’s household and secure the future of your line. Keep your witch as a mistress. Another example of Hadrian the 400 year old melodramatic child.

[@theblackberseker1978]

Quick question. Did you read Queen Amid Ashes. I think its book 2.5

[@doombot2281]

I disagree. I read the books as they came out and never felt like the split affected the writing. I think the knowledge of the split may have influenced some of the negatives of this review.

[@te_sanders]

Am I the only one that reads Valca's voice as Jaheira from BG3?

[@tyleroshea4504]

Tales of the Sun Eater Vol 2 has a Valka story pre-Hadrian! and more Crispin, two of the more enjoyable short stories :)

[@beaufloyd]

I guess I'm in the minority since I don't see other comments addressing it but that repetitive piano tune in the background was super distracting. Maybe its just my adhd brain but I couldn't focus at all. I'm not gonna tell you how to run your channel but I couldn't make it past 5 min, which is a bummer cause I like hearing your thoughts on the series so far. Food for thought when editing in the future. Idk, maybe it's just a me thing. Hope you get over your cold soon!

[@RyanOfMordor]

Whatever happened to the reviewing every discworld book?😂

[@SalingerSays]

Ashes under Empire is wild to me lol

[@MastaDRD]

Daniel your point at 17:00 is flawed for a very specific reason from the first or second books that you've missed, unless I'm badly misremembering. .... ..... ........ ............ spoiler dots, be warned! ................the Emperor dies at Gododdin, at the end of the series, when Hadrian 'eats the sun'. I swear Hadrian specifically says the Emperor (and specifically this Emperor, William) dies when he does that.

[@nopenadda]

Caught up to you 3 weeks behind not bad

[@lobsterfifty-one8907]

I’m currently on book empire of death. 😂

[@319badhass]

how many books are planned for the series?

[@javil1648]

For as good as sun eater is, it is unfortunate that publishing/editing did throw off some of the pacing of the series. Ruocchio even said a decent chunk of the first book was added in because his first publisher wanted it to be more like Name of the Wind, which I felt was unnecessary. The splitting of books 4 & 5 also was to its detriment and essentially outside the authors control. But still an amazing series

[@danielwatts796]

I disagree with you re the emperor re the end. I just think he really doesn't understand what valka is to him. Remember he's never had a loving marriage, nor has anyone had a loving relationship around him, he doesn't understand what valka is to him. He really was surprised by Hadrians reaction imo

[@benjaminb4407]

I've been diving deep into these. Just finished Disquiet Gods. Here is my ranking list. 6. EoS 5. AoM 3. HD 3. DiW 2. DG 1. KoD

[@TheCrathes]

What, is Disquiet Gods out already?

[@Isaiah_McIntosh]

​@@TheCrathescheck baen

[@johnmoore6440]

Hadrian has similarities to Lysander but also actually cares about those he is supposed to serve. That alone makes them worlds apart.

[@ShaKieran06]

The audiobook narrator change from book 1 to 2 completely killed my momentum for the series. Especially as for the UK editions it changes again at book 3. It's frustrating as I enjoyed book 1 and know how keen Daniel is on the series. I might go back to it, perhaps by getting hold of the US version of book 2.

[@katieamarsh]

Yeah, I can see how that would be jarring. I’m in the US and it’s been the same narrator the whole time.

[@weismanwriter9426]

Starting to think you might like Christopher's work LOL

[@FKDotFitzgerald]

The Hadrian/Lysander comparison is disgusting but makes sense.

[@TheCrathes]

Damn, I was late to this video. I agree that this is the weakest in the series. The scene with the Emperor in the end was very frustrating while reading it, because at the time I wasn't able to see what he was doing. Now I think he had a plan for the meeting, and Hadrian played into his hands. But I also still think that he is so out of touch as the Emperor that he just doesn't understand the motivations of other people, and because of that, the whole situation WAS stupid. But not because Ruocchio goofed the scene.

[@ChrisStyneMusic]

I double took on the title cause I thought it read “A She’s the Man”

[@nopenadda]

Oh! No no no Daniel....Bysander er Lin ( reading 3 books sorry), is NOT going any farther into hadrian camp. Or did you forget, all the little Easter eggs as you call them a little nuggets of foreshadow ing... He says like in the first or second book this man who I will be eventual friends or allies with for centuries will come to hate me the most. Almost 95% certain he says that or that's the gist of it

[@knittingblackbelt40]

The piano!!!!! Nooooo

[@brightskysyl3913]

Is Lin Bassander ethnically East Asian?

