Synopsis: Empire of Silence *SPOILERS*

[@michaelfeeney6108]

I’ll be tapping out on this for now until I read the thing, but listened to the first 30 seconds. What a creative idea to have an authors do basically a ‘review/recap’ for readers. Very cool!

[@SunEaterBooks]

Few people were asking, so it seemed like the thing to do!

[@thefantasynuttwork]

Watching this as I begin Howling Dark tonight. I AM HYPED

[@marcow.4846]

I was just about to start "The Howling Dark" and wanted to fresh up my memory of the first book. But I was not prepared to find a summary done by the author himself... What a great service to the fans - thank you so much 😊 - and best wishes from Germany

[@SunEaterBooks]

I'm planning to redo this one at least in the coming year, as well! Glad it could be useful.

[@Joopietron]

Goat author for this, about to finish book 1, after finishing the dune series I looked hopelessly for something to fill that void, this series has successfully done so

[@krislimpus]

Appreciate you doin this just finished the book.. can’t wait to start the next one right away!!

[@harriskantor770]

Excited to start book 2. My thanks to the author 🙏

[@lucaswood8425]

Thank you so much for doing this! This is crucial for people that don’t read the books one after another, or are waiting between releases. Keep up the good work man, I’m a huge fan and I hope you get the notoriety you deserve. There isn’t an author alive right now that does space opera better than you.

[@SunEaterBooks]

Thank you so much, Lucas--it really does mean a lot. I'm glad these are helping!

[@mccoozie1057]

Just finished Empire of Silence today. Already ordered the 2nd and 3rd and pre-ordered the 4th. Gonna spread the word! This was just supposed to be a background read and turns out I didn’t put it down for 3 days and now I’m here waiting for Amazon to deliver the second! Nice work man, I can feel the love for Dune in this book and it warms my spiced heart.

[@SunEaterBooks]

Welcome to the Empire! Thanks for reading!

[@GenuinelyCurious120]

Dude. Your an amazing writer. I just finished Howling Dark last night. Wow, I think your my new favorite author.

[@SunEaterBooks]

Thank you!

[@Moridin69]

Thank you so much for this! I finally got my hands on howling dark but felt lost reading the first page😅 Edit: Loved the first book by the way❤ you are an amazing writer and I'm so excited to read the rest

[@trlspann]

Thanks so much for doing synopsis of your books. I can’t tell you how helpful it is.

[@yinanzhang3324]

Just finished this, bravo. That is how you do it. This is what the Name of the Wind hopes it is.

[@phalexxxx]

Awesome recap!

[@bonesdoes6142]

I’ve read volume one and I’m hooked. Love the story so far and can’t wait to see what Had gets up to next.

[@dinocollins720]

Ruocchio you are the best! I finished book 1 today and was listening to reviews and came across this video. I just finished so don't need it, but there are so many series I wish I had one of these for. So cool!!!

[@jujubean9063]

Seriously some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever encountered. Starting book 2 tonight.

[@Theworthlessopinion]

What a kind and thoughtful gesture from an author!!!! Thank you so much!!! I’m newly entering reading books like this in general and find this so considerate to be able to keep up book by book!

[@newcreation002000]

Keep the interaction and recaps coming. I'm just now getting into your work. LOVE IT! And the recaps help before moving on to the next book (of course that's the idea of it). Authors who take a few years to bring us the next book challenge us readers to remember everything that happened.

[@afireinside30x]

I just finished reading this book this morning at around 6 am. Couldn't stop till it was finished. Thank you for this amazing story!

[@jeffgagnon1983]

Thank you so much for the summary ! You, Christopher sir, really are an inspiration.

[@theangryjeff]

Hi Chris! I love your books! I'm on Demon in White now and I have been running right through these. I'm reading them after finishing the main six Dune books, and as a scifi fan who read too much Byron in college, these are hitting a spot. Hadrian is one of my favorite characters in a long time, and as a vet I really appreciate Pallino. Keep up the great work!

[@megc18]

This was great, I hope yoi do this for all your books. Fantastic catch up

[@SunEaterBooks]

I've done the first 5!

[@megc18]

@SunEaterBooks fantastic!

[@aarondecibiltgreene]

Just about to dive into book 2, so this helps me recall the awesome book 1, which I read a year ago, and was a little hazy. Thanks, Mr. Ruocchio!

[@khaada1]

Just got Kingdoms of death and was lost about what had happened in the last three books. Thanks so much for the recaps.

[@octavia458]

So easy and rewarding to be a Christopher Ruocchio fan.

[@coreyjimerson4762]

Thank you for making this! I'm just now starting book 2, so this is very helpful!

[@thomaslockett520]

Have just re-read Empire and I am half way through second time Howling Dark, the last half being the best bit. Its strange to hear a long book in so few words, but I think you have done a good job and it should jog peoples memories. I got your signed copy from the worldshapers kickstarter, and greatly looking forward to the third. Though it is delayed in England.

