Ashes of Man

Ashes of Man takes some time to build and the pacing felt a little bit strange at some points, but I was invested (as always) from page 1. Ruocchio's writing impresses me again and again and draws me completely into the story.

The emotional impact of the last 150 pages was amazing and made me hold my breath at different moments.

A masterpiece yet again!

Thank you to @dawbooks and @netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review. Overall, this was an enjoyable addition to the series. I think it struggled with pacing throughout most of the first big chunk of the book. But the ending was wild, as always, and I cried for the first time reading this series. Very excited for this to hit shelves so we can get the 6th book!”

Ashes of Man was a letdown as far as Suneater books go. Each of the last four books have expanded upon the world, plot, and characters in major ways. This one felt like replaying the hits. It’s the same characters, with even Hadrian not undergoing much development (until maybe the very end), same plot devices, an impossible mission, followed by a huge culminating battle, and mostly planets and groups of people that have made appearances already.

🚨SPOILERS🚨

What really disappointed me was Valkas death. Valka had grown into a character I absolutely loved. Her relationship with Hadrian, her cool half-computer brain and everything she could do with it, even the way she connected with Gibson and other side characters were some of my favorite parts of the series. It’s foreshadowed throughout the book that she’s probably gonna die at the end, so I was ready for a massive emotional impact or a dramatic death. It didn’t give me either of those. She just kinda dies. It felt like a disrespectful write-off of a key character. In the manner of her death she gets reduced to little more than any other side character Hadrian cared about, which is not what she’d been at all. The fallout from her death, specifically hadrians reaction, ended up as the part with big stakes and impact on the story. Ultimately, setting up what feels like the very end of this long saga, now that Hadrian truly has no one left.

Book 5 of Sun Eater. What a wild ride. #4 was a heavy hitter with Hadrian being captured by the Cielcin and tortured for years. In this book we see him trying to come to grips with what happened to him while still maintaining focus on the war.

If #3 showed him in shining glory and #4 shows him being crushed to nothing, #5 starts out like lush velvet depression before raising the stakes as he is sent headlong into another confrontation with the Cielcin prophet.

His 'gift' from The Quiet is apparently gone until one event sparks an intensity of rage in him and he reaches deeper into himself for an extraordinary outcome.

I'm continually impressed with Ruoccio's ability to weave a complex story over such a wide ranging galaxy. Each new novel reaches back into previous parts of the story, and in this one we find conversations and characters in the first book come home.

7.5/10 direct continuation of Empires of Death but this book feels extremely bloated at times and pacing is an issue. The story is fantastic and has some amazing moments.

Another amazing chapter in the epic sci fi masterpiece.

The prose, the characters, the plot, the battles....and the emotions. Carried over from Kingdoms of Death, the story continues at break neck pace. Different, but dark in its own way, we see the toils of war and the toil it takes on a man.

Started this and could not put it down. Cannot wait for Disquiet Gods...Book 6 of the Sun Eater.

5 STARS

This series is just “light years” ahead of any sci-fi series out there but surprisingly my least favorite of the series. This book took forever to get going but the last 1/4 was really good with a wonderful ending. I love the friendship between Hadrian and Lorian and the relationship between Hadrian and Valka. One thing that frustrates me about this series is that Christopher won't ever go back to what his father and brother are doing. He gives little passive references about them but nothing substantial. I've been waiting for Hadrian to meet his father again so hopefully within the next 2 books he does.

This book was a much more enjoyable read than [b:Kingdoms of Death 57443696 Kingdoms of Death (Sun Eater, #4) Christopher Ruocchio https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616007067l/57443696.SY75.jpg 89939526], and I think does a much better job of delving into the personal turmoil of the main character, as well as relating that inner turmoil to the larger story. I did have to listen to Ruocchio's synopses of the previous books on Youtube to remind me of some of the crucial events, but that was no big deal. This is a great series and I can't imagine giving gup on it. The fun part is we already know how it's going to end, but we don't exactly know how it's going to end. This book just adds to Hadrian's motivation, adding a little piece of the puzzle, as to how Hadrian will be the hero/villain he's set himself up to be. Exciting and a fun read, with Ruocchio's trademark prose, this was a four-star book for me up until the very end, with an ending that I really wasn't expecting.

This fifth installment of Sun Eater is everything you could want after Kingdoms of Death. It's probably the two books I feel benefit the most from being split (that I've read). Ashes of Man was able to deliver breathing space and emotional beats and a bit more of a ramp up to the next thing after all the crazy events of Kingdoms of Death.

I think I liked the climax of Kingdoms of Death more, but the falling action in this book is some of the stuff I've liked the most in the entire series. This book is harrowing and emotional, but still has epic space battles and pew-pews and laser swords. The characters in this series continue to grow and interest me in new ways, and Hadrian is so old now and been through so much that he feels like a new character from where we started, but in a believable, earned way. I also think this book has Ruocchio's best prose to date; it is extremely well written.

9/10

Ashes of Man was one of my most anticipated books this year. So when I revived an ARC from Netgalley, I was so happy. And it did not disappoint.

Everything I love about Sun Eater is in this book. Quiet retrospective character moments, excellent prose, fantastic world-building, and explosive action.

I will definitely do a reared on audio when it comes out because I miss Roukin's voice.

9/10