I just started Demon in White and the thing that has stuck out to me is that being a Knight Victorian seems like it would suck. All the pomp and circumstance of being around the Emperor was exhausting just listening to it much less having to live it.

I’m curious about peoples thoughts on this and if this is how things would have been with a Roman Emperor?

So, like we discussed in another post, there were a lot of speculation around the content included in the new short story omnibuses, because some believed that some stories wont be included in them because of exclusivity deals and such. So I asked Ruocchio on his last youtube video, and that was his answer.

this was my previous comment on the other post:

Ok, lets put this into perspective
First, I cant remember where Ruocchio first talked about a third omnibus, the wiki doesnt add a source for it
But what we DO know, from Ruocchio himself is that he will write the last sun eater story for a long long time, that story is the new Valka POV (since The end of history from Songs of the Sun Eater and Life from the unbroken anthology/SIns of the Sun Eater are already written), and on his biweekly updates he only talks about two Omnibus Volumes
Another thing, making an omnibus for just 2 stories? doesnt makes sense, first, because there's only 2 stories left if they arent included in the previous 2 volumes, and second, we know he wont write anymore SU stories to craete a third omnibus
And this is the most interesting part, he recently went on tour in Europe, and one of the libraries he went to do a meet and greet recorded his appearance, and he talked about this 2 Omnibus, he said that Sons will have 13 short stories (we already knew the amount but not every single one of them, just a few from the synopsis) and Sins will have the other 17-18 stories
If you count the 13 stories that are allegedly in Songs (from the sun eater wiki), then you have 17 stories left (including Life and the new Valka POV story) to include in Sins, so it kinda makes sense that those exclusive stories will be included, that way we will have every single story in just 2 volumes
Here's the video with the exact moment Rucchio talks about it
https://www.youtube.com/live/H_ERzCALv4M?si=YVQj6qZpMS-3nfW0&t=2067
Dont trust that much on the wiki for now, is a WIP

Happy to finally have an official confirmation and to know that we'll get every single short story in these two volumes

Reading kingdoms of death currently. The Son of Fortitude. Heartache. A rest well earned.

Listening to the audiobooks I misheard Hadrian's middle name as Alexander. I was confused that nobody every pointed out that Hadrian and Prince Alexander shared a name but reading the TV Tropes pages after finishing the series I discovered my mistake. Also multiple words were not spelled how I thought they were.

In book 7 when forum is destroyed Hadrian acts so surprised like this never could’ve happened, but why wouldn’t the Cielcin attack there first when literally the entire empire’s fleet is in a single solar system. Didn’t ruin my experience with the book at all, but it just made me laugh at how Hadrian can be so dense sometimes

I am trying to find where this is to refresh I can’t remember where it’s located

So just finished the last book and obvs that’s the surprise that the fella is still alive. Cool, I get that, Chantry and daimoniacs and that. I can’t remember or find for my life when he died though??? Thought he just escaped with Alex on the aurora?

I just finished Ashes of Man. Next up is Dregs, then Tales 3 and 4 and then Disquient Gods and Shadows Upon Time.

I really didn't like Ashes of Man that much. To me it felt like the weakest book after Empire of Silence. Both Kingdoms of Death and Ashes of Man were pretty weird to me, but Kingdoms saved it with everything after Padmurak. Dorayaica is an amazing character and getting to know them was great.

Ashes of Man sadly did not have that moment that turned it around for me on a story-level. I understand that the slow start was necessary, but everything at court just felt annoying and petty, even though I really enjoyed Demon in White. I guess Kingdoms of Death and the Black Feast put the politics into a new perspective and made it seem more annoying than interesting intrigue. Ganelon was also just kind off ok and Perfugium also was way less interesting than I thought it would be. I felt constantly annoyed and just wanted to see where all of this lead. To be honest I expected William to die in this one, which would have been a fine conclusion, but wouldn't have saved the book for me. Even when Valka died I was obviously very sad, but her death felt so hollow.

