Ashes of Man
Ashes of Man is the fifth book in Christopher Ruocchio's epic space opera Sun Eater series.
Prior to this year my exposure to science-fiction consisted largely of Ender's Game, Dune and a few of the Expanse books. I definitely lean more towards the fantasy genre, though the Sun Eater series does a nice job blending the twoâto the point where Ruocchio himself refers to the Sun Eater as a "science-fantasy" series.
I've blitzed through the first five novels of this series this year. It's safe to say it's now my favorite series in the genre.
While Ashes of Man was good, I think it falls a bit short of each of the last three booksâKingdoms of Death (No. 4), Demon in White (No. 3) and Howling Dark (No. 2). We pick up on Hadrian Marlowe's journey immediately after Kingdoms of Death, without the decades-long time jump that has become the norm between books in the series.
The first 20% and the final 20% of Ashes of Man is compelling, but I did feel like this book had more of a slog in the middle than anything Ruoccio has written since Empire of Silence, the first book of the series.
Originally intended to be one book, Kingdoms of Death and Ashes of Man were eventually split into two. After reading both, I feel like it might have been better if they were condensed and made into one epic fourth installment of the series.
Ruocchio's prose is shines at its best, the worldbuilding remains rock solidâthough this book doesn't quite elevate the Sollan Empire, or the alien-race called the Cielcin, or the mysterious forces lurking in the background to the same degree that all of his first four books managedâand I think this might be his best effort at developing compelling side characters.
Told as a first person frame narrative, the Sun Eater series often leaves Hadrian himself as the sole compelling main character with a host of side characters serving as afterthoughts. That wasn't the case in Ashes of Man, with a number of other characters getting a satisfying amount of compelling development. Highlights in this area included the Emperor, Lorian Aristedes, Prince Olorin and Ser Hector Oliva.
The weakest piece of Ruocchio's writing in each installment of this series has been his action sequences. Whether because of his prose style (much more stylistic in contrast to the straightforward writing of Joe Abercrombie or Brandon Sanderson, for example), or simply the fact that it's hard to create real stakes knowing that Hadrian is alive and telling this story in hindsight, I often find these action sequences to plod along with plenty of bloat.
Still, Ruocchio executes his endings time and again and I'm excited to see how he wraps up the series in his final two books. Though maybe I'll take a break from the Sollan Empire before diving into the sixth.
Overall: 55
- Prose: 55
- Character: 60
- Plot: 50
- Worldbuilding: 55
Series Ranking
- Demon in White â 70
- Howling Dark â 60
- Kingdoms of Death â 60
- Ashes of Man â 55
- Empire of Silence â 55
I use the 20-80 scale to rate things. For books I have four different categories, plus an overall grade. The overall grade is typically an average of the four main categories, though I reserve the right to round up or down based on other factors, like how thought-provoking or resonant a book might have been for me.