Queen Amid Ashes

By: Christopher Ruocchio

Narrated by: Samuel Roukin

Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

THOUGH THE BATTLE TO SAVE A PLANET IS OVER, THE WAR NEVER ENDS.

Hadrian Marlowe is newly a knight of the galaxy-spanning Sollan Empire: a hero who they say slew the alien Prince Aranata Otiolo in single combat; a man they say no man or xenobite can kill.

Acting on the Emperor’s orders, Hadrian has come to the desert planet Thagura and driven off the Cielcin invaders, rescuing in the process the Lady Gadar Malyan, Baroness of that entire world.

But not all the fighting is ended. Pockets of inhuman resistance remain on the desert world, and Hadrian the Halfmortal must soon do battle with not only the man-eating alien barbarians, but with something just as terrible: man’s own inhumanity to man.

©2022 Christopher Ruocchio (P)2022 Recorded Books

Impactful interlude

This is a solid hundred-page Sun Eater story that's a worthy addition to the saga, but it really really really should be read in its chronological order after Howling Dark and not when I did it after Kingdoms of Death (due to waiting for the paperback and audiobook to come out). Hadrian and co go through a lot in Demon in White and KoD, so going backwards in time to this earlier Hadrian felt like backtracking for me as the reader when I really am just craving the next future installment to see how things progress.

As with all the Sun Eater books, it is written exquisitely with a never-ending stream of interesting first-person reflections (on humanity, on the unknowable Other, on the beastly Other, on morality, on the cosmos, and plenty more). Samuel Roukin's narration is superb!

Being a side story it necessarily lacks the suspense and tension of the main novels, but I don't think Ruocchio could write a poor story if he tried.

fantastic

really enjoyed this small entry to the series. it really shows how deadly the enemy is. while also showing how deadly humans can be.

Great Storytelling, Themes, and Prose

Christopher Ruocchio hits another home run with this wonderful addition to his Sun Eater Universe. This is my favorite thing he has written outside of the main novels. It has an exciting plot. It expands the world. It gives hints of future events. And it develops the characters by making them wrestle with the concept of justice and ends justifying the means and how that fits into the larger scope of Hadrian's story from the main series. Also you get more insight into the Cielcin that is horrifying. Don't sleep on Sun Eater and don't sleep on the accompanying novellas.

Amazing!

If you love science fiction than you need to read Christopher Ruocchio. The characters are so rich and he is able to tell an epic tale but with such a personal intimate experience. I cannot recommend this author enough.

Great novella

This was a great novella. What a fun little side story. Definitely going to be reading these as I go along!

Amazing story, as always! 11/10

Action. Adventure. Mystery. Horror. Top notch science fiction and an excellent addition to the fantastic sorry of Hadrian Marlowe. I cannot recommend this series enough!

Another Banger

Wonderful world building in this short story between books 2 and 3. definitely glad I didn't skip it.

Pretty Good

Not a bad short story following the Sun Eater saga. Audible overpriced for the page count of this novella.

Tedious and empty

I was looking forward to this listen as I really enjoyed The Lesser Devil, but this book has killed my desire to continue the series.
The writing and performance are similar to previous installments - a bit long winded, overwrought, and full of oft repeated phrasings, but surprisingly engaging despite those flaws.
Where this book falls down is the attempt to look at a morale problem, but through such narrow lenses that all of Hadrian's standard pomp and condescension are just tedious and hollow.
A character notorious for "knowing with certainty" what would happen next, only to be proven wrong, probably shouldn't be trusted to make snap judgements about a person's guilt - especially based on single phrases that "no innocent person would say". Being judge, jury, and executioner even more dubious.
The book has a lot of sweeping statements that follow from weak arguments. (Sure, humans do all sorts of atrocities, but the Cielcin are monsters because they do the same for food… which makes them evil? Or because they make art out of the bones of their victims - [something humans have done both with each other and their food]?) By the end, with Hadrian making sweeping statements on the meaning of justice, there's no credibility remaining.
I could even accept this as a speech from a flawed narrator, ignorant of his faults - but none of the other characters raise other views or ideas. We're left with an argument that is basic, shallow, and reductionist… (A weakness we already saw in the opening debates between Hadrian and Bassander in The Howling Dark…) That makes the book an unrelenting slog of Hadrian's simplistic views & reasoning, with little to engage the listener beyond a very simplistic plot.

Meh

Takes a moral quandary and reduces it in a weird way that feels the exact opposite of the way the first half of the book portrays it. It's reaching to make it more intrigue than it should have. Doesn't seem how the characters would actually reason through the issue based on previous books.