[@SunEaterBooks]

Sorry about that delay, Thomas. I did everything I could to get things in on time, but the pandemic's really cramped the distribution warehouse end of things, I've been told they're running with a skeleton crew.

[@thomaslockett520]

@@SunEaterBooks No problem of course, have Witchy Kingdom to fill the time.

[@SunEaterBooks]

@@thomaslockett520 Absolutely patrician taste, sir. I love that series.

[@storky1456]

Hey man great job with the recap! I listen to audiobooks books all day at work and sometimes info gets thrown out if my attention gets divided too much but I recently finished your book for my book club and I can't wait to discuss it with them! You give the first book a very pleasant "hook" without giving up too much and I'm excited to see where the story goes in Howling Dark!

[@ryandberry1]

I lovvvve that you're doing these

[@Tralala001]

Thank you for a recap! My biggest complaint with modern Sci-Fi/ Fantasy, especially the thicker books, is that we aren't provided a quick recap at the beginning of the book. John Gwynn did it for his "of the Gods" series, and I really appreciated it. I was reading the series at release, so there was quite some time between books and having so many other books I want to read, it's hard to justify a re-read.

[@SunEaterBooks]

You're welcome.

[@DanExploresBooks]

Recently finished Empire of Silence. Really enjoyed the ride, especially as a Roman History buff. Will be continuing to Book 2 after chipping away at a couple other things on the list first. I am hopeful about the series. *clap clap*

[@kiraolivia5542]

I just finished the book today, it’s beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. I can’t wait to start the next book in the series.

[@Adamantus]

Thanks Christopher, looking forward to the Howling Dark recap in preparation for Demon in White. You do a great job on these!

[@SunEaterBooks]

Cheers, man! I've started work on the next one!

[@SamHunt-o7d]

Hope you do this for other books in the series

[@SunEaterBooks]

The first four are all on here. I'll do AOM between now and April.

[@AceOnBase1]

THANK YOU! I’m starting book 2 and I’ve completely forgotten book 1 🤣🤣🤦

[@w33dOr]

Great book and great summary, looking forward to dive into the second one. Did you notice a rising interest in the series after the release of the dune movies and are you a fan of the books? I personally always loved the dune books and got inspired to read more sci fi similar to those books after being reminded of how much I loved reading them after watching the movies. Keep up the great work and much love from France ❤️

[@ahill6858]

I can’t remember. Who was responsible for Hadrian’s smuggling ship to get stranded in Emesh?

[@SunEaterBooks]

That's a great question!

[@ThePaynes2022]

Cat ❤️

[@Tom-sd9jb]

Christopher, are you a fan of Warhammer 40k (the older stuff) by any chance? Really cool book by the way. You are a great writer and I love the bitesize chapters. My only gripe is the "wordiness" can make it a bit hard to follow... I understand that this is part of Hadrian's character (and also down to my pea sized brain) so I'm glad I put that niggle aside and continued. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your work and I hope it gets the attention it deserves (without selling out to corporate virtue point involvement as many other previously creative and exciting sci-fi and fantasy world's I've sadly had to let go of recently).

[@SunEaterBooks]

Hi Tom, thanks for reading! Fear not, selling out is not on the agenda. I actually haven't read or played 40K at all. I'm vaguely familiar with it from memes and from just being on the internet, so I know there are some similarities, but those are accidental, unlike the Dune references, which are very much on purpose!

[@Tom-sd9jb]

Thanks for replying! I wasn't expecting that. Very glad to hear there's no plans on selling out because it's rare to find new talent these days without having ideology shoved down my throat. You don't do that. You write a fantastic story with depth. A rare thing these days. Not that my lone opinion matters in the grand scheme of things, but I really appreciate your work 👍

[@Tom-sd9jb]

Can I ask one more question please? As I said, I love Empire of Silence so far but I really do not like Hadrian. Did you purposely write him to be melodramatic and unlikeable and is he supposed to be an unreliable narrator?

[@SunEaterBooks]

​@@Tom-sd9jb To hit the last question first: I don't think Hadrian is especially unreliable, if by that you mean he's lying to us on purpose. He is writing his perspective, which is fairly limited (as are all our perspectives). As for the melodrama, absolutely. He has a lot of Lord Byron in him, and at any rate I needed a personality that justified my writing style, which is pretty antiquated and dramatic in its own right, haha. But as far as unlikeable...I don't really think about how likeable my characters are at all. I just write them as themselves and let the readers decide how they feel. I get a lot of pro-Hadrian readers, and a lot of anti-Hadrian ones, and I hope that means he feels like a real person. I will say one thing in his defense: He's a teenager in this one. He's not the same man at 40, or at 140, and is certainly not the same at 400--so I'll be interested to see what you think if you make it further in.