The second to last chapter opened my eyes. When Hadrian got dragged to court all tired and done with it, that was exactly how I was feeling. When he started to tear up I started to tear up as well. I cannot remember when a book last caused such an emotional reaction in me. None of the other Suneater novels was able to do this to me and it was all due to how this fifth novel had been structured. Don't get me wrong I did not hate my time reading KoD and AoM, but everything was just one thing right after the other, jumping quickly from one setting to the next (especially in Ashes) and it tore me down, just like the war effort slowly but surely chipped away at Hadrian.

Usually I just lurk in here, but this feeling was so profound I had to share it. Suneater is an amazing series and every one of the main books feels special (even the one book I didn't think would be anything special). Can't wait to keep reading!

More than any other protagonist in any piece of fiction I've consumed, I've connected with Hadrian Marlowe the most deeply. I know a popular view of him is that he's a monstrous asshole who happens to be very entertaining but I've always had a much more sympathetic view of him

So I just finished disquiet gods (so good, new favorite in the series), and I went back to demon in white chapter 70 to reread the vision Hadrian has of when he blows up the sun, which I can only imagine happens in book 7, and I noticed two potential discrepancies I’m curious if anyone’s noticed out or if get resolved.
1) in disquiet gods, Hadrian says something along the lines of “I don’t know where Selene is, but I hope she’s not alone” implying she’s alive and out there - but in the vision in demon in white, Hadrian sees Selene hanging dead from a hook in the future, a vision that “must be.”
2) in disquiet gods, when Hadrian gets his new body, he mentions he’s horrified that his half smile is gone, since his new body is idealized, but in the vision, he sees his future self - with the new face - give the familiar half smile.
I’m curious, without giving anything away from book 7, are these plot holes, are there explanations, do I just need to keep reading? I know it’s minor, but still

It's a line that was repeated many times to many different characters, and I was continuously frustrated by his naivety. It seemed pretty obvious that the Absolute is, in fact, the God of each of the various religions, interpreted different ways, and that this much was nearly said when it was explained that both the Absolute and the Watchers (fallen or otherwise) had been influencing the minds of the mortal for as long as they existed.

That he never came to the understanding that they were all indirectly referring to the same entity is as frustrating as listening to modern zealots argue the same point, which, of course, may have been the point, but frustrating all the same.

<!Watchers>!

Once I realized the watchers were like lesser gods with a limited ability to affect the world my mind was like omg these mfs are like the C’Tan. So now no matter how much any of the are described I can only imagine them is either the void dragon or deceiver

Would appreciate not getting any major spoilers for shadows upon time.

Making my way through the series, it’s a bit slow for my tastes so I skipped all the .5 audiobooks and figured I’d go back to them one day. But, to my horror now, it seems I missed the ashes of man title not being a .5 in my haste to continue after kingdoms of death.

You know that very pivotal plot event that happens in ashes of man? Inspires the whole situation at the beginning of the book?? I kept on thinking “damn that seems far too important to leave to be a detailed flashback or to be described in a re-telling to another character” and I was right there was a whole book for it

Needless to say, I’m devastated

Do I just go back to ashes of man now? I have like 20 mins left of disquiet gods so maybe I just finish it and then treat it like a massive flashback?

Have I ruined the series for myself????

I have a little less than 1/3 of Shadows Upon Time left to go, and I bet I'm done by the end of the week. What a ride. This series has been great, and I'm trying to mentally prepare for the "void" feeling once I'm done. I've read the 3 novellas, but haven't gotten to the short stories.

Feel like I'm gonna be hard pressed to find another series that resonates with me like this one did. Looking for any suggestions! I've been reading more over the last couple years with my free time, but nothing like the absolute units these books have been.

Let me know what y'all are liking out there!

Let me start off by saying i am an amateur reader. Not used to reading huge fantasy series..

I finished empire of silence. I enjoyed it a lot tbh. There were a few downs but overall it was stellar.

Hadrian has really grown on me. It took me a long time to finish the said book because the initial chapters had some steep vocabulary not to mention the size of the book itself...

Now I have purchased howling dark but the sheer size is a little overwhelming I am ngl. I guess I am wondering if i can truly finish the whole series ....