[@SalingerSays]

Not sure how Hadrian is like Lysander lol

[@akashas6012]

#1 Demon in White

[@Soberirishguy]

how are you starting disqueit gods? did you get an early edition? if so I am quite jealous! 😭

[@ChristianBullock]

Baen Books sells the eARC. Pretty neat of them to do so instead of only allowing popular book reviews to get free copies.

[@leena1842]

Yeah I bought it off the publishers website the other day!

[@katieamarsh]

The earc is available and it’s nice because the author and publisher both get the money with no middleman.

[@ankithg3101]

I also do feel this is weak book, it had lot of pacing issues.....but damn that ending it was really awesome

[@osirismind]

SPOILERS!!!! ATTENTION!! SPOILERS!! DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T READ "ASHES OF MAN". . . . . . . . . . I did not like Ruoochio's choice of making Valka tell Hadrian that she wants to have a child with him basically right before she died. Like, why did he use that as a plot device?! Her death hurt enough. Valka didn't need to tell Had that she wanted to start a family with him and settle down for it to hit harder. It was just unnecessary imo and a little out of character for Valka. She seems like someone whose opinion you can't change once she's made up her mind.

[@AndrewFrancisIlyrian]

She's a woman. Their opinions always change.

[@undertone8367]

She was 400 years old at that point. It's not unreasonable to think that she changed her mind since she was 70.

[@osirismind]

@@undertone8367 True. But I still think that he shouldn't have pulled that stunt of her saying that to Had basically right before her death.

[@PaulRidgeway-h7l]

Valka’s name should be Vacillate. Because that’s all her character does. She doesn’t evolve, she just swings back and forth.

[@Erexos]

hard disagree that AoM is the "weakest" when EoS exists tbh

[@Erexos]

Also it's BASSANDER NOT BYSSANSER lmao that bothered me so much

[@samanthaa.6055]

I have no idea why you would say this is the weakest book. Or why you feel it's not monumental- this is Hadrian's biggest loss so far, which is astounding per se. But I'm happy you've finally stopped saying this is a corruption arc. Our hero is broken, not bent.

[@regulah2125]

I mean this and KoD does show signs of being split and having some weaker parts for it. It's not a strange ranking.

[@michaelmcclain6369]

This book was the last straw for me. I'm not going to continue reading this series. Its so miserable and repetitive. I swear I had to push through the same arguments over and over and over and Hadrian wallowing. this book was not fun to read at all

[@Nasser851000]

Is this the first criticism of Daniel's suneater simp fest? XD

[@majormetcalf1225]

It has been kind of rough to hear his constant praise of a series. I couldn’t finish the first book in.

[@Jepicosity]

As someone who hasn't read the series, I'm not sure why you chose 9/11 for your metaphor at 0:35, but I guess it works.

[@offworlder4694]

Not sure if this is a joke, but he was talking about The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. 0:35

[@semplethings]

I'm sorry but throwing the word "masterpiece" around for this series really makes me question your internal metrics. The first book in the series is quite literally one of the most derivative books I've ever read. So derivative, it borders on plagiarism at times. It was a fun read cause i love Dune and Roman history, but my god, youre a book reviewer and a writer now, have some standards.

[@trekker59]

seems like all reviewers have no standards anymore because each of them give Sun Eater a proper review : yes it is a masterpiece in the Science Fantasy Genra. And personnaly I think it is better than Dune.

[@semplethings]

​@@trekker59 The whole of booktube has agreed this is a masterpiece? Shit, i didnt get the notice. I guess I'll have to come back in 60 years to see what people are saying about this masterpiece in the science - fiction - fantasy - opera genre

[@soulemperor7620]

This is a pretty fallacious comment and I think you know that. 1) Claiming that first book is derivative as an argument against the quality of the series as a whole is disingenuous. 2) Derivative =/= automatically bad. It’s fine to be derivative, especially once an author finds their footing and weaves together their inspirations into something new - like Ruocchio did.

[@bradkrick8254]

Did you read the other books? If not please go away until that time. Dune inspired is clear in the world building but this series is so far and away it’s own thing that your comment is just hilariously uninformed. This series is incredible and like any art, has some flaws but you are just trolling at this point.

[@semplethings]

@@soulemperor7620 Actually, I agree. It was fallacious. I take most of it back now but the first book was a bit like soggy toast and ill stand by that comment

[@kay12]

At this point, Christopher Ruocchio is basically family in our house.

[@siddiqkhan8432]

@daniel you were vocal for Ukraine, but moot on Palestine🇵🇸. white hypocrisy? China, but not the greatest human rights violators: USA, Israel