Disquiet Gods by Christopher Ruocchio
Book Review:
Disquiet Gods
by Christopher Ruocchio
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This series has always had amazing world-building. For most of the books, it gives them the Epic Sci-Fantasy feel. In this one, while yes there was more delved into it is also questionable how to go about describing it. I have seen others talking about this book feeling more like space opera than Sci-Fantasy. While I wouldn't go that far there is a hard aspect to talk about what we are given as it is so many levels. This is also a hard one to rate as it doesn't quite feel like a 5-star but also doesn't feel like a 4.5-star. Wonderful first thoughts section for you. 🤭
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We dive deep into the epic-scale worldbuilding and lore of this universe in this story. Several things hinted at in The Quiet are directly addressed in this novel. Even though I was hoping it wouldn't do personally I can say is handled quite well. This would be that Ruocchio is directly tying the lore to Christianity. With this connection, you get answers to why things were created and are happening. Hadrian himself though does not connect The Quiet with God and actually will have a debate with a museum Catholic about it. There are still some confusing aspects personally, revolving around which entities are telling the truth. Or are we only going to be shown the truth as each sees it and have to determine ourselves?
The next part that makes me question the truth would be concerning humanity's history and the foundation wars. We have been told of the Mericanii demons that enslave humanity in their quest to keep us alive. This has always seemed that they did this on their own, even in the ancient records found or in speaking with the two demons. Now in this book, we are given a different view of events. One source is quite suspect of course but the other is a direct view of the past. True enough that this could only be a nicer outlook because they were on that side of history. However, if those perspectives from the other side were correct it changed the foundation the empire was built upon. In either event, humans were trapped in undying dreams which isn't a life at all (if they were healthy beforehand).
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It feels wrong to talk about magic as that is not what this is. True the metaphysical portion of this book is immense. It is supposed to be seen as higher dimensional beings and workings of space/time, thus science. Also, it is a heavily divinity-blessed ability to use the higher dimensional gifts more than "magic". Hadrian's use of these abilities comes into play far more in this book than any other. Considering how long it has been since he used them though this was odd. In other books, he had been just figuring it out or unable to tap into it. Now Hadrian is up again using these gifts through a large portion of the book.
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As usual, Hadrian Marlowe is the central and only POV for the novels. He is also different than we have seen him. I would like to say he is wiser with age but that did not feel quite right. Hadrian is 600 standard years old in this novel and frequently talks about his age. Where we have seen him brash and arrogant or broken and withdrawn, here Hadrian is almost indecisive and only reactive to the chaos happening around him.
We are given several new side characters though. Starting with Cassandra Marlowe, who is the daughter of Hadrian and Valka. It would have been nice if she could have gotten more depth written into her within this novel. Unfortunately, this time around it didn't show her character in as much depth as we saw when it was her perspective. If you would like to see more of Cassandra check out Tales of the Sun Eater Vol. 3, the last story in that edition is following her. Then we are introduced to Eduard Albe a member of Hapis formally of Delos. With Albe, we are given a sudo-Lorien, as Albe is certainly an intelligent character who is not afraid to stand up to Hadrian. However, he also doesn't get quite as much as we have been given for characters of the past. Almost it would seem Hadrian is not forming the connections to people that we should feel attached to as before. As Cassandra is his daughter and so much page time is devoted to thoughts of her safety and worry though that can't be fully the case. There is just something different in this edition with our side characters.
This is a lot and we haven't even gotten to the plot of the story. Well, this one has a lot going on to be sure. Hadrian is recalled from his exile on Jadd with a full pardon. As once again the empire requires him to complete an impossible task. Hadrian must battle enemies old and new to uncover the purpose set out for him. Humanity has been slowly losing the battle against the Cielcin with only the Empire standing alone. Can all the leaders of known space come together for a united front? All the while there are greater forces at work across the universe that can't be allowed to fall into Cielcin's control. HAPIS has found such a creature and needs Hadrian to carry out the mission to kill a god.
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While I love this series and even this book, I'm still left with mixed feelings at the end. There is no one thing that I could point to and say precisely, well judging by the above you might think otherwise. I do wonder if some of the events that took place here were quite necessary to move us forward. Then there is the heavy amount of future Hadrian's commentary in this book. Normally that does not bother me but in this one, it was an irritation. Still a solid addition to the series overall. Now to wait anxiously for the next year to pass so we can have the last installment.
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