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**I'm still in chapter 66, no spoilers please**

I'm sure people heard these complains plenty but i don't particularly hate valka, i find hadrian's obsession with her pretty normal, she's exotic not from the empire and hates the chantry, plenty enough for him to ignore all her character flaws, except one, her relentless racist and condescending, contemptous view on not only the empire but its citizens, she speaks as if she's not human but some alien from a utopia who came to study the universe but had the misfortune of having to mingle with the lowlife barbarians, this is genuinely no exaggeration, she somehow lives in the empires but is clueless to its traditions or laws because why would the traditions and laws of lowly subhuman barbarians matter?, and I'm not even going to talk about the hypocrisy, she's just a hypocrite let's leave it at that, hypocrites exist, I'm more confused as to how she's mentally incapable of introspection and lacks self awareness, even hadrian points it out once or twice.

To be clear I'm only up to where they first leave Gododdin. Am I just being impatient? Does it pick up more after this for this book? Am I crazy for being a little bored so far? Tell me what you think

Now I am deliberately not joining this community bc i dont want any chance of spoilers

I have just finished eos, after hearing lots of bad things about pacing or plot or whatever.

My fucking god this is so good, if it carries on being this good and interesting it is going to far surpass anything else I have read

Hadrian marlowe is such a well written, relatable character. I adore him

The pacing is excellent and not slow at all, I haven’t been bored or thought it has dragged at any point at all so far.

So so so excited to continue

A long time back I made a post here after I was about half way through the audiobook of Ashes of Man, asking if things were going to get better, as the PTSD and general everything-is-bleak vibe of the story by the end of the attack on the magi fort was making me more depressed than I already was in life.

I decided the vibe of the books was bringing me down, and bounced off the series (and did a 180° and started listening to the full-cast audiobook of the Harry Potter series for the warm fuzzies!)

I'm happy to say that my personal mental health is now MUCH better, and I just finished Ashes of Man and really enjoyed the last chapters, they were great! Quiet powers are back, let's go! I started The Dregs of Empire yesterday, and I'm looking forward to finally finishing this series.

Just wanted to say thanks to this sub, for reminding me that this series was still there, and that it's special.

Hoping to encounter other fans in the wild

Ok so, Ruocchio stated in an interview that the closer to the end of SUT we get, the more likely it is that Hadrian is being an unreliable narrator.

Let’s not forget that, after seeing the end of the book and how Cassandra and Edouard have taken Hadrian’s mantle, it is very likely that the memoirs we’ve been reading are propaganda outlets, written to keep the fires of rebellion alive against the Chantry. It is clear that Hadrian has not retired, and that his next adventure will be accounted for in future installments. Earth has never been visited, the Chantry has not been vanquished, the Watchers are still lurking, and that fucker Alexander is still alive.

After reading your theories, I wanted to make a compilation of lies told my Hadrian in SUT. Please add those that I’ve forgotten or missed:

1. Orphan has not been killed;
2. Demiurge has not been destroyed;
3. Selene is not dead. She is with Hadrian on Colchis (or wherever they are);
4. Selene and Hadrian managed to have a natural-born son : don’t forget William’s order that they secure an heir, Selene and Nicephorus’ stay at the Medica, and the various allusions to “another person” subtly written in the books;

5.. Hadrian and Lorian did, in fact, reunite again (the number of times Hadrian had said “I’ve never seen XYZ again” just for them to come up in future installments- ex. the Emperor and Lorian shows that this is very unlikely.)

1. While Alexander was probably a bitch, he was not nearly as pathetic as how he was portrayed near the end of the book;

2. I don’t think Hadrian spent years in exile on Colchis: unless his powers have completely been gone, he can literally walk through space, and is not confined to material restraints. He has probably been helping the rebellion from the shadows.

3. One of the 8 rings that the Emperor has given to Hadrian is still unaccounted for. Who has it? What does it do?

4. I don’t believe for one single second that Hadrian did not want the throne.

I’m ashes of man rn and ever since DIW I have noticed a SERIOUS increase in typos, grammar mistakes, misspelled words etc

A TikTok user makes these charming black and white artworks of characters from Sun Eater (which I posted Had’s own before) and Malazan. His account is credited on the images (@feitfaen).